Creator God, thank you for your deep love and grace that enfolds and embraces your beloved children of all ages. In this time of worship, let us be filled, renewed, and inspired by your love. And let us continually listen for your call to draw the circle wider in loving care and service to your children worldwide. Amen.
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Today, as we continue our exploration of the familiar and important stories of Jesus from the Gospel of Mark, we have heard that familiar passage we always lift up when we celebrate a child’s baptism here at church. Luke and Matthew both contain versions of this story as well.
One day Jesus is busy teaching a group of adults and some people show up with their kids. This was seen as an interruption by the disciples. “Umm, sorry, this is adult Bible study, no children allowed.” Now the disciples aren’t necessarily acting outrageously or trying to be mean. It was probably a societal norm that children wouldn’t typically be allowed to intrude upon a teacher and their adult students.
But Jesus, of course, is having none of this. “Don’t send them away. Welcome them. Let the children come to me.”
Here we have yet another example where the disciples (bless their hearts) are trying to define who’s in and who’s out. They keep trying to assume the role of bouncers at the Jesus club (a role Jesus never asked them to assume). So, once again, we see Jesus obliterates their tired, confining, and unjust boundaries. And once again, both the disciples and all of us who are hearing and studying this gospel message, have an opportunity to have our hearts and minds opened to others who have been excluded.
Jesus’ followers don’t just have to be adults. Jesus seems to be into intergenerational, family ministry. Think about what happens when he welcomes and includes children. He also welcomes and includes those people who are bringing their children to him. And I’m willing to bet many of those people were women. Maybe not exclusively. But mothers, aunts, grandmothers – they were often the primary caregivers for children in Jesus’ day (as in many cultures throughout history).
From very early on, the circle of Jesus’ disciples and followers was wider than just a group of twelve guys.
After welcoming these children and their families, Jesus uses this moment to teach those present that kids are the ones who are ready to receive the kingdom of God.
Children had no social status and no power. And, in the ancient world, they weren’t really considered full persons in their own right until they reached adulthood. So, in lifting up children as the example of worthiness in this moment, Jesus is once again lifting up the lowly, those without privilege and power. He is demonstrating that the kingdom of God belongs to those who have been excluded, diminished, and marginalized by society.
And if we want to receive the kingdom too, Jesus said, we should all be like little children. Somehow being more like a child might help us be more open to God’s grace; open to the reorienting of our individual and collective lives towards the love of God and love of neighbor; open to a deeper and broader understanding of what it means to be one human family, all children of our Creator.
So, how to we become like a little child? How do we embody childlike faith?
Most of us probably don’t remember what it was like to be an infant. But many of us do know what it’s like to care for one. So, let’s imagine for a moment. Think about how radically dependent a tiny child is on their parent or caregiver. As children grow, they become more and more independent, of course, but we all begin life relying on others for our every basic need. And not only do babies need food, clothing, diapering, bathing, sheltering, and so on, they also need to simply be held. Close human contact is essential for our healthy development as people.
So, perhaps part of childlike faith is recognizing our radical dependence upon God; upon the life-giving, life-renewing, and resurrecting love of our Creator who has loved us from the beginning and loves us still. Perhaps part of childlike faith is also recognizing that this divine love is not something we can hoard or use to exclude and control, but is instead, a love that each and every one of us was birthed from, born into, and are embraced by our whole lives long.
Perhaps childlike faith also calls us to remember that our mutual interdependence is necessary for us to survive and thrive. There are times in life when we find ourselves having to rely on others more than we want. Perhaps in those times it might help us to remember that it is ok to be held by others, cared for by others. And when we are called upon to be the caregiver, there are others who can help us. We don’t need to go it alone. It’s ok to be held.
Sometimes I have heard people talk about childlike faith as some sort of unquestioning belief. And I find that problematic because childlike openness, wonder, awe, accepting our own limited knowledge, and so on – those are all good things. But unquestioning obedience to a particular (and often narrow) theological framework does all kinds of damage.
It also makes me wonder if people who view childlike faith as unquestioning belief have spent much time with children. The kids I know ask a ton of questions! They push back on things that don’t make sense to them. They want to figure out how things work. They want to know why things are the way they are. They want to know why certain rules are in place. As they grow, kids learn to reason, sort things out, and make sense of the world around them, and, in doing so, they make their lives and their faith their own.
For us, God’s children of all ages, a childlike faith can be reasonable, investigative, curious, and fun! Childlike faith can be a whole-hearted embrace of God’s love and God’s beloved ones. It can be a willingness to take the journey, to step out in faith with our curiosity and questions, and to go on this adventure of discipleship, finding out where it will lead us as we go.
When Jesus welcomed those children and their families that day, the disciples (and everyone else) learned that following in the way of Jesus isn’t about being a gatekeeper; it’s about being a door-opener, a community-builder, and someone who embraces our neighbors of all ages and stages. They also learned that the wellbeing and faith of the next generation was just as important as their own.
Part of our collective discipleship as a church community is still to embrace young people and help foster their faith development and support their wellbeing. Today’s story invites us to consider the ways in which we welcome, include, support, care for, and bless real, live, actual children, as Jesus did.
This involves expanding our concept of family. The children who are our children, our responsibility, are the world’s children. They are the children in our immediate families, as well as the children here in our church community, and the children in our city, in our nation, and across the globe.
The wellbeing of children is a good marker of a society’s health. And, as both a nation and a world, we still have some work to do to ensure that children are getting their basic needs met, getting a good education, getting the physical and mental healthcare they need. And their caregivers and immediate families need our communal support too as they raise their kids.
The safety and wellbeing of the world’s children ought to be our top priority. But unfortunately, children often bear the burden of political conflicts, wars, and misplaced priorities of adults. We have to continue to strive to do better.
The challenges of the world’s children are many. But there is also a lot that we can do to make a difference for children right here in our church and local community.
As a church, it is part of our call to nurture the faith development of young people and to provide them a safe and welcoming space to learn, grow, explore, and experience caring community. Each generation is always called to care for and help foster the faith of the next generation. It is our job to teach them about God’s deep love for them, to encourage them to love and care for their neighbors, to help them discover how they can contribute to their community, and to help them learn and grow in their faith as they grow older.
In this stewardship season, as we look ahead toward another year of our collective ministry, I would encourage us to keep this in mind as we prayerfully consider how we will support our church in 2025. Your financial giving as well as your time and volunteer efforts make possible our ministries with and for children and youth (and their families). Educational and fellowship ministries like Sunday school, nursery care, children’s choir, vacation bible school, kids’ night out (which is also a night out for parents), youth activities, confirmation classes, and other ministries all take leadership, time, energy, creativity, and funding. So, thank you for your ongoing support of our youth and children’s ministries! It makes a difference!
And if you want to get to know some of our church kids better and help support them and their families, we would especially welcome new Sunday school or Kids’ Night Out helpers! If that’s something you might be interested in, please talk to me and I can tell you more about what is required to volunteer.
And remember your giving, your volunteering, your reach goes beyond the walls of our church too. Your support of our various mission projects reaches out to the broader community and makes a difference in the lives of families in Long Beach and beyond. Right here in town, our church supports organizations like Precious Lamb Preschool that provides free early education to kids whose families are experiencing or transitioning out of homelessness. Your support of Christian Outreach in Action makes a difference too in providing food for families (and just this summer at VBS we also brought in a bunch of diapers for their weekly diaper bank). And every year several families in need are supported with essential items and gifts of care at Christmas.
These are just a few examples. And they are multiplied when you consider the ways so many of you volunteer in the community (and even across the globe).
Jesus welcomed children, embracing them and their families as much as anyone who came to him to learn about God’s love, to be healed, to be cared for, and to be led in the way of love of God and neighbor. And, in doing so, he invited us all to embrace a childlike faith of openness, inclusion, curiosity, joy, and wonder as we seek to follow in his way of love.
Keep it up, kids!
Amen.