Zach turned 12 yesterday and that means it was an important day in the Gregory tribe.  Years ago we borrowed the idea of a bar berith (son of the covenant) party from our friends, the Fosters.  This is not your normal birthday party, but is a special time where family and friends gather to encourage the young boy or girl (a bat berith) in their transition into young manhood or womanhood.  It is also a time to charge them to not make life about themselves, but about serving the redemptive purposes of God.

 It is important for us as parents to provide some transitional times in our kids lives to help them move along.  It is maybe more important for us to help them realize that life is not about them.  This party does both and is cool because it includes our extended family and our community.  It encouraged Zach  and also provided him with a lot of accountability.  We don’t do a whole lot real well, but this bar berith sure seems to be a good thing.  Each of our children has looked forward to their 12th birthday like no other and remember it like no other (even though I even ask them to memorize a portion of Scripture and recite it to everyone.  Zach had Psalm 1).

This also provides a great excuse to buy our sons some really cool swords.  These only have symbolic significance of course. (with all apologies to the nice cactus we had in AZ)  The sharp edges just give us a chance to talk about being a useful tool in God’s hands (and safety).

If you would ever like to know more about this kind of thing feel free to give us a call.