meatballs and malachi

last night we had meatballs at growth group. they were very good. we also continued our study of malachi - thinking about chapter 2 verses 10-16. so far malachi has been about israel's unfaithfulness - which has been a very interesting topic. it is quite difficult to know what makes someone a faithful person - but chapter two gives us some insights into this. the picture in chapter two is of a family and the faithful relationships that help to make families function. there is a section about inter-marriage - the jews had been marrying outside the faith, which was causing many to turn away from god. we had an interesting discussion about whether we were 'faithful people' in the covenants we have made - to our partners, to our workplaces, to our friends, to god. we talked about the fact that a covenant was two-way, and that sometimes the unfaithfulness of the other party might make us less faithful. (perhaps, as stephen said at sam and becca's wedding, what the other party gives to the "covenant" is irrelevant - we should always be giving 100%?). we also talked about how to raise a child to be faithful (to god, to the faith, but also to all his/her covenants). i mentioned the jewish traditions of sabbath meals and how this always involved talking to the children about the story of god's faithfulness. this kind of week-in-week-out teaching (rather than a 20 minute bridge to life conversion) would develop a solid foundation of knowledge - as long as it was coupled with a daily demonstration of the faith in the family. it also reminded me of a fantastic jewish proverb i read once which said something like "the happiness of a jewish child reflects the health of his parents' sex lives". i love that because i do think children feel happy and secure when their parents remain intimate and content.