Weekly Sermon

The Special Gifts and Needs of Children: October 21, 2001

The Reverend Anne Benefield

Genesis 18:9-15; Luke 18:15-17

People were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they sternly ordered them not to do it. But Jesus called for them and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." Prayer: Heavenly Father, may we be as open to learning as children are, but may we be more attentive than children. We make our prayers in the name of Jesus Christ who beckons us to receive him with the innocence and confidence of a child. Amen. Some sermon topics are a little too close to home and this may be one of them. I've known for months that we would be talking about children this Sunday, but I didn't know my family would expand just in time for this sermon. The whole thing reminds me of a story that my sister Jean likes to tell: Once upon a time in an American neighborhood, a boy and his family lived next to an elderly bachelor who happened to be a professor of child psychology. The professor was always giving parenting advice to the boy's mother. His main theme was that she should give her son more freedom to encourage his creativity. One day the professor had a new cement sidewalk put in. Just a few minutes later, the mother heard a terrible racket and looked out to see the professor carrying her son to their door. His feet were covered with cement. The mother couldn't resist saying to the professor, "Why are you so upset? He was just being creative and leaving his mark." The professor answered, "I love the boy in the abstract, but I don't love him in the concrete!" Let's face it: It is easier to love children in theory than in reality, but God calls us to love them in the concrete not just the abstract. Today is a day when we promise to give them our love by celebrating the Children's Sabbath together. The Children's Sabbath is an interfaith program in which hundreds of churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples are participating this weekend. This is the tenth year of the Children's Sabbath, but it is the first time we at Geneva are celebrating it. I hope we will make it an annual event. The purpose of the Children's Sabbath is to bring attention to the special gifts and special needs of children. As I thought about the special gifts of children, I realized that the special gifts or talents of children are some of the same things that drive us crazy about them. First, children are persistent. They never give up. They can laugh forever, cry forever, talk forever, question forever, and hurt forever. Children persist in making us think about our lives, our priorities, our hopes, our dreams, and our loves. Tony Campolo tells a story about a program in the Dominican Republic where a missionary group started "a tiny factory that produced sandals made out of worn-out automobile tires. With simple tools and very little training, it was possible for young people to carve out the soles for sandals from discarded tires and make them into attractive and durable footwear. The boys would then take the sandals out onto the streets of the city and sell them, providing an income for their families." Dr. Campolo writes, "We told the younger children that if they would go out to the trash dumps and vacant lots of the city and bring us worn-out and discarded automobile tires, we would give them fifty cents for each tire. It wasn't long before we had every old and discarded automobile tire in the city. Then we started getting a lot of new automobile tires…" [Tony Campolo, Let Me Tell You a Story: Life Lessons from Unexpected Places and Unlikely People, (Nashville: Word Publishing, 2000) 126] Children just don't quit. Not only are they persistent, they seem to have an infinite amount of energy. I can attest to this with Ricky, Johnny, and Tony running around the house. There isn't a quiet moment until they fall asleep and when one of them awakes in the morning, it all begins again. Children just don't know what it means to run out of energy because when they do, they usually fall asleep. We adults get so tired that we can't sleep. For us, everything aches. I used to say to my son Johnny, who weighs 63 pounds, "Mommy can't pick you up, I'm just too old to be carrying you around." I stopped saying that when I heard him say to someone, "Would you pick me up? My Mom's too old." Children are persistent and full of energy. They have one other important trait. They seem to have an innate sense of faith. God seems to have placed in children a natural ability to believe. In her book called Family: the Forming Center, Marjorie Thompson tells about a surprising moment. She writes, "One of our godchildren was only three when a recording by Mozart caught her full attention. Her parents asked if she knew who had written the music; in a hushed and solemn tone, the child responded, 'God.'" [Marjorie Thompson, Family: The Forming Center, (Nashville: Upper Room Books, 1989), 87] We've talked about the special gifts of children; now let's talk about their special needs. Like all human beings they need shelter, food, and safety, but what are their unique needs? I believe that children have two very special needs. First, children need to know that God loves them, all of them. There is an old rabbinical story about Moses leading his people out of Egypt. After the Red Sea parted, the Hebrews turned to watch the walls of water covering the pharaoh's horsemen and chariots. Moses turned to God to thank him, but he saw that God was crying. "Why are you crying, Lord?" he asked, and God answered, "Those were my children, too." God loves and claims all the children of the world, not just our children. All the children need to know of God's love. There is a second unique need of children. They need more than just to hear about God's love. They need to experience it. The only way the children will experience that love is through us. God has given us tremendous power to share his love. Bishop Desmond Tutu says that when he was a child in South Africa, if a black person and a white person met on the sidewalk, the black person was expected to step off the pavement into the gutter to allow the white person to pass, giving the white person a gesture of respect. One day, as a little boy he was walking down the street with his mother when a tall white man, dressed in black, came toward them. Before they could step off the sidewalk, the white man stepped off, and tipped his hat in a gesture of respect to his mother. Surprised by the action of the white man, young Desmond asked his mother why the man did that. She explained that the man was an Anglican priest, a man of God. Bishop Tutu says that he decided at that moment to be a man of God and an Anglican priest. The smallest action can be a powerful expression of the love of God. Our actions can change lives if we are willing to not only tell the children that God loves them, but to show them God's love with our words and actions. As we plan for 2002, I'm sure nothing is more important than the money we set aside for the love and care of our children and the children of our community. We are asking for you to increase your pledge, substantially. The largest part of the increase is so that we can hire a youth director for our young people. I pray that you will step out on faith. Children step out on faith all the time. Maybe we should become like them. Amen.