... just in case you care.
The Feast of Trinity On Children’s Sermons *(But Not Really)* Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen. Jesus says in today’s Gospel: “*If anyone KEEPS My Word, he will never taste death*.” Dear Christian friends: Over at the vacancy, a good Christian man recently took me to task because I do not preach children’s sermons. I appreciate the man’s gentle, respectful approach to his topic, but the bottom line was, “You should rethink this, pastor! Children’s sermons get the attention of the entire congregation.” It probably seems strange that I would bring the topic of children’s sermons to your attention, since we do not practice them here. But you travel around and you have surely seen them before. It seems fair that I would explain to you why our practice is different. But even more than that, the topic of children’s sermons can provide you with some good help, both with today’s Gospel and with the Athanasian Creed, which we will soon pray together. Why do you never see children’s sermons at Grace? Here are some things to consider: · First, the regular sermon that comes from the pulpit should so simple and so clearly that even a child can understand. In the Christian faith, we all need simplicity and none of us will ever master it. The solution to unclear preaching should not be that we add more preaching to the worship service. · Second, I cannot agree with the man who observed that “children’s sermons get the attention of the entire congregation.” No. The children get the attention of the entire congregation. During the children’s sermon, everyone cranes their necks, not to see the pastor’s little object lesson, but to see how their child might respond it. And kids say the darndest things. And everyone enjoys the moment. And people always remember the commercials more than they remember the Super Bowl. · Even more important than these reasons, we should always bear in mind that NO ONE becomes a Christian and NO ONE remains in the faith because of the simplicity of the preaching. As you heard in today’s Gospel, our Lord preached very simply—“*Truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I was*”—and the more simply He preached, the more people hated His message, “*picking up stones to throw at Him*.” The Word of the Lord teaches us to believe that: o Faith is a miracle of the Triune God, and the Triune God is good at doing miracles, even in the hearts and minds of our smallest children. That is why we baptize them. In the same way, o Understanding is also a miracle of God, for God’s prophet has said, “*The unfolding of God’s Words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple*” (Psalm 119:130); and again, “*Give me understanding according to Your Word, O Lord*” (Psalm 119:169). John the Baptist even heard and understood while still in the womb! (Luke 1:41) Since understanding is a divine miracle, we should NOT rush to the conclusion that our smallest children cannot understand the regular preaching of the church, simply they cannot yet talk about it. We should actually wonder whether the smallest children among us might understand more clearly than the rest of us do! After all, Jesus calls upon us all to hear His Word with the faith of a child (Matthew 18:3). It might be that the smallest children among us have the best ability to hear the preaching of the Church. The children can certainly learn to ignore the preaching of the church as they grow older, but that might not be the preacher’s doing. · Finally, we should consider what we Christians are up against on a daily basis, no matter how old or how young we might be. Plain and simple, the world hates us. Jesus warned us that the world would hate us (John 15:18), and the nightly news proves it true. In addition to that, we each remain tempted by sin and burdened by death. Our smallest children struggle under these things, too! The Scriptures teach us to believe that smallest children among us feel with the same temptations that we feel, they carry the same guilt we carry, and they face the same death that we all face. In light of all that our young children are up against on a daily basis, we should be making the most of their every moment in our worship. We should be giving to both child and adult only the best and purest outpouring of the divine Word, which delivers life and salvation to you and to your entire family. In such a weighty task, the hand puppets and paper hats of children’s sermons might not cut the mustard! Today is confirmation day. In a few moments, five of our young Christians will stand and confess the ancient Christian faith in our midst. These children are about to tell us they have heard the Word. Each of them was baptized as a small child—I know because I did it. Each of them has been hearing the Word of the Lord since the earliest days of their birth. What does Jesus want each of us to do with His Word, no matter what age we might be? The divine Word faith has been given to us—by God Himself—so that we may KEEP it and HOLD it. I am talking about the Word that has been preached to you, which is the good news that Christ Jesus personally died and rose for your personal forgiveness and life. · As we are about to confess in the Athanasian Creed, “Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic faith.” (That word “catholic,” by the way, merely means “universal.” Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the universal Christian faith that was handed down once by God for all people of all times and in all places.) Take note of the verb: The Christian faith cannot be mastered, but it must be HELD. The Christian faith must be held like a small child would hold his dear teddy bear, even though the child gives no thought to how the bear came to be. The Christian faith must be treasured in the same manner that young girl might treasure a piece of heirloom jewelry given to her by her grandmother, even though the child has no idea the full history of the jewelry she wears. · Jesus also promises and swears to each of you in today’s Gospel, “*If anyone keeps My Word, he will never taste death*.” (That is a pretty emphatic promise, and Jesus means every Word of it for every one of you: “*If anyone keeps My Word, he will never taste death*.”) Once again, take note of the verb: The Word of Christ cannot be mastered, but it must KEPT. Stated another way, the Word of Christ must be loved, believed and trusted. Even a small child can do such things. Just look at the way a baby treats his mother—and who can ever understand his mother? KEEP and HOLD. These are things that even the faith of a small child can do! How, then, should we think of Christian preaching? We can do something better than thinking of Christian preaching is only for the adults, but not for the children. Rather than giving each age group its own sermon, perhaps we should think of Christian preaching as the activity the entire family can enjoy. The forgiveness of sins that is now individually yours in Christ is equally the possession of the entire group, including the infants among us. The faith that lives in personal heart likewise lives in the hearts of all your fellow Christians—including the smallest of the baptized—and faith creates understanding. In the preaching of the Church we sit as a group and we hear as a group. Perhaps then the group could go home to mull over as a group the significance of what was heard. If we could handle the preaching of the church as a group activity that extends even into the conversations of the home, then perhaps · our children might grow up thinking that they have a faith of equal value to ours, as St. Peter says (2 Peter 1:2), rather than being given the false and idolatrous impression that children need something different than the rest of us need, in order to believe. · our friends and neighbors might accidentally become part of the conversation. Good things could result from that. · the light of Christ will shine a little more brightly in our tiny corner of this darkened world. This is what the prophet Isaiah has said: Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising (Isaiah 60:1-3).
_______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list [email protected] http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
