Wednesday – Let the Children Come

This weekend is “Youth Sunday,” which means our youth take over the service! Those who have attended in the past know that afterwards we always realize that our youth are more gifted, more mature, and have more to offer than we often give them credit for. Sadly, it’s easy to forget this until next year’s service. It causes me to consider their place in the community of faith. There can be subtle ways we practice generational segregation, and in doing so we limit the gifts we have to offer one another. As Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs” (Matthew 19:14). Our children fully belong in our community. Not for who they may be in the future but for who they are today. I love the way children express faith with a disarming naiveté. And I love the challenge of teenagers in their refreshing candor about what they believe (or don’t believe). Sometimes we learn from what they say, and sometimes we learn from who they are. I hope this week is a reminder that we need to look continually for ways to “let the children come” to us as part of our community of faith.