First Reading:
1My child, if you accept my words and treasure up my commandments within you, 2making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; 3if you indeed cry out for insight, and raise your voice for understanding; 4if you seek it like silver, and search for it as for hidden treasures — 5then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. 6For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; 7he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk blamelessly, 8 guarding the paths of justice and preserving the way of his faithful ones. 9Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; 10for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; 11prudence will watch over you; and understanding will guard you.
Second Reading:
13People were bringing little children to him in order that
he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to
them. 14But 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. 15Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the
kingdom of God as a little child will never enter
it.
16And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands
on them, and blessed them.
I'm not an expert on children. I like children and I have two
daughters… and as some of you may have heard this morning, it's
true, pray for us, we do have another one on the way… but I'm not by
any stretch of the imagination an expert on children. So when I read
what Jesus said in our scripture passage today, it is to such as
these that the kingdom of God belongs
and whoever does not receive
the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it,
I thought
I'd better do a little research.
So I went to some playgrounds…There are four we visit on a somewhat regular basis and almost every time we do, they're the highlight of our day. We go to Allen Pond, Quiet Waters park, on rainy days we go indoors to the Annapolis mall, and there's also the little local playground that sits right behind the row of townhouses in front of us that we call the secret park because we lived in our house for five months before we knew it was there. I went to each of these playgrounds with my daughters and while I was there, I took some time to observe… to watch and see what I might learn about receiving the kingdom of God as a little child. There was screaming and crying there was laughter and running and the happy little shrieks of children at play… Each playground was different, every child was different and every parent was different… but as I sat and watched children at play, there were patterns that emerged and I thought these patterns might give some insight into receiving the kingdom of God as little children. So here are three of the things I noticed.
First observation; children come to the playground in lots of
different manners… It almost always begins with someone walking or
carrying or strollering them into the playground area and saying
have fun, go play.
Then the child starts out on their own… There
are some kids who know immediately what they want to do. The slides
or the swings seem to have been calling their name since they first
heard they were going to the park… There are some other kiddos who
take a while to get comfortable. They stand and watch what's going
on for a moment or two… the possibilities seem endless… do I do what
the other kids are doing or do I do my own thing… do I run
willy-nilly or do I pick a toy to play on... so they wait and watch
until inspiration hits, but sooner or later, once they've seen the
playground, its draw comes over them… they realize that this is a
good thing, it's going to be great… and they begin to play… they
begin to engage… and the exploration is on. If you give a kid long
enough, it doesn't really matter how they started out, they'll
explore everything… They'll stand on every toy in the play area,
they'll swing on every swing, they'll climb every wall and they'll
dangle from every horizontal bar they can reach.
Second observation; you can always tell who came together to the playground. Of course parents are constantly watching their kids to make sure that they don't get hurt and also that they don't hurt someone else… but that's not even what I'm talking about… even among the kiddos themselves, siblings and friends play rougher. Kids who don't know each other actually make attempts to avoid running into each other, but brothers and sisters don't… Kids don't reach out and pull someone they don't know on top of them as they start going down the slide… but friends who came together just might do that. And that kind of interaction is part of the fun of the playground. Parents often put a stop to it… because someone might get hurt… but kids long for that kind of interaction. They get great enjoyment from being silly with people they know and love, and when I looked at the faces of the kids who came alone as they watched other people roughhousing like that, it was clear to me that they wanted to be a part of it. They wanted to belong, to be a part of the fun of the interactive play.
Third observation; and perhaps the most consistent thing I noticed on
the playground observations is that kiddos are never ready to leave…
Whether it takes a few moments or half an hour, kids get so entirely
engaged in the activity and the community, the fun and the meaning of
play that it's hard to pull them away. I can't count how many times
I heard conversations that went something like: OK, we're going to
leave in five minutes so choose what you want to do until it's time
to go.
The kid then says OK
and runs off to do two or three more
things… and when inevitably the parent says alright let's go
the
kid says no, I'm not ready yet.
Or But I still have two
minutes!
or just let me do one more thing.
But time to leave
was definitely the place of deep tears and frustration.
Our scripture tells us that people were bringing little children to Jesus and they were being turned away by the disciples. In context, that made sense… In first century Palestine children held a very different place in society than they do in our time and place. They had no legal status and no rights. They were weak and the child mortality rate was high. They may have been cherished by immediate family, but in most venues children were regarded as a nuisance and a liability… So the disciples pushed them away…But in pushing them away, the disciples made a mistake… and not a small one. Jesus rebuked them because they'd missed the point of Jesus' ministry.
The tradition may have been about keeping people out, but Jesus was and always will be about welcoming people into relationship. We've seen the same kind of exclusion in other stories with other kinds of outcasts based on gender or ethnicity, based on wealth or on status. In this story the exclusion is based on being a child… and Jesus welcomed them too… but he didn't just welcome them in, he went a step further by telling everyone gathered that children are to be the model… Whoever doesn't receive the kingdom of God like a little child will not enter it.
I'm sure, if I were to keep looking, there would be a whole host of observations possible from the playground, but even in what I've already said there are parallels for how people come to know the person and the work of Christ…
The first parallel is that people are drawn in… most aren't carried or brought in by stroller, but rather by stories of transformation and hope. People come to learn who Jesus is and to experience who Jesus is because they've seen the difference a relationship with Christ has made in the lives of someone they know. A big part of why I am where I am now is because once upon a time there were people who brought me in by sharing their lives with me. So I'd invite you to reflect on what has brought you here… what is your hope in coming: for you, for your loved ones, for this community of faith? Where is God drawing you in right now?
The second parallel is that people explore… There are some who know immediately what they want to do, how they want to make a difference… how they want to be involved in the church… volunteering with children and youth or participating in a small group (for instance) may have been calling their name since they first heard that it was a possibility. There are others who may take a while to get comfortable. They watch for a year or two wondering how and where to get involved to use their specific gifts and talents… the possibilities seem endless, and so does the need. But when it comes to serving Christ, there aren't very many hard and fast rules… and this is a good thing — Especially if there's some area of life where you feel stuck right now… an invitation for you might be to pay attention to the stirrings of your heart and do whatever it is that you feel called to do for the benefit of God's kingdom. There's great freedom to explore and it may be that by the time you find your niche you've gotten a chance to play on every toy in the play area.
The third parallel is that people are joined in community… Roughhousing and being silly together on the playground brought the kiddos great joy because shared experience like that builds community. And the parallel for us lies in intentional time together… working, playing, praying, eating, serving whatever it is that we do together as a community of faith draws us into relationship with one another and also draws us into relationship with God. We all have a deep need to belong and at the core of our faith is the one who says that whoever you are, you belong here. Whatever your past, you can be forgiven and whatever your present situation, this community can walk with you through it… and it's based on the shared experience that has and does and will uphold our faith… Christ lived, Christ died and Christ rose again out of love for us.
And in this process of coming to know the person and the work of Jesus Christ, somewhere along the line, it becomes clear that this is where meaning is. This is the heart and soul of why we're here… The kids might get picked up from the playground by mom or dad, kicking and screaming because they are so thoroughly engaged in play that they don' t want to leave… but when we reach the point of being so thoroughly engaged that Christ's life weaves in and out of our own… influencing our thoughts and emotions, our motivations and our actions, we reach the point that we're not ready to leave either… in fact we can't, because at that point we have already received the kingdom of God like a little child. No claims to stake out, no demands to make, we've simply come eager to be welcomed into open arms of Jesus Christ and once there to be blessed richly. Amen.
The foregoing sermon was given by Rev. Dan Holland at the United Parish of Bowie on September 13, 2009.
© 2009 Daniel Holland
