Welcome Child

Welcome back to a new school year and a new series of “Wonderings”.  One of my hopes for my time as Theologian in Residence for Children and Families is to lift up the children among us as our teachers. It is my prayer that Good Shepherd will be a church where children learn from adults AND adults learn from children.

With this in mind, the next few weeks I’ll be sharing some ideas around the question: How do the children in our lives invite us to grow in our love for God and others?

First, children invite us to be welcoming. Notice how many times the word, “welcome” occurs in Jesus’ admonition to the disciples:

An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him.Then [Jesus] said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest.” (Luke 9:46-48 found also in Matthew and Mark)

Simply put, to welcome a child is to welcome Jesus, and to welcome Jesus is to welcome God with us. 

Each Sunday dozens of children worship with us at Good Shepherd. Furthermore, we encounter children in many places throughout our week. Jerome Berryman, founder of Godly Play offered this simple challenge: What if each time you saw a child, you stopped, focused on the child and said, ‘I’m glad to see you.’

I wonder how our hearts might open to Jesus in a new way with this simple practice? When we welcome children, we welcome him. 

With wonder,

Cynthia