The Blessing of Children
(based on Mark 10:13-16)
Children comprise one of the largest groups of the unchurched population in the community today. There are more children at home on any given Sunday morning than at Sunday School and church.
One pastor tells this story:
A church he was serving planned a whole day of activities for the children of the neighborhood to help them prepare for Christmas. They provided craft materials for the children to make Christmas gifts and, of course, they served refreshments and played games. It was the pastor’s role to tell the children the Christmas story from the Bible:
When the time came, he sat on the floor with the children and got to know their names. Theysang a couple of songs, said a prayer, and then he asked, “Does anyone already know the Christmas story?” A little girl raised her hand and started reciting,
“Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.”
For her, that was the Christmas story. It was all she knew. Her Christmas, and the Christmas of most of the other children sitting there, had nothing to do with the birth of Jesus, but instead with Santa and his reindeer.
Children comprise one of the largest groups of the unchurched population in the community; theyare largely unaware of God’s presence in their lives. And children’s lack of faith is not their fault; it’s a choice their parents are making. The children are only following the example set by their parents.
In most cases today, this isn’t intentional.Some parents are simply lax in their attitude toward the church (after all, at this point, most of them didn’t attend church regularly, either) and they’re not yet aware of the long-range effects it’s certain to have on their children. They’re not hostile toward the church, they’re just simplyapathetic. They’re comfortably busy with their lifestyles and don’t want to be bothered.
They have weekend plans, they work, they have other activities to keep them and their children busy on Sunday morning. They’d rather sleep in, participate in local sports for them or their kids or just watch T. V.
Psychologists tell us that the bulk of a child’s personality is formed by the time he/she is five years old. Think about that – before the child starts school, essential character traits are already established and patterns of behavior are pretty well set.
Isn’t it obvious that religious formation follows suit? Children’s patterns of faith, for better or worse, are shaped at a very early age, long before they can articulate what they believe and why.
Knowing what we know about child development, it’s all the more important for parents to decide early on, even before their children are born, to rear their children in the church and to give them the benefit of religious training, to undergird their lives with the knowledge of a power greater than themselves until they are mature enough to confirm their faith for themselves. Children depend on their parents to make good choices for them in all matters of life, and so, it’s up to us, the church, to do everything we can to encourage parents to choose wisely on behalf of their children and their relationship to God.
So, what are we doing to help them?
In the Bible, God shows particular favor to the least, and children are among the least of those in our society. A couple of weeks ago, there was a passage – again from Mark – when Jesus made another example of children as a slap in the face of reality for his disciples to truly understand what he was saying. Do you remember it?
Jesus and the disciples were walking on their way to Capernaum when the disciples got into an argument about who was going to be greater in the Kingdom of Heaven. What roles each of them would play and who would get to sit at Jesus’ right hand. Jesus got frustrated with them and took a child from in their midst and said, “Whoever welcomes one of these, welcomes me, and not just me but also the one who sent me. Whoever is first shall be last and last shall be first.” He said it because children were always considered last, they were just property, in those days.
And perhaps we’ve gotten our priorities mixed up again, if our time, commitment and energy aren’t spent in relating the message of the gospel to the children of our community.
In the language of the New Testament, there are two words commonly used for children. One is “tekna” which refers both to offspring and to the children of God.
The other is “mikrone” which is often translated “little ones,”
Mikrone speaks of the whole range of those who occupy the lower rungs of the social ladder – the poor, the lame, the outcast, the stranger and the children. And the Bible makes it clear, God takes a special interest in seeing that these little ones are given ample protection and care, so that for us to show hospitality to the stranger, compassion for the cripple, generosity to the beggar, concern for the children is to be on the side of God and to gain God’s richest blessings.
The best example of this overall usage is found in Matthew 25:40:
“The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these (the mikrone), you did it to me.”
When we reach out to the children around us and make a special place for them in the church, we reap the benefits of God’s blessing on ourselves and on our congregation.
Here’s the problem: Jesus said, “Allow the little children to come to me,” but that’s not going to happen if we sit back passively and wait for them to show up on our doorstep. We have totake the initiative, to be proactive. And so, I’d like to give you a challenge.
Since we can’t expect them to just show up on their own, we need to step in and participate in their lives. So, I’d like to challenge each of you to think of a child or two that you can invite to come to (for Olivet - our afterschool program on Wednesdays) or to church with you on Sunday, or to something completely new and different that we discover, along the way, as well. Think of a young parent or two with whom you can have some influence – to begin a conversation about faith.Some of you, that’ll be easy. Perhaps you need to have a deeper conversation, not a confrontation, but a conversation with your grown children and your grandchildren. For others, you’ll need to be more imaginative. You may have to look more closely at the dynamics of your neighborhood.
You’ll need to begin an influential relationship, a dialogue, before you can ask them about bringing their children to church. But don’t be surprised if they say yes! You’ll also need to think ahead. Young adults and children who haven’t been in church much are going to need some help knowing what’s going on and what’s expected of them, when to stand up and sit down, how to behave. And in that dialogue and dynamic of new faith conversations, we may find that we have tostart thinking outside the box in regard to how or when we do worship and what is included in worship.
It may end up that we not only do what we do on Sunday mornings, but we learn that we need to do something else, as well.
When you consider the big picture, what greater contribution could you possibly make in your lifetime than to bring a child into a lasting relationship with the Christ? Here’s the gist of it all: There are a lot of unchurched children here inour own community and it’s not their fault. They’re victims of circumstances beyond their control. Yet, God is on their side, and God calls us to do what we can to bring them into his presence. To do so is to be faithful to our calling and to open the door to a lasting relationship with Jesus Christ.
When he was chaplain of Duke University, Will Willimon said it best when he wrote,
“Sometimes it seems as if the older I become the less I understand about the mystery of God’s loving presence in our midst. Do not ask me, adult though I may be, why God loves wayward children like us, how even so diverse a group of people as we are formed into one body, why ‘when two or three are gathered together,’ there he is also…but this I know: These deep, sacred experiences came first to me when I was a little child, fruits of life begun in a loving, embracing family at home and at church. My encounters with God began first by being included in the church’s worship, by being invited to the church’s table, by being claimed at the church’s font. Admittedly, over the years, the meaning of these early experiences has deepened for me. But, as an adult, I must never forget how they began, and I must seek ways to make them available for little ones who come after me.” (“Keep Them in Their Place?” Worship Alive, Discipleship Resources.)
If the church is to take seriously Jesus’ invitation, “Allow the little children to come to me,” we simply must take a more aggressive role in reaching the children who are not here on Sunday morning who can perhaps learn how to worship God and participate in the life of the church in new and different ways.
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