Receiving like a child

Sermon given at Grace UMC 5/1/16

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Scripture Reading:

^NRS  Mark 10:13 People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. ¹⁴ But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. ¹⁵ Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it."

A Year 5 teacher was giving her Primary pupils a lesson in developing logical thinking.

'This is the scene', said the teacher.

'A man is standing up in a boat in the middle of a river, fishing. He loses his balance, falls in, and begins splashing and yelling for help.

His wife hears the commotion, knows he can't swim, and runs down to the bank. Why do you think she ran to the bank?'

A little girl raised her hand and asked, 'To draw out all his savings?'

The young couple invited their aged Vicar for Sunday lunch.  While they were in the kitchen preparing the meal, the minister asked their son, what they were having.

'Goat, 'the little boy replied.

'Goat?' replied the startled man of the cloth, 'Are you sure about that?' 

'Yep', said the youngster. 'I definitely heard Dad say to Mum, we might as well have the old goat for dinner today as any other day.'

This morning I want to talk with you about children. Children are our future and are an important part of our task as adults, teachers and Christian people. Jesus rebuked the disciples who were intent on keeping the little children from him. That reminds me of a story I read the other day.

A preacher wanted to show off his garden to a man who wouldn’t let his children attend church … he wanted them to wait until they were old enough to decide for themselves. When they walked into the garden, it was full of weeds, which were choking out his squash, beans & okra. The man said: “This is a pitiful excuse for a garden!” To which the preacher replied: “I just wanted to wait until the vegetables had a chance to decide for themselves what they wanted to do!”

How many times in the recent past in churches across the country have people complained about the little children. Yes, they can be disruptive and they can be loud, but we were all little children once. Some of us can remember that better than others and some of us have never completely grown out of that stage of our lives. Ask Bonnie, she will tell you I’m just a big kid at times. I believe it is what makes life around here fun and adventuring. I have served churches where children were not wanted in the sanctuary during worship service. In fact I remember once when a young mother stood up to leave because the child had gotten fussy. I stopped the service, got her a rocker to use and soon the child was resting in her arms and everyone was happy. At least until the matriarch of the church gave me the what for up one side and down the other about getting that rocker. But you know what, that mother came back the next week and the week after and came to Christ I believe in part as a result of getting that rocker.

Jesus wants us to know that we need to reach out inner child in order to fully accept and appreciate the offer that Jesus is making to us, to become part of the Kingdom of God. What is it about little children that Jesus wants us to know? Let’s take a walk into the life of little children and see if we can decipher what Jesus wants.

Little children are aware of everything that we do. We may never realize how much they pay attention to us until one day they do something that we did not realize they had been paying attention to. Remember those commercials about little children mimicking adult behavior, good and bad? Maybe what Jesus wants of us is to begin to mimic the behavior of Jesus in our own lives so that we can become the Body of Christ, disciples who focus on God first.

Little children are open to trying something new or meeting new people. I am told that little children see every new person as a potential playmate without judgment as to color of skin, language or even what they are wearing. I have shared with an experiment done some years ago where children were placed in a room with toys in the middle. Every child came from a different ethnic background and no two children spoke the same language. Within a matter of minutes the children were down in the floor playing together, finding ways to communicate. When that same experiment was done with adults, the adults turned their chairs face outward in a matter of moments. Maybe we have something to learn from children about reaching new people, about sharing our faith in places unfamiliar with our own cultures and sensibilities.

Little children are like sponges and absorb every new experience. We find that children start out as open books, whatever the truth is comes out and they don’t have the boundaries that we adults learn to share on certain things. Ask a child a question and you get the whole answer. Jesus I believe wants us to relearn that skill and come to God with the truth, the whole truth holding nothing back. God wants us to be transparent and authentic. I have found in ministry that churches that strive for transparency have fewer inner squabbles and conflict.

Little children are affectionate. I wonder what the world would be like if we spent more time loving one another instead of judging? Jesus taught us that we are to love God with our whole hearts, minds and souls and to love our neighbors. When a church loves its neighbors, it becomes the sanctuary it needs to be. When we love one another we find ways to work together instead of focusing on our differences. Like those little children in the circle, when we love one another, we can find ways to communicate even when the music we like is different, the language we speak is different and the way we dress and interact is different.

Jesus wants us to know how to be little children so that we can truly become the people that God wants us to be. Many of us still remember some of the skills and lessons we learned in elementary school. Things like sharing, keeping bad thoughts to ourselves and taking a nap in the middle of the afternoon. But how many of us realize that Jesus wants us to reach deep inside and touch that inner child? To become open to new things and new people, to absorb everything that Jesus is sharing with us, to speak the truth in our actions, words and deeds and to find that innocence and fun that we all shared in the school yard when we were young.

Our faith walk is meant to be that simple you know. It’s not complicated. We make it complicated. We choose to close ourselves to the lessons we can learn from little children. They see the world around us and focus on the beauty and wonder of it.

I read this story the other day. “Last week, I took my children to a restaurant. My six-year-old son asked if he could say grace. As we bowed our heads, he said, "God is good. God is great. Thank you for the food, and I would even thank you more if mom gets us ice cream for dessert. And liberty and justice for all! Amen!"

Along with the laughter from the other customers nearby, I heard a woman remark, "That's what's wrong with this country. Kids today don't even know how to pray. Asking God for ice cream! Why, I never!"

Hearing this, my son burst into tears and asked me, "Did I do it wrong? Is God mad at me?" As I held him and assured him that he had done a terrific job and God was certainly not mad at him, an elderly gentleman approached the table.

He winked at my son and said, "I happen to know that God thought that was a great prayer." "Really?" my son asked. "Cross my heart." Then, in a theatrical whisper he added (indicating the woman whose remark had started this whole thing), "Too bad she never asks God for ice cream. A little ice cream is good for the soul sometimes."

Naturally, I bought my kids ice cream at the end of the meal. My son stared at his for a moment and then did something I will remember the rest of my life. He picked up his sundae and, without a word, walked over and placed it in front of the woman. With a big smile, he told her, "Here, this is for you. Ice cream is good for the soul sometimes."

Maybe we need to learn to pray for a little ice cream and then share it with those who have forgotten how good the taste of it is. And then remind them how much God loves us all.