Faith Like A Child

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 18:1–4 NIV

I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. - John 5:24 NIV

This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” - Romans 8:15 MESSAGE

This past Sunday was our last of our seven Summer of Rock weeks. I hope you had fun. I hope God surprised you in some way -- I always hope and pray for that; I love to be surprised by God. I hope that you thought about how creativity reflects the very image of God with which all of us are imbued. Thank you to the worship team and all who worked so hard to make this series possible. I really enjoyed it.

We concluded the series with the song Wake Up by Arcade Fire. I picked that song because of the line which speaks of growing up from child to adulthood, being told what was and was not appropriate once one entered the land of adulthood (crying is not ok, mistakes are not ok) and the realization that although each of us must grow into adulthood and maturity, some of what we are told that means might not be really true. Most of us, the longer we live into these less-than-true tenets of adulthood, push any suspicion that these might have been lied to into a rummage pile of faded dreams never to be reclaimed.

Or so we think. Jesus invites us to reclaim the wonder of a child -- requires it actually, if we are truly to see the Kingdom of God that exists around us. Adulthood says "Worry about death." Jesus says, "What death?" (Children say "What death?") Adulthood says, "Worry about your status in life." Jesus says "Seek the Kingdom -- it really is a real thing, look, don't you see it?" (Children say "Don't you see it? It is not make-believe.")

There is a scene in C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian, where the children find themselves lost. Lucy sees Aslan off in the distance, but nobody else can see him; though they have seen him in the past, they doubt that he is really there. When Lucy insists she saw him, her sister Susan asks, "Where do you think you saw him?" Lucy replies: "Don't talk like a grown-up . . . I didn't think I saw him. I saw him."

Jesus started His discipleship plan by announcing "the Kingdom of God is at hand." He then invites us to become like children (full of wonder, innocence, humility, awe, questioning, laughing, crying, searching, exploring and abandon) in order to enter into it. And when we do, we will see that it is indeed real. When we do, we cannot help but with childlike joy exclaim, "I've seen it!" And, when those around us ask what we think we have seen, smile and tell them, "I don't think I saw it, I saw it."