Learning from our Children - June 24

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 105:1-22; PM Psalm 105:23-45; 1 Samuel 8:1-22; Acts 6:15-7:16; Luke 22:24-30

This week, Anne and I and the kids are on vacation, staying up in Monteagle, Tennessee in the Monteagle Sunday School Assembly.  The origins of the place date back to 1882 when Sunday School teachers across the south wanted a place to gather to broaden their own depth of knowledge and culture.  From the start, the Assembly was an ecumenical movement in Tennessee, with a close tie to the first Assembly in Lake Chautauqua, New York. 

Today, a robust program takes place in the summer.  There are lectures during the day and often during the evening.  I have enjoyed gathering for evening prayer and hearing a choral group from Sewanee and an old acquaintance, a singer-songwriter from Nashville.  One of the best parts of being up here is letting our children run free.  They can hop on their bikes on their own, and ride down to join in the children and youth programming every morning while Anne and I go for a long walk or jog. 

One of the things I have noticed about my children in this setting is their openness to embrace something new.  It probably stems from feeling safe, but they approach the people in this setting with excitement and willingness, eager to make new friends, and trusting in a way that I suspect will fade over time.  It is a beautiful thing to watch and see.

In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, there are stories of the disciples arguing about who is the greatest.  Each account puts a different emphasis on how the disciples are called to serve and not be served and each draws different but important imagery of children.  In Luke’s account in today’s reading, Jesus tells them to become like the youngest.  In Mark (9:36), Jesus takes a child and puts him in the midst of them.  Matthew (18:3) is probably the strongest language, “unless you become like children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  

For me, I can conceptually understand that our faith is about serving.  The Christian life is not about what can receive in material things from other people, or our elevation of status, and prestige.  The Christian life is about how we serve each other, especially those who are in need. In a sense, it is about how we can give of ourselves in a way that models God’s gift of love to us. 

But there must be something else at play because in each of the Synoptic Gospels, this imagery of service is matched with the imagery of children.  Is it the willingness to embrace life before we have become suspicious of others?  Is it the blind trust that many of our children have?  Is the fearlessness that they ride down each morning to, willing to join in whatever the day brings?  What can we learn from the youngest that can teach each of us about God’s invitation to a life of service and giving? 

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection:  Were you more or less trusting as a child?  What is it about childhood that could reinvigorate your faith?

Daily Challenge:  Write down a few things that are different today for you than they were as a child, specifically with your approach to life.  Is there some way of being or trusting that you could adopt as a temporary (or not so temporary) practice?