Children, Communion and Baptists

In the last week or so I have been involved in planning an All Age Communion for the Yorkshire Baptist Association’s Assembly in June. A little birdie told me that the same idea (All Age Communion) was proposed for the Joint BUGB and BMS assemblies in Brighton, but it was quickly vetoed.

What is it with us Baptists? Most of us (not all, I know) want to prevent children from taking the bread and the wine because they ‘don’t understand’. But, if we rigorously applied such a criteria to all who come to a service of the Lord’s Supper, how many of us actually would be allowed to participate? I wonder!

Most of us (again, not all) have an entirely open table. Anyone who comes into our churches would be allowed to receive bread and wine without question or objection. But we withhold it from the believing children of families already in membership with us.

Our policies are totally inconsistent. And we can’t even see it. Jesus must weep.

Walk through the Old Testament

Mant thanks to Wayne, from 'Walk through the Bible Ministries' for a totally outstanding 'Walk Through the Old Testament' seminar today. I don't think I've ever heard such an engaging and inspiring explanation of how the story of the Bible fits together: Creation ... Fall ... Flood ... Nations ... ... Four Hundred Years Silence ... Christ! I can't recommend it highly enough!!

Connecting the Christian Faith with Children: some initial observations from my survey

So far I have only analysed 10 of the survey forms sent out by the Yorkshire Baptist Asociation to our churches to find out how they connect the Christian faith with their children. There are more forms to be looked at in my 'to do pile', and I know that it's not easy to come to any firm conclusions from a sample of 10. But some of the 'trends' are certainly interesting.

- 70% of our churches run a Sunday School / Junior Church on Sunday morning. 30% run midweek children’s clubs of various sorts. But that means that 30% of our churches have no contact with and no provision for children at all.

- In the children's activities offered by our churches, there seems to be a huge emphasis on instruction (most spending at least 50% of their time on it) and craft activities (up to 80% of the time). Prayer (maximum 10% of the time) and worship (maximum 20% of the time) are conspicuous by their relative absence!

- I deliberately asked each church to fill in two sets of forms: one for the minister and one for the main children's worker. And the differences between the answers on the two forms are telling! Most ministers don’t actually know what happens in Junior Church or how much time is spent on anything (although they did try to ‘guess’, most got it wrong)!

- In 20% of our churches there is no link between what the children and the adults do on a Sunday morning. Only 30% (?!) say they try to maintain a link at Christmas and Easter. Only 20% of our churches follow the same theme for children as well as adults in all services.

- Only 50% of our churches have a regular children’s address or a time for the youngsters in the service.

- Only 20% of our churches allow children to participate in communion. Another 30% do not allow children to attend communion services. That means 50% of our churches allow children to be present but do not serve them with bread and wine: they may get a blessing, or orange-juice and a biscuit.

- Only 30% of our churches have a regular (monthly) All Age service. Another 40% have family services at Harvest, Christmas and other Christian Festivals.

- None (that's right ... none) of the churches who have so far responded have any clear idea of the purpose of their work with children (although only 10% are willing to admit that to be the case). In many cases, the children’s workers and the minister disagree about the purpose of the work! And (worryingly?) only 20% of the churches even mentioned ‘Safe to Grow’!

- 90% of our churches rely heavily on the children’s own parents to teach them in Sunday School. 7 out of the 10 churches who have so far responded say that at least 30% of their Sunday School teachers are the parents of the children in the Sunday School. For some churches, that figure is as high as 66%! (I wonder what that says to our families about how welcoming we really are to children? "We love to see the children in church, but we expect their mums to look after them in Sunday School.")

- The vast majority of adults who teach in Sunday school are female. (I think that is also worrying.)

- At least 50% of our churches also rely, for Sunday School, on members of the congregation who are also teachers. (Are they thereby abdicating any responsibility for providing appropriate training?) 100% of churches have had little or no training at all for their children’s workers.

- Only 40% of our churches are able to offer a rota system so the teachers can sometimes attend worship.

- 100% of our churches have little or nothing in the budget for children’s work or all age work. Although they did say that anything the teachers need is paid for. (What does that say about the churches' priorities? We don't actually have any money in the budget for you, but if you come to the finance committe cap in hand we'll pay your bills.) In 10% of churches, the teachers themselves pay for a lot of the materials (and the minister is not even aware of it).

- In only 30% of churches do the children’s workers feel sufficiently affirmed. In only 20% of churches are the workers annually commissioned. And in only 20% of the churches are the children and teachers prayed for before they go to their classes. When asked what further support and affirmation they would like, the overwhelming answer was simply that the teachers would like people in the church to say ‘thank you.’

- Only 20% of our ministers participate in planning meetings for the children’s work. Only 20% of them ever attend the children’s groups (and only the mid-week groups at that). And even fewer ministers ever teach in those groups.

I hope the remaining forms prove some of these trends to be false. But if the above really is an accurate assessment of where our churches are with regard to children, is it any wonder we're in a mess?

Children and God: the seventh option!

Earlier, I pasted here Lynn's post (http://helpiworkwithchildren.blogspot.com/) on six possible positions on the status of children before God. She said she would post a seventh option later. And here it is!

"Answer 7: All children begin with God, but will drift from that position unless an effective nurturing or evangelistic influence operates in their lives.

"Key to this is that the child’s belongingness to God may become rebellion. There is no assumption that the belonging WILL become rebellion. This answer takes account of humanity’s rebellion against God and the child’s potential to be part of that. But it holds that potential in tension with Jesus’ own teaching about children and the Kingdom. Taking that teaching seriously, it holds that all children begin with God, but that they will drift from that safe position unless the drift is halted and reversed.

"So we need to have a VISION to cater for this; both within the Christian family and amongst the children's team.The answer also makes sense of the fact that the faith of many adults began with Christian nurture in the home and grew into mature Christian discipleship. Some adult Christians have never doubted that they belong to God. They have been nurtured in that sense of belonging; they have agreed with it; they have grown in it. They have never consciously said “no” to Jesus………

"I sometimes feel that we inadvertantly devalue the testimonies of people who grew up knowing Jesus, unable to put an exact time and date on when they were converted to Christ. In guest services and in evangelistic events we favour the dramatic and sudden turnaround conversion stories. I must stress that these are great stories to hear and real faith-builders! But I have now come to a point where I celebrate amongst the children I work with the fact that they love Jesus. They cite their earliest memories of being "Jesus' friend". I encourage them to continue on in that, encouraging them to "keep saying yes to Jesus". This makes sense of Westerhoff's theory of faith development. A child begins their faith journey on an experiential basis - if they experience the love of God from kind and caring adults who nurture them, then they will accept Jesus at that level. (so put your best child care workers in the creche!)

"The next stage; the affiliative stage is where a child will take on their faith because of who they are affiliated to i.e. who are their friends and what do they believe in? This leads to the searching faith period - where a child/young adult asks questions; tests us to see if what we talk about is true in our own lives; wrestles with big issues perhaps; looks for reality in what they see in the church around them. As an aside, many adults have not left this stage!

"The final stage is owned faith - where the individual makes their faith their own; to the point of being willing to lay themselves down for their faith.

"And so I hold that children are on a journey that starts with God but may not end with him. They are part of fallen humanity and will revert to that default position - hellbound and lost without God - without a twin strategy of nurture and evangelism. Incidentally - and for another post I throw this controversial comment out - many church-going parents may not be fulfilling their God given role of nurturing their children in their faith (see Barna's important research on this topic in the USA; where the USA go, we usually follow......)"

Thanks, Lynn, for such a helpful outline.

It’s not easy being a pastor.

This post (http://jesustheradicalpastor.blogspot.com/2007/04/people-formerly-known-as-pastor.html) is part of a blog-conversation I’ve been following.

Look at http://www.kinnon.tv/2007/03/the_people_form.html and http://emergentvoyageurs.blog.com/1664695/?page=last&msgsuccess=1#cmts for some earlier contributions.

As a pastor myself, though, I really resonate with some of this (I’ve adapted and anglicised it just slightly) …

The People Formerly Known As "The Pastor"
There are thousands of us … We started with idealism about being voices for the kingdom of God and soon realized we became mutated forms of … business leaders. Even Jesus became a CEO. We traded immersion in the Bible for hyped-up seminars and books about good management, strong leadership and slick public relations. We learned that the size of our church car-park mattered more than the size of your hearts for God. Be Thou My Vision got altered to "What is your vision statement?"

The People Formerly Known As The Pastor discovered somewhere in "doing church" that they were being paid as surrogates for the congregation's spirituality. You know, the old saying, "Pastors are paid to be good; the people are good for nothing." People seem to tell others more about their pastor(s) than about Jesus, their Savior. Of course, this made pastors feel good and loved and valued. Then it dawned on us, we were feeling good for all the wrong reasons. We were dynamic communicators, we awed people with exegetical biblical wonders, we spoke notebooks full of outlines with cute stories and precise principles and timely applications. We "rightly handled the word of truth" as a magician handles his tricks. What a one-man show. Little did we realize that all our song-and-dance additions overshadowed the eternal Word itself. For all our proclamation about the "sufficiency of Scripture," we communicated as if that Word needed help. And our razzle-dazzle knowledge of Hebrew and Greek helped us create messages that made you feel totally inadequate to do serious Bible study on your own. So, you either read a fluffy devotional snippet each day or ran off to Bible Study Fellowship to really learn the Word.

The People Formerly Known As The Pastor wrestled with conflicting ego issues. Some felt the rush of power over people. Some even said that in order to get to God, you had to go through us. We were your covering (a term never used in pastoral ministry until the 1970s). We were "the Lord's anointed." Don't touch us. Being charged with the eternal well-being of souls is heady stuff. And, sadly, it went to our heads. We became commanders rather than servants. We liked the feeling of bossing people around...in the name of the Lord, of course. When you confronted us with our spiritual abuse of you, we were quick and smooth, savvy and cunning, and we made you feel like it was all your fault. On the other hand, others of us were scared to death of you. You gave us our paycheck. You gave us benefits. Unknown to us, you called us to your church in order to get your way. We thought we were authentically praying to God, "Your will be done...," but it became apparent that the will of God was the will of those who had the money. We became people-pleasers at the cost of our own dreams. Eventually the commanders among us got kicked out of the church and the fearful among us got scared out. Selling shoes looked mighty appealing.

The People Formerly Known As The Pastor ran up school bills, too, going to college and seminary. It's costly learning Hebrew and Greek these days. Our peers in the "market place" were making twice, sometimes 3 and 4 times the salary we were offered. We were told to live by faith. We saw the rampant materialism permeate the church and we baptized it with "being relevant with the culture." We officiated at very high-priced weddings and worried how we would get our own kids married. Summer holidays meant Disney-World for you and your kids and a trip to see relatives for us. We tried to remember the thing about "treasures laid up in heaven" while realizing that tithing was the rich person's easy way out. Yes, we made you give to our grandiose building projects, our need for bigger this and newer that "for the Lord." We made you pledge to this idea and that effort. All the while we told you, "You can't serve both God and money." When some of us ventured to speak about simplicity, you thought we were anti-capitalist.

The People Formerly Known As The Pastor loved the idea of spiritual gifts and gift inventory tools. Now we could recruit you with the line, "You will find your deepest joy when you become a Sunday School teacher, a financial council member, an evangelistic campaign organizer." We loved the idea of "recruiting." We could build our religious empire footnoted with Bible verses. More people serving possibly meant a bigger church. We could go to Pastors Conferences armed and ready to shoot off our mouths about "the hand of God's blessing on my church." Note that many pastors really do say,"My church." Our worries at night about problems and struggles in "my church" were the signal that we truly had taken ownership of what is God's. When we overlooked 20 compliments and ruminated angrily over one negative comment, we knew it was "all about us." Some of us needed counseling.The People Formerly Known As The Pastor were angry people. Not that you would know it. Our spouses and children knew it. We lived in glass houses. Our kids had to be angels while yours were taking drugs and having sex. And, God forbid, that anyone in the church say anything negative about your kid(s). When you "dedicated" them to God on that Sunday morning, the church committed to helping you raise your child. But, watch out if someone corrected your child while at church. You lost it. You left. You were living under some crazy belief that being born a sinner didn't apply to your children. You wanted to drop them off in a very safe environment with very safe people and then you could forget all about them and do your church thing. You would listen to "Focus on the Family" and then pay church staff to focus on your kids. It was really a crazy environment.

The People Formerly Known As The Pastor began to smell something rotting in the whole "church" thing. Only once in the New Testament is the term for the service of pastor used as a noun (Ephesians 4:11-12). All the rest of the times "pastoring/shepherding" is used as a verbal form, except when used of Jesus. Having accepted a corrupted image and Christendom model of "the pastor," we finally began to see that corruption infiltrating the church. Apostles and prophets and deacons and elders/overseers are mentioned far more than "the pastor." Why did this one term and office (!) gain supremacy? In its current expression, "the pastor" certainly isn't biblical. And don't get some of us started on the injustice of limiting the equal status of women in ministry.

The People Formerly Known As The Pastor are still serving in the places once populated by The People Formerly Known As The Congregation. At least some of us are. We are not seeking to command and control. We are not jittery about what people think. We are not afraid of the seismic shift caused by TPFKATC. We sense that something magnificent is afoot. We are intrigued by the chaos. We, TPFKATP, are willing to risk significant change with TPFKATC in order to recover or even create local expressions of the kingdom of God that first of all are burning with missional passion and practice. We want to explore with you the meaning of the chaos, the vision of a preferred future, the challenge of being "church." We dream of kingdom outposts that are guided by the biblical text in its storied form, shaped by the community of the Trinitarian God, and devoted to the equality of all who are in the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. What does this mean for "the pastor"? Who knows? That's the adventure we all are in!

The Penguins Formerly Known as the Waddle

Fascinating post from http://emerginggrace.blogspot.com/2007/04/underlying-issues.html. Go there to read it in its entirety + comments, etc.!

“… Many of us are headed down a path where we will no longer fit in with church as usual. There is a path of detox and deconstruction that leads to an understanding of the underlying problems in the system of church that Christianity has functioned in for many years …

Passivity: We are convinced that a church system which allows believers to fulfill their weekly spiritual obligation by listening to a sermon creates a consumerist audience who have not been encouraged to step into the responsibility of being a disciple and discipling others.-

Clergy/Laity: We have seen that the false distinction between clergy and laity has led to a professionalization of ministry which contributes to the passivity of congregants.

Tithing: We believe that tithing has been taught as a method of obligatory giving in order to create a permanent source of funding for institutions. We believe that we are to develop a relationship of obedience to the Holy Spirit concerning our giving rather than simply paying our dues to a religious system.

Buildings: We are convicted that the millions of dollars spent on buildings for churches has not been wise stewardship of the resources that have been entrusted to church leaders.

Attractional methods: We understand from Scripture that it is our duty and mission to go to the lost rather than to expect them to come to us.

Programs: We are convinced that becoming busy with programs within the church removes us from developing relationships with those who aren't involved in church. We no longer equate service in church programs with faithful commitment and service to God.

Dualism: We no longer see a Sunday morning service as the complete expression of our sacred lives. We have developed an understanding of our role as the people of God that requires being the church in all that we do.

Incarnational living: We purpose to minister in the opportunities that our daily lives present, and we are intentional about involving ourselves in the lives of others in deeper ways than a Sunday service allows or requires.

Following the Spirit: We are convicted that dependence on the Holy Spirit is required to move forward into becoming the people we were created to be. We are also convinced that the Holy Spirit is leading us away from the systems and structures that provide a comfortable complacency rather than the challenging mission we are called to.

Servant leadership: Lastly, we see clearly that the hierarchical structures of leadership that have been taught through tradition are not scriptural. We know that the methods of leadership that are so often defended as biblical are at odds with the type of relationships that Jesus intended for us to have with one another.

We have not come to these convictions carelessly or casually. They will shape and inform our spiritual journey whether we continue in the traditional system or find another expression of church. Whether or not we ourselves are written off as reactionary, the church will eventually have to address the validity of these issues.”

A Maundy Thursday Liturgy

from http://markjberry.blogs.com/way_out_west/2007/04/scraping_off_th.html

jesus washes the feet of the disciples

reading - john 13v3-17

scraping off the shit where we walk, we walk in the crap left by others, by ourselves, the mess of human lives, the comings and goings of a wasteful, corrupt and selfish world, we wallow in the dirt and the hurt, oblivious to the stink and the stains that we carry with us. God stripped off all finery, stepped in our shit, knelt in it, touched it, held our ugliest bits in the very hands that made us and washed them clean.

hands which formed matter, pulse which set the rhythm of the planets, breath which stirred life into being, mind which dreamt the diversity of the species, eyes which bore deep into the heart of humanity, heart which yearns for us to choose peace, feet that walk each step with us, mouth which chides and comforts, arms which embrace the hurting, strength which sustains the weak, life which was given up for love, creator who scrapes the shit off my feet, God who serves.

wash me clean

where I judge others
where I dismiss others
where I abuse others
where I ignore others
where I ridicule others
where I use others

wash me clean

where I elevate myself
where I think only of myself
where I want only for myself
where I gather to myself
where I hold to myself
where I value only myself

wash me clean

where I seek for power
where I seek for control
where I seek for praise
where I seek for status
where I seek for fame
where I seek for wealth

wash me clean

we begin this story of service and servant-hood by washing the feet of each other; we are a community of service, we serve each other, we serve the people we meet on the road, we serve the town in which we live, we serve the servant God, who as the God who became flesh and blood and lived amongst us chose to get right down and dirty in the shit and stink of human life to wash the feet of those he lived with. so we wash each others feet.

[washing of each others feet]

reading - micah 6v6-8

the challenge for us is that instead of pointing to the rubbish others have accumulated from a place of “holier than thou” judgment, calling them to lift themselves out of the mire, we like Jesus bend and kneel amongst the dirt and the hurt, we get right amongst it, see it up close, feel it, smell it, risk its contamination… and wash the feet of those we serve.

may we be at all times,
both now and forever
a protector for those without protection
a guide for those who have lost their way
a ship for those with oceans to cross
a bridge for those with rivers to cross
a sanctuary for those in danger
a lamp for those without light
a place of refuge for those who lack shelter
and a servant to all in need.
- a buddhist prayer of peace

in that moment at the table Jesus was host and servant, head of the table and willing slave, honoured guest and lowest member of staff, holy and humble one. stripping himself of all status and authority he calls us to a humility that flies in the face of modern culture and human logic, to a holiness that follows his pattern… to love in the name of the servant God.

What is the Place of Children before God?

Many thanks to Lynn at http://helpiworkwithchildren.blogspot.com/2007/03/status-of-children-before-god-part-1.html for these thoughts.

“Children are not mere ignoramuses in terms of spiritual insight in the Gospel tradition. They know Jesus’ true identity. They praise Him as the Son of David (Matthew 21:14-16). They have this knowledge from God and not from themselves and because they do, they are living manifestos to the source of all true knowledge about Christ as from God”

- Gundry-Volf, J. (2000) “To Such As These Belongs the Reign of God: Jesus and Children”: in Theology Today, Jan 2000: 479 – 480

Six different views … Two of them (numbers 1 and 6) are diametrically opposed and three of them are broadly similar and concentrate on areas of faith development and nurture.

Possible Answer 1: all children start life outside the Kingdom of God. This assumes that children of all ages are in exactly the same position before God as adults i.e. in sin and rebellion and if they die before repentance and faith, they are hell-bound

So……….What did Jesus mean when he said: “the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these?”And yet note the reality of rebellion and sin, even in quite small children.

Possible Answer 2: the presence of a Christian parent establishes right standing before God. This is based on teaching about the covenant; the special agreement between God and his people (Genesis 17, Deut 29, 1 Peter 2:9-10) The children of the people of God also belong to him.

If this possible answer was true, would we not see urgent evangelism amongst parents?

Possible Answer 3: the presence of a Christian parent creates privilege, not standing. This is a softer version of answer 2. To be in a Christian home environment increases the likelihood of future Christian discipleship. It is more likely that he will be nurtured towards faith.

Possible Answer 4: the experience of baptism establishes right standing before God.Put simply: if a child is baptised, s/he is acceptable to God. If s/he is not baptised, s/he is not. So we must get children to baptism as soon as possible.

Possible Answer 5: the experience of baptism enhances privileges.This is a softer version of answer 4. It assumes that baptism is undertaken seriously as an expression of faith and hope by the parents. It enhances the possibility of future discipleship, like answer 3.

Possible Answer 6: All children belong to God.This answer can lead people into difficulties. Until a child can have a personal experience of sin, and therefore of guilt, s/he is covered by Christ’s saving work. But how do we know when a child stops being a child i.e. when do they move from the “saved” position to the “unsaved” position?

Lynn is posting a 7th possible answer soon. Can’t wait!

Mediated Discipleship

Mediated Discipleship
Great quote here from http://emergentvoyageurs.blog.com/1655629/
"For me, the basic idea behind mediated discipleship is that millions of Christians relate to Jesus through the writings, teachings, and experiences of someone else, usually someone with whom they have no direct relationship. Quite often, these middlemen and women, these mediators we employ, enjoy a certain amount of celebrity within the Christian subculture..."I’m just wondering if it’s gone too far. As Christianity becomes increasingly commercialized, is it even possible for us to know Jesus apart from the Christianized media we consume?... When discipleship to Jesus becomes dependent, as it so often does, on the writings, teachings, and experiences of someone else, I’ve got to stop and ask myself a question: 'Is this what Jesus had in mind when he invited us to follow him?'"
For a long time the church has not been good at encouraging personal discipleship. We foster among those in our congregations a dependence on the ‘sermon’ – week by week we present our members with information about the God we worship – rather than encouraging them to connect with and develop their relationship with that God.

It seems to me that this ‘mediated discipleship’ / ‘spiritual celebrity’ is just an extension of the way we Christian leaders have abdicated our responsibilities, and an example of the laziness (can I say that?) of many of our members.

Anyway. I’m off to Spring Harvest next week for a bit of mediated discipleship of my own!!

Palm Sunday sermon on children

Here's the full text of the sermon I preached this morning (Palm Sunday, 1st April 2007). My text was Matthew 16 - 21 (!) and the subject was children and the kingdom.

Introduction

So, the children have left us. They have gone to their activities, while we’re going to stay in here and get on with the proper business of worshipping God. They don’t understand the things that we understand. They can’t participate in the same way we do. So we have removed them – we have rejected them – from the main worship experience … with the best of intentions. We want to teach them about worshipping God, so that when they are old enough to leave the Sunday School and join us adult worshippers, they will understand what is going on.

Except that is not what will happen. Because as soon as they are old enough to leave the Sunday School, in here is the last place we will see them.

I am absolutely serious. The English Church Attendance Survey of 1998 pointed to 1,000 under 15s leaving the church in England every week. Do you know what? We may be providing such a poor experience of church for our youngsters that by the time children reach the age of 10 (the most common leaving age) they are desperate to escape.

So, yes, the children have left us. But let me suggest that they – and maybe more significantly we – are poorer because of it.

I want to take you for a walk this morning. We are going to follow Jesus – take a pilgrimage – from Mount Hermon to Mount Zion. From Caesarea Philippi to Jerusalem. From the very north of the area in which Jesus ministered to near the south. From a centre of pagan worship to the heart of Jewish celebration and sacrifice. From Matthew chapter 16 to Matthew chapter 21.

It’s difficult to keep track of Jesus’ life story when we focus on single verses or short passages of Scripture. And it’s easy to miss the trends, or links, or themes that run through the story when we read the Bible that way in Church. So, this morning we are going to be thinking about six whole chapters. Don’t worry, I’m not going to read all 200 verses. But I am going to be pulling out some themes that we would almost certainly miss if we didn’t look at them all together.

Caesarea Philippi is (was) on the slopes of Mount Hermon, North of the Sea of Galilee, not far from present-day Damascus. And it is in Caesarea Philippi that Jesus’ ministry gains a new urgency and a new focus. Yes, Jesus is still announcing and revealing the Kingdom of Heaven. But the unforgettable truth of Peter’s declaration: “You (Jesus) are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God,” marks – quite literally – a new direction for Jesus. He turns south, heading for the place where a cross awaits Him.

Things, of course, are different now. Jesus’ followers, at last, have realised who He is. And, at last, Jesus can begin to explain to them what is going to happen to Him in the not too distant future. He shares with His disciples the heart of the Gospel: that He, the Christ, must suffer and be killed before being raised to life; and that God’s Kingdom is completely and utterly different to the kingdoms on earth.

Peter’s unforgettable declaration is confirmed on the top of Mount Hermon – the Mount of Transfiguration. A stunning spiritual high point, that is immediately followed by what must have been, for Jesus’ disciples, the lowest humiliation yet. While Jesus and Peter and James and John were up the mountain, the rest of His followers had been busy attempting to exorcise (that’s exorcise spelt with an ‘o’ – nothing like exercising a dog) … they had unsuccessfully (it has to be said) attempting to exorcise … a small child.

One of the themes – perhaps the main theme – running through this climactic period in the ministry of Jesus is children and childhood. Every that Jesus says from here on in – everything that happens to Him – is compared and contrasted with childlikeness.

1. Faith and Prayer

In Matthew 17.14, the father of the child brings his son to Jesus. And in the shadow of the snow-capped peak, Jesus heals the boy. Have you ever stopped to think about just how many of Jesus’ healing miracles involve children? Our journey – our pilgrimage – begins with Jesus’ love, His compassion, His healing care, for a small child. (And yet we have sent ours away.)

The disciples, who hadn’t been able to do it themselves, ask Jesus why they couldn’t rebuke and drive out the demon. And Jesus told them (Matthew 17.20) it was because of their lack of faith. Mark, when he records the same story, puts the disciples’ failure down to a lack of prayer (Mark 9.29). Faith and prayer. Prayer and faith.

2. Become like Children

Having showed His followers – through the healing of the boy with epilepsy – the overwhelming importance of prayer and faith. Jesus heads south, and arrives at Capernaum, on the shores of Lake Galilee. Peter’s home was here, and much of Jesus’ ministry took place in and around this town.

And it is at this point in our story, we find the disciples arguing. And they are arguing about greatness. Even after the Sermon on the Mount, in which their categories must have been flipped on their heads and everything was turned upside down, they were arguing about greatness. Even after Jesus had blessed the poor, the hungry, and the persecuted, the disciples were still fixated on greatness.

So, Jesus called to Himself a child – the essence of one who is powerless, dependent, needy, little and poor. He placed the child ‘in the midst of them,’ as a concrete, visible sacrament of how the Kingdom looks. And He said, “Unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18.3).

But we so often misunderstand what Jesus said. Usually, people make a list of the attributes of children. For example: they are trusting, they are questioning, they are reliant and dependent upon others. And then we try to apply those things to adults. But, if we do that, we have be very careful that we don’t just read our own adult and cultural preferences back into children.

So what did Jesus really say? Well, first of all, he said we (adult Christians) have to change. So, are we prepared to change or not? If we’re not, then we are unlikely ever to be able to enter into God’s way of doing things. We have to ask ourselves whether we are allowing Jesus to change us. That is primary.

But what about ‘becoming like children’? I am not really sure I know exactly what that means. I know – I’ve heard it, you’ve heard it – people say that when Jesus told us to become childlike He didn’t tell us to be childish. But knowing what it doesn’t mean doesn’t help us to understand what Jesus did mean. (And, anyway, we have sent them away. We don’t want to be like children. We want to get on with the business of grown-up worship.)

Perhaps becoming like children has something to do with having open and enquiring minds? Perhaps it’s about being ready to learn, to obey, to grow, to change, to wonder? Or perhaps it’s more about being ready and willing to pray the Lord’s Prayer. You know: ‘Our Father in Heaven … may Your way of doing things take precedence … may Your will be done …’ ‘You are the Potter; I am the clay’

3. Welcome Children

Let’s move on. We’re still in Capernaum, though, with the fishing boats moving silently across the waters of Galilee clearly visible as Jesus speaks: “Whoever welcomes a child in my name welcomes me” (Matthew 18.5).

What are our relationships like with the children in our churches? Do we really welcome them in the name of Jesus?

In many of our modern, sophisticated congregations, children are viewed as distractions. We tolerate children only to the extent they promise to become ‘adults’ like us. Adult members sometimes complain that they cannot pay attention to the sermon, they cannot listen to the beautiful music, when fidgety children are beside them in the pews. ‘Send them away,’ many adults say. Create ‘Children’s Church’ so these distracting children can be removed in order that we adults can pay attention.

But Jesus put a child in the centre of His disciples, ‘in the midst of them,’ in order to help them pay attention. The child, in Jesus’ mind, was not an annoying distraction. The child was a last-ditch effort by God to help the disciples pay attention to the odd nature of God’s kingdom. Few acts of Jesus are more radical, more counter-cultural.

And yet there has been an adult bias in every aspect of Christian thinking for the last 2000 years. Children have been all but invisible in much of the process and content of mainstream Christian theology, and our churches are all built around the needs and desires of adults. We have seen children as objects to be educated or protected (adults-in-waiting, human-becomings) rather than as agents and signs of God’s kingdom with unique contributions and insights. We have developed a blind spot with regard to the place of children in the ministry of Jesus, and the place of children in the life of the community of God.

Jesus himself deliberately placed a little child at the centre of a theological discussion about the nature of the Kingdom of Heaven and then taught several vital truths while the child was standing there. Not while the child was standing in the background, in the shadows, at the margins, or in the Sunday School room, but ‘in the midst’! Listen: children are central to the biblical vision of the Kingdom of God. They are agents of and partners in God’s mission, not simply recipients of the Good News!

And when we welcome them into our churches, into our services – when we are really, joyfully open to them – then we will find that we have welcomed Jesus!

And how about this? What if it is precisely in receiving and welcoming children that we become like them? (But we haven’t received and welcomed them; we have sent them away.)

4. God Hates Child Abuse

Let’s move on again. And with barely a pause Jesus dramatically changes mood. Jesus’ next words are probably His most angry and condemnatory. These are words that it is so hard to read, and to hear, that most of the time we just omit them.

Matthew 18.6-9: “If any of you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea. What sorrow awaits the world, because it tempts people to sin. Temptations are inevitable, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting. So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand or one foot than to be thrown into eternal fire with both of your hands and feet. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”

Don’t you shudder when you hear stories of priests (and it isn’t just Roman Catholics) involved in child abuse? And if it makes you shudder, how does Jesus feel? How does that Graham Kendrick song go? ‘Who can sound the depths of sorrow in the Father heart of God?’

But, hey, this isn’t just about priests. It’s about everything that might cause children (‘little ones’) to sin. Just look around you at the world we have allowed to be created around us for 21st century children. Child soldiers steal, murder and rape in their hundreds of thousands. There are tens of millions of child prostitutes. What about the children of the rich who grow up to envy the possessions and wealth of others and long to have it? What about those who are targeted and branded by transnational corporations and advertising and marketing machines? Think about corporate and institutional paedophilia. In all these examples, and many, many more, children are being led into sin.

We – adults – we must kneel down and ask God’s forgiveness not only for the sins we know we have committed, but also for the systems and institutions that, by doing nothing, we continue to allow to be created. By not challenging these things – by most of the time not even thinking about them – we cause little ones to sin.

It’s a sobering thought isn’t it?

5. Value Each Child

Let’s return to our story – our pilgrimage. The water of Galilee is still lapping near the feet of Jesus. The afternoon turns to dusk, and the hills in the east grow richer in colour and texture as the sun drops towards the horizon.

Jesus is still telling stories. Right now, it’s the parable of the lost sheep. Isn’t that a wonderful tale? God sees each one of us as of eternal value. God sent Jesus as the Shepherd to search for us and bring us to our Heavenly Home on His shoulders.

But I wonder if you have ever noticed that the story is about children. Jesus is still on the subject of ‘little ones’. He introduces the parable with a reference to the fact that each child has a guardian angel! (Now there’s a neglected teaching!) Jesus’ story of the one lost sheep is set in the context of Jesus’ teaching about the value and dignity and worth of children. And there is a moral to it: “see that you don’t look down on these little ones.” (So why have we sent them away?)

So perhaps the meaning of Jesus’ parable is not simply that God cares for us all as individuals. Perhaps the story is addressed to us – adults – as a call to be Good Shepherds, joining in the search for the lost sheep, restructuring our lives (our churches even?) so that each individual child is loved unconditionally.

6. Allow Children and their Families and Friends to Come to Jesus

Jesus leaves Capernaum, and wends His way south along the eastern shore of the River Jordan. He must have passed the place where He was baptised by His cousin John. It’s not too fanciful to imagine that the next incident on our pilgrimage took place at or near to the exact spot.

Perhaps Jesus was tired from His journey (and all the talking). Perhaps He had settled himself on a boulder to catch His breath. Perhaps he stopped for a bite to eat, or to lap at the water in the river beside Him.

The crowds were still following. But Jesus’ disciples decided that He needed some privacy. Enough was enough for one day. So when some of the parents in the crowd started bringing their children to Jesus so He could pray for them, the disciples (symbolic, perhaps, of the church) tried to keep them at a distance.

It’s a familiar story isn’t it? We’ve all heard it. But have you heard it like this? After everything Jesus has just taught them about little ones, His disciples actually tried to prevent people from bringing their children to Jesus for a blessing!

But, sadly, it’s not difficult to find examples of churches and Christians who have, intentionally or not, done exactly the same down through the centuries. We – adults – have tended to overestimate our own importance, and we have tended to underestimate the significance of the direct relationship between children and their Saviour. And don’t think your church isn’t guilty. And don’t think my church isn’t guilty.

Even the way we tend to use the Bible with our children does it. We have all heard – maybe we have been guilty of telling – versions of the story of Noah and the Ark that focus almost exclusively on the fluffy animals and miss the point of why that story is in our Bibles in the first place! We carve up the Bible into “Bible stories,” so that few children even suspect that the story of God’s people – our story – is not a collection of object lessons or heart-warming anecdotes, but a long story of unbearable loss – and unbearable hope. We violate the story by telling it in snippets, out of order, and treating it chiefly as a source of themes and moral maxims.

‘Children’s Bibles’ are one of my pet hates! Because they reflect prevailing fashions and worldviews, and an adult gate-keeping or selection of what is felt to be suitable for children. It’s a myth that adults understand the whole Bible whereas children can only understand certain adult-selected parts! We have sold our children short. In a culture bloated on junk food, the church has offered its children only crumbs. We can and must do much more to offer our children the nourishment of a rich variety of scriptural images. We can and must do much more to allow our children to come to Jesus.

I said this earlier: we may be providing such a poor experience of church for our youngsters that by the time children reach the age of 10 (the most common leaving age) they are desperate to escape. And what is that if it’s not preventing them from coming to Jesus?

7. Children are Signs of the Kingdom of Heaven

We are still following the River Jordan, but Jesus’ final destination is near. And Jesus has more to share with His followers on this whole subject of little ones. Matthew 19.14: Jesus says that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to children!

You see, when Jesus teaches about the Kingdom of Heaven, we learn that greatness in His kingdom has nothing to do with status, power, strength, influence, wealth, or the normal assumptions in society. We have to change (to repent) to enter the kingdom. You have to become like little children if we are to enter the kingdom of
Heaven. When we welcome a little child we welcome the Lord of the Kingdom!
The Kingdom belongs to the childlike. In other words, Jesus’ Kingdom is not like an earthly kingdom at all. It is a whole new way of living. It’s an upside-down, inside-out and back-to-front world. And it operates on almost exactly the opposite principles of the political kingdoms we know from personal experience and history worldwide.

The other great paradox of the Kingdom of Heaven is that it has already started, but it is not yet fully realised, or when it started. It is ‘now’, but also ‘not yet’. And children can help us to understand that paradox. Because children are both fully human (now) and also not fully developed (not yet). Childhood and the Kingdom illuminate one another.

So whenever you see children playing, watch them refusing to be fixed and finalised, open to exploration and revelation and change. Remind yourself about God’s way of doing things, because there is no better sign of the Kingdom. (But we can’t see them because we’ve sent them away.)

James and John, though, (like lots of us and our churches) are still fixated on the ‘greatness’ question, and persuade their mother to ask Jesus who would sit at His right hand and His left hand in heaven. Jesus’ disciples still didn’t get it!

8. Children’s Worship: God’s Way of Doing Things

At last, Jesus arrives at Jerusalem. He rides His donkey from the Mount of Olives, over the coats and branches laid before Him in the road, and into the heart of the city.

He enters the Temple courtyards, and upsets the Ministers there by overturning the bookshelves and the fair-trade stall, by emptying out the collecting plates and scattering the change, sending pound coins skipping and rolling down the stone staircase.

And still the crowds came to him. Blind people were made to see again. Cripples threw away their zimmer frames. This is what church is supposed to be: come to Jesus and find life!

And the children, the children who had started the football chant …
Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!
… they were all there too. Still singing and chanting and crying out.

But how did they know? Where did those words come from? Why was Jesus letting them say those things? The Temple ministers were angry. Livid, in fact. The behaviour of the young people, the singing and the shouting, was wholly inappropriate! Not the sort of thing that goes on in our church! Shut them up!! Give them an ASBO!!!

Sometimes children think playing is more important than formal education. Perhaps that’s the way God sees things too. And when our children don’t do exactly what we think they ought to in church, and we disapprove, or glare, or ‘tut’, or make their parents feel so uncomfortable that they don’t ever come back … is our disapproval representative of God and the way He feels?

I love to see children worshipping. I love to lead children in worship. Because their worship is more real than that of many adults. And they are much more in tune with God’s way of doing things than we are.

Jesus knew that. He saw the singing and shouting of the children in the temple in a completely different way. He knew that they were doing exactly what God had intended.

So Jesus quoted the Scriptures back at those Temple Ministers. Psalm 8, in fact. Verse 2, in fact. ‘Have you never read the Bible?’ asks Jesus. ‘From the lips of children and [even] infants God has ordained praise!’ Luke’s version of the story has Jesus adding these words: ‘Try to keep them quiet, and the very stones of this place will cry out in praise.’

Maybe we, too, need to listen more carefully to what our children have to say to us. Jesus challenges us adults to become like little children. And yet so much of what we do with children in church is designed to turn them into what we think are mature Christian adults. Maybe, rather than us teaching them, we need to give them the opportunity to teach us. You might be surprised!

Conclusion

And so we come to the end of our journey, our walk with Jesus. But we have just raced through six chapters in the life of Christ which are of considerable importance in understanding the Kingdom of Heaven, and children, and how they relate to each other.

The journey from Mount Hermon to Mount Zion was an epic one for Jesus. And to all those whose eyes and ears and hearts are open, the heart of the Kingdom and the Gospel that has been revealed is momentous. The whole journey is framed by the cries of an epileptic boy and the shouts of bunch of rowdy young people!

And if we were to take this stuff - these words and this example of Jesus - seriously it would change our churches and our whole lives.

(Many thanks to Keith White on whose devotion on Matthew 16-21 - published as an appendix to the report of the Cambridge Consultation on Child Theology, 20 February 2006 - this sermon is extensively based, and from which it has been adapted! All the good bits are his!!)