I love
going to films, but I hate it when people bring little children. I want to watch the film. I don’t want to hear a lot of noise, I don’t
want popcorn in my hair, I don’t want kids running up
and down the aisle between their seats and the concession stand or
restrooms. I want to go to the movies
with other adults – who will act like adults – so that as adults we can enjoy
the film.
I love
going to theological lectures, but I hate it when people bring little
children. I want to listen to the
lecture. I want to interact as an adult
with adult ideas. I don’t want to be
distracted by children.
And sometimes
I forget that church is church. The theology of Christianity appeals to my
adult mind. The richness of the liturgy,
the power of the sensory symbols (sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell) all
appeal to my adult body. The astonishing
call to love the Lord God with all our heart, all our strength, all our mind,
and all our soul calls us to an adult commitment of whole-hearted
sacrifice. Christianity calls me to grow
up. “Be a Man of God.” “Be a Woman of God.”
So it is
all too easy to forget that church is Church. I can become so wrapped up in what it does
for me that I forget that church
isn’t about me. It’s about us.
Church isn’t about my relationship with God – it’s about God’s
relationship with us. God is
not my Father – God is our Father. Church is a community – a kingdom – a nation
– a people. It includes all nations, all
classes, all races, and all ages. As the
Prayerbook reminds us (quoting the Psalms), it is
about our declaring the Glory of God from one generation to the next generation.
Scripture
reminds us repeatedly of the centrality of children. God spoke to little Samuel rather than to the
Priest Eli. Saul was humiliated when God
used the youthful David. The magi
worshipped a baby born of a teen girl.
The learned teachers in the temple were astonished at the questions of
the child. With the exception of
newlywed Peter, many of Jesus’ apostles may have been teens. Those same disciples were perplexed when he
repudiated their sending the children away from the gathering of adults, and
said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them.” He placed a little child on his knee and
said to the astonished adults: “This is
the
Children
are not harmed if we fail to take them to the movies. But we must not fail, not only to welcome
them with us in church, but to engage with
them. To worship with them. To teach them how
to pray, to sing, to listen, to sacrifice, to give, and to encourage one
another to love and good works. We as adults are not harmed if we fail to take
children to the movies. But when we are
deprived of worship with children we are enormously harmed! I don’t mean the parents – I mean all of
us. My children are grown. But if I don’t worship with little children,
if I don’t sing with them, if I don’t pray with them, if I don’t engage with
them, if I don’t take them seriously, then neither do I take the Kingdom of God
seriously, or the nature of the Church, or the words of Jesus himself. Our adult spiritual growth is diminished by
their absence.
It is
nothing at all like going to the movies – it’s Church. It’s not about our tolerating
the presence of children, it’s about our learning how to engage with them in
true worship. After all, that’s what we
promised to do when we said “We will” at their baptism!
The Lord be with you.