Wisdom Of Age

From time to time these days, because there is a shortage of skilled workers in some industries, we hear calls for the return of the apprenticeship system. It is not entirely lost, of course, for many of us have reason to be thankful for older wiser heads that showed us the ropes as we began our career, or started fresh in a new setting and did not know how things were done.

Having an apprentice was initially taking on a greater responsibility than teaching someone a trade. With the skills and secrets of the trade went also instructions about how to live, the learning of manners and appropriate behaviour. It is always the responsibility of the older generation to help bring up the young.

There are explanations to be given of why things are done as they are. There are stories to be told of past experts and attention to be given to the quality of what was done before. To forget, overlook or discard the past is to risk the loss of identity, the pride that belongs with being part of a tradition, profession or nation.

This is why remembering is so emphasized in the Bible. One generation must commend Gods works to another and tell of God's mighty acts, lest they forget and lose their way. It is no surprise that at the heart of worship is the recalling of an old story and the remembering, the re-membering, at a meal. Without this conscious bearing of responsibility by the people of God something more than a memory will be lost.