First umc
Windows into heaven: the light of the children
2/29/20-3/1/20
Kids, you have to love them, right? These are supposed
to be true stories.
A Sunday school teacher asked: who lived in the garden
of Eden?
A child answered: the Adams family
"I wouldn't know what to say," the girl
replied.
"Just say what you hear mommy say," her
mother answered.
The daughter bowed her head and said," Lord, why
on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?"
After the baptism of his baby brother in church, Jason
sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car. His father asked him three
times what was wrong.
Finally, the boy replied, "The preacher said he
wanted us brought up in a Christian home, and I wanted to stay with you
guys."
As I said, “kids, you have to love them.” And we
do. They bring joy to our families and
life to the church. That’s why I love to
have kids in worship, participating in worship, and even leading worship.
That’s also why it is so neat to have a window dedicated to children in the
back of the sanctuary. Part of the story
is that someone in the choir asked for a stained-glass window they could see on
the way out. It was decided that since the youth gave the church the “Door of
the Fold” window, the older generation would give the church the “Jesus and the
children” window. It is intended to compliment the “Door of the Fold” window.
For instance, both show Jesus tending “the flock.”
Also, look how similar the postures of the 2 Jesuses
are. The lamb or the baby cradled in an arm, another at his feet, the hand
extended in hospitality. It is virtually
the same Jesus. Someone put a lot of thought into that. And both Jesuses have
that same intently loving gaze fixed on the children as the Jesus up front
whose attention is focused on the sheep.
The first panel was installed in 2004 and the last in
2007. Carol north, who headed the project, said, “the three windows are
celebrating our children, their importance in our church family, the need for
Christian education, and the acknowledgement they are the future of our church.
“
The plaque
above the window, which Kat nicknamed “Methodist Marble” because it is faux
painted wood, says, “Jesus said, ‘let the little children come to me.’” That comes from Matthew 19:14.
Carol North and I were talking and we both really
prefer the Markan version of that story. This is the passage from Mark, the
words in red are Mark’s additions to Matthew.
people were
bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them, and the
disciples spoke sternly to them. but
when Jesus saw this, he was indignant as in outraged, angry, furious, and
resentful. That’s how much Jesus cared for the children. Jesus loves the little
children is not just a cute song. It is
gospel truth.
Jesus 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. truly I tell you, whoever does
not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” and he
took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.”
That is radical for the first century where children
were appreciated in the family but barely tolerated in society. The language of
the day is even offensive. One Greek word for child also can mean “servant” or
“slave.” Another means “foolish,” and “helpless.” That is the word Paul used
when he wrote I Cor 14:20 and told the church to “stop thinking like
children.”
Jesus would never have said that. In fact, remember
what he said, “whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child
will never enter it.” In other words, we need to think or believe like children
in order to be kingdom people.
This was not the only time Jesus sided with the kids.
There are three more places.
Matthew11:25-26, speaking to the crowds in galilee,
Jesus declared, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you
have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little
children.” Jesus is saying adults have a hard time understanding these things,
for children it is easy peasy… so stop acting your age and think like a
5-year-old.
Again, imagine, the people’s astonishment when the
disciples were asking about who was greatest in the kingdom and Jesus picked
out the noisiest, most wiggly, most impatient child in the crowd. He places him
in front of the crowd (Matthew 18:1-9). With his hand on the lad’s shoulder,
Jesus has the audacity to identify him as the role model.
Unless you change and become like children, you will
never enter the kingdom of heaven.
whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven. whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
Finally, just after he cleared the temple of the money
changers, heals the blind and the lame and the kids start shouting, “hosanna to
the son of David.” The chief priests and
teachers of the law were furious and demanded of him, “Do you hear what these
children are saying?” “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, ‘from the
lips of children and infants you have ordained praise’?” (Matthew 21:12–16) which comes from psalm
(8:2) so Jesus used their own scripture against them.
When the religious leaders scoff at Jesus: “can’t you
control these ignorant, foolish, and lowly children who like to pretend that
you are the messiah. You might be able to fool them, but we see right through
you!” Jesus shrewdly turned the tables, saying, “these so called “ignorant”
children have it right… you are the one being fooled.”
What should we be learning from our children? I see
several clues in the window.
First, the
thing that sticks out to me, besides Jesus, is the little boy on the left with
the shepherd’s staff dressed almost like Jesus. His right hand is raised even
pointing toward Jesus as though he is preaching or inviting the girls to come
see Jesus. He has seen Jesus preaching
and inviting and he is imitating him. Kids love to do what the adults do.
Then there is the little boy on the right. Do you
notice how he is holding the lamb almost like Jesus is holding the baby? Again, I think he is being classily
childlike. Children do what they see respected adults doing. seen Jesus
preaching and inviting and he is the little boy on the right is also imitating
Jesus. Kids imitating him Kids love to do what the adults do.
Children are like mirrors into their parent’s
behavior. (sometimes embarrassingly so) do you remember the old commercial
where the father and son walked hand in hand, sat down under a tree and the
father took out a pack cigarette and lit up? The boy watches very carefully.
Then he looks down at the pack a cigarette and, if I remember right, he reaches
toward it. The voiceover was “like father like son?”
For good or for ill our children will do as we do, say
as we say, and treat others the way we treat them. When amber, Richie and then
noah were young, if I vacuumed, I knew one of them would be right beside
me. If I was working on something, they
had to have the same tools. If I was
reading, they wanted to read. Growing up in a preacher’s house, Amber even made
her breakfast toast and juice into communion.
My dad was a
mechanic. I can’t tell you how many
times my brother and I took our bikes, mine was the coolest (a yellow huffy
with a banana seat and high-rise handlebars). We turned them upside down and
“fixed” them whether they needed it nor not,
That is how kids are… they imitate adults.
If we want to get into the Kingdom of God, we need to
imitate Jesus. Shouldn’t we be following
in Jesus footsteps? Doing as he does, loving a he loves, accepting others as he
accepted them.? Of course, we should.
As we become young adults, we gain enough self-esteem
and self-differentiation, however, that we value our individuality and think
doing things our way is better. If we
were a little more like the two boys in the picture, doing as Jesus does,
walking as Jesus walks, loving as Jesus loves, forgiving as Jesus forgives, we
would be better disciples. If we spent our lives trying to imitate Jesus, we
would be better children of the kingdom.
Second, look at the girls with the flowers on the left
side. There are actually several flowers throughout the window.
Some look like
Easter lilies for resurrection even though this is clearly a pre-crucifixion
Jesus, some are another kind of lily, some roses… the most perfect of
flowers one girl appears to me to
holding a simple daisy (which traditionally reminds us of the innocence of the
Christ child) and the other a simple poppy
which is associated with the crucifixion.
There is one
thing these flowers and the children have in common. Jesus says the flowers “neither toil nor
spin.”
In Luke 12:22-23 Jesus says, “therefore I tell you, do
not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will
wear. 23 for life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.” Then in verse 27, “look how the wildflowers
grow! They don't work hard to make their clothes. But I tell you, Solomon, with
all his wealth, wasn't as well dressed as one of these flowers.”
Do children worry? … yes… and sometimes they have
reason to worry. But ideally “childlike”
means worry-free. We all have a romantic
image, of the lazy crazy days of childhood; lying in the clover watching the
clouds float by and hoping mom has lemonade ready when you go in the house.
Sadly, that may be a little unrealistic for most kids. But I think that is the
image depicted by the girls.
Look at the girls again. See how the bigger one is on
her toes, her dress flowing back, and the smaller one has a flow to her dress
as well. To me that says movement. To
me, they are dancing. Dancing for Jesus.
See how they are reaching up to him with the flowers. Maybe they are dancing in
with an offering of the prettiest flowers they could find. Like taking mom a bouquet
of dandelions and joyfully saying, “Mommy see what I picked for you?” They don’t have a worry in the world, do
they? They are the image of the carefree childhood.
Jesus is not trying to oversimplify life in Luke. He
is saying do not worry about the things you cannot change. He is saying give up
our sad, grumpy, serious, grown up faces. We are to replace our grownup serious
face, with more smiles, giggles, and laughter. In other words, Jesus says we
should trust, as children trust.
Put an adult and a child on a roof of a burning
building. Have some good strong firemen
stand on the ground telling the adult “trust me. just jump,” and the adult will
have a hard time trusting. Put the child’s father on the ground and tell her,
“jump, I’ll catch you.” They will trust completely and jump willingly.
Jesus is saying be more like a little child and trust
me… “take a leap of faith and jump into my arms.” Faith is the first step into in discipleship.
We spend the rest of our Christian lives learning to trust less in ourselves
and trust more in Jesus. Those who successfully come to trust in Jesus with all
their hearts as a child trusts a loving parent will be better children of the
kingdom.
Finally, look
at the little girl sitting at Jesus feet just listening, soaking it all
in. Just waiting for Jesus to speak.
Waiting to serve him. She makes me think of Mary washing Jesus feet, or the
other Mary sitting with Jesus while Martha cooked the meal. The girl is looking up at Jesus waiting for
instructions.
I don’t say this to be mean, but Children are
accustomed to being told when to eat, sleep, where to go and how to act. It is part of being a kid. We’ve all been
there, and as kids, we know we don’t have much power and authority. How could
we? As children we are surrounded by adults; people who are taller, and bigger,
and stronger than we are. Those people lovingly guide our lives.
Many adults, on the other hand, have issues with
control. Some of us more than others.
How many of us could willingly just sit and wait on Jesus? Or would we
have to get up to get sandwiches or sunscreen, or make sure the kids don’t get
in poison ivy, or doing your taxes, or mowing the lawn, or doing the dishes, or
…or… or… a thousand other things. We desperately want to keep up the illusion
of control with our To-do lists, calendars, “managing” life.
We want to be in charge, so “Obeying” is just not part
our vocabulary. We do not like to submit
our will to anyone. Children don’t always like to obey either.
Disciples who are willing to sit at Jesus feet and
serve… disciples who are willing to obey the call of Jesus…disciples who say,
“Here I am Lord, send me” are better children of the kingdom.
Children of the kingdom doing as Jesus does, walking
as Jesus walks, loving as Jesus loves, forgiving as Jesus forgives it is to
such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.
Children of the kingdom joyfully trusting in Christ in
all things big and small it is to such as these that the kingdom of God
belongs.
Children of the kingdom serving Jesus and the
willingly and passionately… it is to such as these that the kingdom of God
belongs.
You know many children can’t wait to grow up. But
Jesus said, “slow down, have it backwards. The adults should be wanting to be
like children because that is the kingdom attitude. He means, “look at the children, learn from
them, and try to become like them.” Because it is to such as these that the
kingdom of God belongs.
Some people say children are the future of the
church…I would say they are the “today” of the church. But whether there is a future for the church
depends on how well we learn from our children today because it is to such as
these that the kingdom of God belongs.
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