Today’s Epistle tells us that we are God’s children now. In Matthew 19, Jesus teaches about the blessing of children. Jesus tells the disciples that the kingdom of heaven belongs “to such as these.” Maybe we need to be more childlike in our spiritual lives? What exactly does that mean? St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians about being a “fool for Christ.” What does it mean to be “children for Christ”? This past week in talking to Lisa I mentioned a sermon I had remembered that was preached in the 70’s. The sermon was on being childlike in our faith. This is pretty good staying power for a sermon, but you can see it was the Epistle and not the Gospel that captured my attention this week.
You folks remember that the Haynes family attended St. Thomas in Plymouth when we first arrived in the diocese 15 years ago. Our first Sunday did not start well, and we only made it to the narthex. We left with apologies and tried again the next Sunday. St. Thomas was a wonderful place for the family to grow in the faith. Many of you remember my children when they were little.
One Sunday in the nursery, Avery was playing with a train. She was perhaps three or four so at the time. Think here of someone like Isabella. One of the little boys in the nursery wanted the train I think and took it away from her. He told her “girls don’t play with trains.”
Avery has always had anger management issues, and she can be a somewhat impulsive child. She hauled off and punched the young man in the chest, knocking him to the floor. She took the train back and said something. The details are a little fuzzy because I was not there when she said it. It would have been in character though for her to have said, “you are not the boss of me.” By the time I got to the scene both the children were standing and crying.
Now, you are thinking, “Where is he going with this?” Is Fr. Tom going to talk about anger management or property disputes when churches split maybe?
Let me tell you the rest of the story first. It will be short. Five minutes later, my daughter and the young man were playing trains together. That is it.
Hold that thought. I will come back.
How many of you know someone who has some defining story about their separation from the church? I know I have heard a bunch of them. People have some tale of the time something happened. Then they never went to church again. Some of these stories have to do with the time that someone asked them to prayerfully consider raising a pledge (or making one). You have heard a few of these yourself probably.
I heard a lot of this when I was a priest in the math classroom. Colleagues would talk to me at lunch or in the faculty lounge over coffee. I wear a collar when I travel as a rule, and so I get it in airports. I have people come up to me at the filling station while I am pumping gas. These folks are like the ancient mariner. It seems important for them to retell the tale of how they quit going to church. They have this story they have to tell and retell. Maybe someone took down that picture of Jesus that Aunt Ethyl put in the parish hall. I have heard a lot of things.
Now, you are thinking, “this is pretty childish behavior.” I would like to take you back to the story about Avery, the young man and the train. These two seemed to be able to put issues behind them. The childish thing to do is really to move on and not dwell on some error – real or perceived. This the first thing I am going to challenge you to do. Get over things for the sake of the kingdom.
In the 90’s I taught at Middle Tennessee State University. I taught mostly the Trig/Finite/Applied Calculus classes, but for a few years I taught a Math Ed. survey course intended for people working on a teaching certificate. This was a shotgun approach to broad topics for people who needed exposure but were not math majors.
You may have heard that teachers make the worst students. I can believe it. People preparing to be teachers are pretty bad ones too sometimes. When you think you know everything, it is hard to pay attention in a class. Now you are thinking of the Epistle reading and wondering what this has to do with being God’s children in the Kingdom.
At this point, I am going to define child as someone under the age of 12 or so. Having taught Middle School for six years, I am comfortable standing here in church at telling you that they are intellectually curious and open. They understand that they don’t know everything. They want to learn and grow.
I put in the age 12 because something happens to many children when they are in the 8th or 9th grades. It is notoriously sophomores who know everything, but in my experience, sophomores regain some humility and some curiosity.
We need to be curious and open to Jesus as approach our faith. This is the way we can be “like a child” as we learn and grow.
In the desert fathers we read about Abba Arsenius who consulted a peasant for guidance. He was reproached for this, and he was asked “Abba Arsenius, how is it that you with such a good Latin and Greek education, ask this peasant about your thoughts?” He replied, “I have indeed been taught Greek and Latin, but I do not know even the alphabet of this peasant.”
Abba Arsenius was a man who understood that he did not know everything. He was open and willing to learn. He was like a child in his approach to his spiritual growth. We should all be more childlike ourselves in this way and gain the Kingdom in return.
I am going to challenge you today to be more humble and curious. You need to have an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out. We are called to “seek and serve Christ in all persons.” We may not do it, but we get the concept. We can learn from Christ in all persons too. Being childlike is being willing to listen and learn.
I preached on Jonah at Grace United Church of Christ a few years ago. Pastor Annemarie who is at the UCC church across the way invited me for a Lenten series on penitence. I talked about Jonah being provided the giant fish. It was the fish he needed. I described at one point Jonah’s experience in the belly of the fish as being a time out. He was there until he was able to say that “Deliverance belongs to the Lord.”
I have talked about being in the desert places here at St. Thomas. We all have dry and arid places in the spiritual journey. How long do we have to be there? Probably as long as it takes. The desert places are a time out for us. In the Gospel reading for Lent 1, the “Spirit immediately drove [Jesus] out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan.”
I mention Jesus in the context of this desert experience so that you understand it is not sin to be in a dry place. It is the dry place the Spirit sends us.
I can tell you that my own children had a wisdom about the time out. They understood that we all need them from time to time. Every now and then they would put themselves in time out, and I credit their mother with this insight.
You see, Mother Susan has a contemplative prayer discipline, and she sets time aside every day to pray and meditate by herself. This is a time out in many ways –- a mini-retreat from the world. It is dry and arid only in that there is not much external stimulation during this time. It is a time of prayer and reflection to prepare her for the ministry of the day. Jonah needed time to pray, recite psalms and reflect on God’s will. The then went to Nineveh and the people listened. Jesus came back from his time in the desert to proclaim the Good News: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe…”
We should be like the child who understands the need for a time out every now and then. We may be placed in one like Jonah. We may put ourselves in one at the retreat center. The kingdom of heaven belongs “to such as these.”
The challenge to us personally is present ourselves to the Lord as children.
- We have to get over things and be willing to move on.
- We have to be humble, curious and willing to learn.
- We have to understand the value of the time out.
I will repeat the words from our reading: “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed.”
I have said these words in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sermon preached by Fr. Tom at St. Thomas, Plymouth
April 19, 2015
Third Sunday of Easter
Acts 3:12-19
Psalm 4
1 John 3:1-7
Luke 24:36b-48