June 22, 2014
This sermon was given to celebrate during worship the children in the congregation at Grace United Methodist Church in York, PA. The service was expertly planned and executed by my wife, Eimy and Jenn Byers, a friend and active member of the congregation. All that went into the service came from the passion that these two women and so many other people put into the lives of the children in our lives. I thank them from the bottom of my heart. Here is the text of the sermon, but the rest of the service was so much more important that I feel that these words were the least important part of the service. Nonetheless, here they are.
Scripture: Mark 10:13-16
I thought to start this morning with a confession. Do you know what it means to confess something? I know usually you don’t expect the pastor to stand up here and confess. Yet that is exactly what I know I need to do. What makes this confession interesting is that it is not just a confession that I am making to you, but rather one that I am making on behalf of the entire church to you, the future of our church.
You see, our scripture today is a wonderful example of Jesus telling us exactly what the Kingdom of Heaven, what the Kingdom of God is like. And we worship here every week and we believe in Jesus Christ, that he died for our sins, that he was resurrected after three days, that he ascended to heaven and sits on the right hand of God the Father. And we worship Him, but what we have here today is a perfect example of worshipping something and someone we don’t understand. We pretend that our faith is strong and that we are in tune with God’s plan for our lives, that is, until the time comes when changes in life put us in a position where we have to either accept the new and work inside of it, or refuse to accept the new and demand that the world adapt to us and our traditions. Unfortunately, we are guilty of being a bit stubborn and this has, over time, meant that the church, as a whole, has stopped speaking to those who really need to hear what God and what Christ have to offer. We say we care about the younger generation, until it comes time to put our words into actions, then well, we find one reason or another to justify our traditional way of doing things.
So, I want to confess this morning to you, the children of God’s Kingdom. I apologize on behalf of this church and on behalf of the global church. We have not tried our best to include you. We have stood by and demanded that you worship as we do, that you find our music more meaningful, that you enjoy sermons that are somewhat out of touch and fairly boring. We have turned Christ’s church into our church with no regard that soon enough it will be your church and we are doing you no favors with our stubbornness and our inability to see beyond our own wants and desires.
We, and I, am sorry. We have not been who we claim to be. So, there, I’ve said that. But, here’s the thing. We are human. And there is one thing about humans that it is important to recognize. We have limits. We, as parents, for example, have limits to how much we can let you do. We are responsible for you. Your safety and your well being matter to us because we love you and we have responsibility for you, so regardless of the freedom we may want to give you, there are limits to what we can let you do and there are limits to what we can let ourselves do.
Our world, you will find out, is full of limits. There are limits to everything. There are limits to the amount we can eat. There are limits to the amount we can drink. There are limits to the amount of cold or heat that our bodies can take. There are limits to the speed we can drive on the highway. There are limits to the amount of fun things we can buy, regardless of how many fun things we want to buy and do. There are limits! Limits everywhere. Well, almost everywhere. There is one extremely important exception and that is love. Real love is limitless. When you really love someone there is nothing you won’t do, no limit you won’t pass to show that love or to act in that love.
Unfortunately, that kind of love is not as common as we would like. It really exists only in a few places. It exists in some marriages. It exists in some friendships. But, it always exists in the love that parents have for their kids. You see, we love you. Sometimes we don’t always show it the right way and sometimes you can’t see that we are acting in limitless love, but we do love you beyond any limits.
And finally, the love God has for you is limitless. The love God has for all His children is limitless.
The scripture I read this morning tells this story of limitless love. In the verses before the ones I read, Jesus is telling his followers that God never intended for there to be limits to life. God never intended limits on the length of our lives. God never intended there to be limits to our relationships. God never intended there to be limits on how we experience God himself.
You see, in Jesus day, little children were a nuisance. They were to be kept on the sidelines. When something important is going on, the little children are to be led away, so as not to interfere with whatever important business the adults are dealing with. But, Jesus wouldn’t have any of it. Jesus received the children, he hugged them, and he blessed them. Furthermore, Jesus says that in all of this, the kingdom of God is made manifest. Do you know what that means? To make manifest? It means to make totally obvious. To see plainly. To know beyond a shadow of doubt that something is real.
So, in this moment, Jesus says that with these little children the Kingdom of God is real, plainly obvious.
So what does this mean about what God is like? God brings people together. God desires that people who, having once been brought together, ought to stay together. God is the one who refuses to send these “little ones” away. Instead, God is the one who receives and embraces the little ones.
So when we read this passage what we are seeing is the great difference between God and ourselves. We, the human race, have limits. God, thankfully, has no such limitations. When we make promises, when we try to engage each other with nice words, when we make plans, sometimes we go past what our limitations are. Our promises get broken. Our encouragement and engagement of others turns into hurtful words that leave scars that don’t easily heal. Our plans fall through for any number of reasons.
But today, Jesus makes clear that God is not like that! God is the one who, from the very beginning unites, fosters communion. God is the one who brings individuals into community. That is how we got the church. God took us as different individuals, many of us quite unlike one another, and brought us together into communion in the church.
Furthermore, God is the one who enables us not only to bring “little ones” into the world but also to expend our lives in caring for the least of these. In every congregation there are people who take responsibility for children who are not their biological children, but are theirs as an assignment, as a gift of God.
We are, of course, only human. There are limits upon our love -- limits upon our ability to stay with other people, particularly people in great need, and to keep our lives bound to theirs. But this truth must be sent alongside a counter-truth -- the love of God does not have such limits. We try to separate from each other, but God does not separate from us. God has no limits, and especially when we are talking about God’s love.
I began, confessing to you that we, the adults in your lives are not perfect. But, we ask for your patience even when we seem to have none left for you. Be patient with us as we try to live into the people God has called us to be. I plead with you to open your hearts and minds to learn from us all that we have to teach you about life, about love, and about the God who created you and knew you first and who loves you beyond limitation.
And to those who are older children in this congregation, I ask to keep open your hearts and minds to accept these “little ones.” To love them, to support them, to teach them and yes, to learn from them. Jesus saw their very worth, and we must be reminded of that from time to time as well. As we live together as a church, we must be constantly reminded that what we want is not the important thing here. The important thing is our mission. That mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. All that we say and do. Every dollar we spend. Every service we perform. Every act of volunteerism we participate in has to be done towards this goal, this mission. If we are making a decision and the most important aspect of that decision is if it is what We want or what We think will be best, then our intentions need to be questioned because we are not thinking and acting as God calls us to.
Tradition is important and our past we should pass on to our youth, but if we are asking them to be open to our tradition, we must also force ourselves to be open to their ideas, their newness, their pleas to start talking and walking and worshipping with an eye outwards rather than just inwards.
Kids, thank you for showing us today that worship and fun go together more easily than we would like to admit.
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