Sermon
Title: “Life
Through the Eyes of a Child”
Sermon Text: Luke 2:25-40
The laws of the time were clear. In Jewish custom, a woman was unclean for
seven days after the birth of a son. Then for 40 days she cannot visit or take
part in any religious activities (80 days for a girl child). After this period
she is expected to offer a sacrifice to wash away her uncleanness (a pair of
doves for a poor family). The firstborn child belongs to God. The Levites were
set aside for this role and so members of other tribes can "ransom"
their child with a payment to the priest. Being close to
We understand from these words of Simeon and Anna that
they knew that this child was special.
That this child was the Messiah.
That this child would bring something new into the world in which they
lived. We understand that and what
Simeon and Anna were saying. The baby
Jesus was to lead the people into a new day.
As you well know, each child, Messiah or not, will lead
us into a new day. All we have to do is
spend a little time with a child and we learn much from them.
1. Children speak their minds.
A
little girl was talking to her teacher about whales.
The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human
because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small.
The
little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a
whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible.
The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah".
The teacher asked, "What if Jonah went to hell?"
The little girl replied, "Then you ask him ".
2: Children are
imaginative.
A
Kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they were
drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's work.
As
she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the
drawing was.
The girl replied, "I'm drawing God."
The teacher paused and said, "But
no one knows what God looks like."
Without
missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, "They
will in a minute."
3: Children are logical.
A
Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six
year olds.
After
explaining the commandment to "honor" thy Father and thy Mother, she
asked, "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers
and sisters?"
Without
missing a beat one little boy (the oldest of a family) answered, "Thou
shall not kill."
4. Then we also know that children are caring.
Author and
lecturer Leo Buscaglia tells about the time he had to judge a contest to
determine the most caring child. The
winner was a four-year old who went to visit his elderly neighbor who had just
lost his wife. When he got there he
climbed up on the man’s lap and just sat there.
His mother asked him what he did and his answer was simple. “Nothing.
I just helped him cry.”
I don’t
need to tell you how to unpack these and what to get out of them. That is the beauty of stories and
illustrations. They pack a wallop all by
themselves.
What I
would like to add is that we know that some of the things we do are instinctive
while some of what we do are learned.
My friend
Bob has never had children, yet he has been a mentor during his life to several
young men. One of the most recent is a
young man currently in the service and doing okay. But while in high school he found himself
being threatened by some of his classmates.
His crime? He is bi-racial. A couple of kids in our hometown decided that
his skin color was a problem and they planned to make him pay for it. Bob was able to prevent any fight, but injury
was done, nonetheless. And I want to
believe that this kind of behavior is learned rather than instinctive, but
regardless, we adults play a role in teaching acceptable behavior. That is something we must remember. Our actions teach too. We model positive and negative behavior to
those around us.
There is a
circle. We learn from them. They learn from us. We all learn from Jesus. I know that many of you enjoy the children’s
messages immensely and miss them when they aren’t part of the service. The message is short and to the point, and
you really enjoy the children’s connection to the message. Let’s face it – we get a chuckle when Sam or
Alex tells Linda they don’t remember what she talked about last week. Probably because we can relate. We don’t remember either. But they know by Linda’s involvement in their
lives that she loves them. They know
that you care for them every time that you spend time with them in the nursery
or in children’s church or Sunday school.
They know it when you stop them in the hall to say hello to them. They feel they are loved because we invest a
moment or two in spending time with them.
Today we
have let our newest children know that they are much loved as well, and we have
promised their moms and dads that they aren’t in this alone. We made a promise to help, to be there with
them, to offer encouragement and help when it is needed. Jesus told us to do that when he told us to
love the Lord our God with all our hearts, minds, and soul and love our
neighbor as ourselves. Regardless of the
age of the children in our lives – infants or teenagers, we can offer
encouragement and love. We want our
children to love themselves while they love others. Kids that don’t know about loving themselves
are more likely to try drugs and unsafe sex to try to fit in and feel loved by
their peers. We want kids to not only
know they are loved but love themselves as Jesus wants to love them. Let’s not only pray daily for the children of
our church, our community and world so that they feel the love God wants for
each of us BUT let’s also seek ways to help them as well.
Our
community needs CASA workers, people willing to help at risk kids deal with the
problems of life. Ask Martha Cox and Ray
Spencer for more information as they have been involved for a number of years.
Let’s also
pray for concrete ways to be more involved, to do what we can to ensure that no
more children die in our community from child abuse. You see, God calls us to love the children
outside of our church walls with the same intensity and passion we have for
Charlotte and Jack. All of the children
are special, every one of them. Each
with a future ahead of them.
Simeon
blessed Joseph, Mary and Jesus and then said to his mother Mary, ‘This child is
destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel.” I don’t know what Charlotte and Jack are
destined to do but I believe that they are destined to bring about change to
their parts of the world. They will have
the opportunities to do great things, with help and encouragement from all of
us here today and many not here. Great
things await them and it will be exciting to watch and see what they do with
their lives. For whether they are
destined to do things on a national level or here within their own community,
my prayer is that they will always know God’s love and feel the prayers of us
here today.
I want to
close today with one last example of how children teach us. They teach us about generosity.
Children are generous.
A young
man, 13 years old at the time, read about Dr. Albert Schweitzer's missionary
work in Africa. He wanted to help. He had enough money to buy one bottle of
aspirin. He wrote to the Air Force and asked if they could fly over Dr.
Schweitzer's hospital and drop the bottle down to him. A radio station
broadcast the story about this young fellow's concern for helping others.
Others responded as well. Eventually, he was flown by the government to
Schweitzer's hospital along with 4 1/2 tons of medical supplies worth $400,000
freely given by thousands of people.
Today it would be the equivalent of millions of dollars today. When Dr.
Schweitzer heard the story, he said, "I never thought one child could do
so much." (www.esermons.com)
Pray for
the children daily. Look for ways to be
part of their lives. Be open to new ways
to reach out to the families of our community.
Be
thankful for the children that come into our lives to remind us that we too are
loved deeply as children of God.