Brook Hill School Dedication

June 4, 1995

I think we are all familiar with the Scriptural practice of dedication. It was a common custom and still is to dedicate children, houses and places of worship to the Lord. We are going to do that this afternoon in a few minutes but I wanted us to look very briefly at three ways of thinking about dedication – and I want to call them three rules of thumb since they are all built around your thumb.

The first meaning of the word dedication is derived from the practice of a nurse putting very soft food on her thumb and pressing it on the palate of the newborn baby to accustom the child to feeding. In other words, to prepare the child for the real thing. That is what great schools, teachers and coaches do. They are preparatory. They create experiences that prepare students for the real thing. When Abram’s nephew Lot was captured in a war, Abram called out his 318 trained men who had been in his household from birth and they went out and defeated the four kings and brought Lot back home. These men had been prepared since their earliest years for the real thing. They had been dedicated.

The second meaning of the word dedication comes from the idea of exerting pressure on something to give it shape. Think of it this way. When a potter wants to work the inside and outside of the bowl she is making she hooks her thumbs together to stabilize the hand working the inside with the hand working the outside. So it is in the life of every child. There is pressure from the inside of the child pushing out. This is the unique shape that God gives every person. This is the personality of the child. The teacher or the coach is the hand that perfectly balances that pressure and shapes from the outside. Both are needed. Both must work together. The one hand is exerting pressure out and the other is pushing in and together – because they are hooked at the thumbs – they produce what God intends. They are dedicated.

The third meaning of the word dedication comes from the practice of giving up ownership of what is dedicated. It is turned loose. We do not give up responsibility for being stewards for what is dedicated but we release it. Think of it as extending your thumbs as far as you can. What happens to your hands? They are opened, aren’t they? That is what God intends for us to do when we dedicate something to His purposes – to open our hands and release what is in them to the Father. Only then are they dedicated.

So, let’s remember three images this afternoon – the three rules of thumb for Brook Hill School.

First, the caring thumb of preparation.

Second, the hooked thumbs of balanced pressure.

Third, the extended thumbs of released possession.

Think about these things as we join together for a prayer of dedication for the students, families, faculty, board members and friends of the Brook Hill Summer Camp and Brook Hill School. We have embarked on a great adventure!