There are many ways of writing a sermon, sometimes a sermon explores a reading from the Bible, sometimes a sermon looks at events in the world, sometimes a sermon can be about the church and its ministry, or it can be a personal testimony. What ever else the sermon is about it must be about God and God's people. I like to think that a sermon should be a conversation between God, the preacher and the people who are listening. The preacher is the one who puts this conversation into words.
Today I would like to explore a topic that concerns our congregation here at St Luke's. It is a topic that every congregation has to face and it is not one that is easily resolved. Not only that; it has damaged many of those congregations and upset many good and faithful people.
The topic is children, and in particular, children in church. A church without children is a dying church, just as a tree without new growth is a dying tree. A healthy tree has strongly anchored and well watered roots, a sturdy trunk, strong branches, with abundant leaves and fruit. This is the way faithful people are described in psalm 1, like "a tree planted beside stream of water." So children, like the new leaves on a tree, are the sign of health in a church.
But they are more than that. In psalm 127 it is written, "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord; and the fruit of the womb is God's gift." And Matthew, Mark and Luke record that Jesus said, "Let the children come to me and do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the Kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." (Matt 19:13-14; Mk 10:13-14; Luke 18:16-17) The way I understand these passages is that children have a very special place in the heart of God and so they must have a very special place in the heart of the church. We are like the people in the gospels who bring our children to Jesus so that he can bless them. St Mark records that Jesus "took (the children) in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them." (Mk 10:16)
This is why I believe so strongly that children are a vital part of the church, and that the proper place for children is in the church. We all belong in church, and there is a special place in church for children.
This is good stuff, I hope you agree, but we will also agree that children are children and behave like children. They want to play, they talk and chatter, they are interested in a thousand things at once. Every parent knows that a lively child is a joy and a delight, but at the same time a lively child can distract you, annoy you and wear you out. I can tell you that there were many times when Sue and I came home from church with our three lively children feeling that we had the naughtiest kids in church and that we had not really been able to worship God because we were too busy with our children. Sue and I love our children dearly, but sometimes in church we could have wished them a thousand miles away. I would be prepared to bet that each one of us today has sometimes wished that the children would go away and let us worship God in peace. Believe me when I say that when children misbehave, it distresses their parents as much, if not more than it distresses others.
Maybe we could find the answer to our dilemma in our understanding of church as a teaching and a learning community. Our Sunday worship is a time when we learn to draw closer to God and we teach others to discover God at work in our community. This is part of our sharing of God's unconditional love to all people, regardless of age, gender, race and anything else that might separate us. So our care for children is a responsibility of the whole community; together we can teach our children what it means to be church and what it means to worship God.
I hope this is something we can work on together. It will require prayer and thought, it will need gentleness and forbearance, it will need determination and change.
So I'll begin with a few suggestions which may help. Last week Ray Sommer spoke of the need for some rules of conduct. He compared them to a railing around a dangerous lookout in the Blue Mountains. The railings or rules of conduct might stop us doing anything we want to do, but they do prevent us falling over a cliff or damaging our community.
Firstly let me say that it is good for the children to play quietly while they are in church. There is a carpet near the font and there is the foyer, with toys and people who are willing to play with the children. Children learn about church even when they are playing. They cannot learn if they are running around, however. Running children distract all of us, especially themselves and their parents. Running children often have accidents. The best solution may be to persuade the children not to run, but if they must run, then the foyer and the hall are available. It has been suggested that we could even fence off the verandah outside to keep the children safe from the traffic on the road.
It is particularly distracting when children run around at the time of communion. I believe that children should come with their parents and friends to communion - they are part of the body of Christ, like any other Christian. Coming up for a blessing or for communion is an important part of their journey with Christ, as it is for us. I have said that I will give communion to any child if their parents think it appropriate - I will treat them as adults in faith, using the words of administration, "The body of Christ keep you in eternal life." It is probably best to keep the wine until they are older. So that the parent and children can receive communion together and to encourage the children to stay in one place, I suggest to family groups that they stand together during communion. The children are then less likely to run across the sanctuary to Uncle or Grandma.
Now I have run out of time. I would be foolish to think that the answer lies in one small sermon. This is an important topic and one that should be raised again and again. It is probably appropriate to have a parish forum on the topic. We probably need to look at the need for a Crèche and the role of the Sunday School. That will be for another day. Let us take one step at a time, if we try and run we will have an accident.
Today I have tried to say how important little children are to the whole community of the Church and to the Kingdom of God; and how important it is that we try to work as a whole community to love and support the children and their parents and to encourage them to find God with us in the worship of the church.