Luke 18:15-17
I read a letter recently to
"Dear Abby" in which an elementary school teacher was bemoaning the
many (but not all) children in her class who have no concept of discipline, no
social restraint, no foundational moral code to speak of, and no real idea
about how to behave under any semblance of authority or sense of
community. These children, the teacher says, are the direct product of
neglectful parents who have come to believe life owes them more than they owe
their own children. So these neglectful parents, who often complain of
being "too busy" with their own lives, willingly surrender their
God-given authority and responsibility to teachers and then complain that their
children are not being magically transformed into model citizens or cannot read
and do simple math at grade level. We need only to look at Arkansas’
relatively high number of schools in academic distress to know the depth of
this secular truth.
Traditionally, we have understood
that children do not “just know" anything; in fact no one does, but in a
child's world and mind there is no such thing as "common
sense". They must be taught, and they must be taught from Day
One. These lessons about family, friends, church, faith, community,
discipline, respect, and responsibility do not come as the result of one or two
lessons or one or two lectures (lectures never seem to work anyway, so why do
we keep doing them??). These lessons do not come even by one or two
spankings or other acts of correction. Children learn by example, by
watching and observing (including the lessons we would rather they never
see!). These lessons are reinforced continually so whether good or bad,
these lessons are not "theoretical" like a lecture or even a sermon;
they become practical. And when they become practical, they become an
integrated part of the child's social DNA.
In the community of faith there
are practices and Sacraments that are a very practical part not only of what we
do but essentially define who we truly are; and these practices have their
roots in Moses' teaching to the people of Israel as he reminded the nation that
their children will not "just know" about Israel's history and
liberation by the Lord's mighty hand. "The Story" must be told
from generation to generation; purposefully, intentionally, and
practically. That is, by "doing"; in life, in living with and
relating to one another, and in our religious practices. And it must
begin "immediately". There is no appropriate age for which to
“wait”.
Moses also warned them before
they entered into the Promised Land that they will be walking straight into
blessings they had not acquired for themselves: "cities you did not build,
homes ... you did not fill, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive
groves you did not plant". If "The Story" is not
told faithfully "to
your children at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you
rise", that is, in practical, day-to-day living and religious
practice, the children are at risk of never knowing how they got where they
are, what they went through, and never knowing the goodness of the Lord who
gave them this blessed land AFTER having delivered them from slavery.
This must surely be part of the reason why the Passover celebration is so
elaborate. Absent these practical lessons in the way “The Story” is told,
the children are at risk of expecting that all this "goodness" and
all these blessings of plenty will have always existed and will always be there
because they required no real discipline to attain. They will not
appreciate what they have, and they will never have known how it all came to
be.
We know how easy it is to take
things for granted. We get used to a certain thing - or persons - and we
come to expect these things or these persons to always be there ... for
us ... on our own terms ... when we want or need. It rarely occurs
to us that these things or persons don't "just happen" - and that if
these things and these relationships are not protected and developed and
supported and nurtured and shared mutually, one day they will be
gone. And then it will be too late. Once these
things or persons are gone, because we somehow came to believe we were entitled
to them, it becomes "someone else's" fault when these things no
longer exist (sometimes we even blame the Lord when we don’t get our own way!)
because it never occurred to us and subsequent generations who learn from us if
we fail to teach them by showing them what it took for these things and these
relationships to come into being AND to continue to exist.
It is all the more important now
than ever before that painstaking attention and efforts toward the Church
community be taken lest neglect set in and our children are raised up to simply
expect the church community to be there for them for as long as they want it to be there, never having been
taught that the very existence of any kind of community, but especially the
church, does not "just happen" somehow by magic or by the work of the
Annual Conference or the bishop. It takes mutual effort, mutual sweat, a
mutual sense of community, a mutual sense of faith, and mutual sacrifice.
And it begins at infancy, from day one.
The Roman Catholic Church recently convened a synod in which
the bishops of the Church explored issues of evangelism in efforts to
revitalize the Church. One writer who
observed the goings-on at the synod had this to share: "It may not be easy for the
bishops to say openly, but our
situation in a secularized
world is not ... 'similar to that of the first
Christians.' The early Christians lived in a pagan society untouched by the Good News. Our culture is deeply shaped by rejection of that News and [continually reshaped] by a
sustained effort to live life on explicitly non- or even anti-Christian
grounds. If we are not absolutely clear about that, much effort will be
simply wasted."
So we are not dealing
today with a culture that never heard the Good News; we are dealing with and
living in a society that has largely rejected that Good News in favor of
something ... what? More fulfilling? More appealing? More
satisfying? The writer continues: "Speaking
of being saved: a [ a non-Christian] reading the synod 'Propositions' would
have a hard time knowing what there is to be saved from, religiously speaking.
Violence, war, individualism are condemned and there is call for
reconciliation; human rights, religious liberty, and freedom of conscience are
affirmed. But even the [non-believers] largely agree with us about all
that." Robert Royal
So we are compelled to ask ourselves:
what is the difference between a conscience informed and developed by secular
social or cultural realities, and a soul transformed by the Gospel and the
Spirit? Stability. That's it; stability. It has so often been
said, "When conscience trumps truth, we have moral chaos."
Amidst that "moral chaos" is a lot of moral ambiguity and feel-good
notions about doing whatsoever we please when we please (as long as it’s legal,
it must ok, right?) and going to great lengths to hear only what we wish to
hear and then wondering why the lectures and sermons never take root.
Something magnificent happens,
however, when parents intentionally and purposefully bring their little
children (yes, even infants) forward and offer them to the Lord, His Covenant,
and the community of faith through the practice and Sacrament of Baptism.
In Luke’s gospel it is seen that the "church", represented by
those followers who tried to shoo away these "bothersome" parents who
were bring their “infants” to Jesus, clearly did not get what was being offered
to them and what continued to happen after Pentecost when "entire
households" (presumably including young children and infants) were
baptized according to the faith of a parent who came to the Truth that is
Christ our Lord and who discovered that true salvation is within our grasp
through Christ. It was parental leadership by example within the
community of faith that changed children's lives and taught them, and it is no
less true today. If anything, it is more important now than ever before
in a society informed by rejection of the Gospel!
Jesus is saying in clearly unambiguous terms that
the little children should not be – MUST
NOT be - withheld from Him;
and if we do not “bring” our children to Him in the Covenant, are we not
“withholding” our children from Him? There is no such thing as a
"more appropriate" age, children do not have to be
"prepped" for baptism into the Lord's Covenant, nor do they need to
be taught to say “right things” or “proper prayers” before the Lord will accept
them (is this not like “works”?), and there is no better time than
"now" to teach our children by showing them what is truly important and will
offer “stability” and a firm foundation of faith. Parents must not
"wait and see" what may transpire with children and merely hope for
the best, especially when we are mindful of the social context in which the
Church exists, the social context in which our children are at risk of being
handed over to moral conscience largely informed by a secular culture
"shaped by rejection of
the Gospel", as our writer friend suggests.
Discipleship does not "just
happen". It is directed, it is disciplined, it is focused, and it is
purposeful toward learning more and more about our Lord and our place within
the community of faith. It begins with parents and by the faith of parents.
It continues and is supported and nurtured by and with the faith of the Holy
Church - that's you and me - and it does not end until we breathe our
last. And if we lament the sorry state of our nation that seems to be
going to hell in a hand basket, why would we not work more diligently and
earnestly to build up the community of the Holy Church rather than neglect it –
instead of blaming politicians?
Matthew and Britany McDonald are
about to come before you today and ask a very special favor and bestow on us an
incredible honor. A couple of weeks ago they decided they wanted to join
this church and become a part of this fellowship. Now they are about to
offer their precious child, Sarah, to our Lord in the Sacrament of Baptism, and
they are going to ask the community of Asbury United Methodist Church to
support them, encourage them, and help them to continue to raise up Sarah - and
Savannah - "in the way that they should go" so that "when
they are old, they will not depart" from the Truth who is Christ
our Lord, Christ our Savior, Christ the Lord God's Most Holy Covenant; for the
journey with Christ must begin in the Covenant of Christ, and this beginning is
the Sacrament of Baptism. It is the “real deal”.
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