by Jason Byassee, February 4, 2014
Jason Byassee
One of our greatest gifts as a church is our children. I’ll go farther: our greatest gift is our children. Who says? Jesus. Anyone who harms them is in the deepest trouble (Mk 9:42). All of us should usher them into his presence (Mt. 19:4). We grownups need to learn how to become just like them (Mt. 18:3). The Kingdom of God has a very small door. Some of us will have to be crammed through that door. Children can apparently sashay right on in.
One way we have historically shown Jesus’ cherishing of children is with our children’s sermon. As Jesus drew the children to himself to bless them, so we invite our children forward to let them know how important they are to us. This moment is often the first word of teaching any of our churchgoers hear, whether first-timers or long-timers. We have been blessed at Boone Methodist with some of our most creative people’s time, energy, sweat, and prayer as they have prepared these sermons for years.
Yet there are problems with the children’s sermon, even when it is done “right.” Will Willimon writes, “I fear that children’s sermons tend to backfire, saying to parents and children that which we do not intend to say.” Even when done right–and we do them right with remarkable regularity–we focus on teaching content in these slots before excusing children from the bulk of worship.
Our visioning committee, seeing our love for children as one of our congregation’s greatest gifts, has coined the value “Next Generation Now.” At our church, children don’t just follow, they lead. We want to show this in every moment of our worship, starting with the children’s moment.
The Worship Committee and the Children’s Minister, in working with me over these challenges, have suggested that we try an experiment. We will spend the next few months reconfiguring the children’s sermon into what we’ll call a children’s blessing. The emphasis will be less on teaching information and more on incorporating children into the movement of worship. I’d wager the children are not in the most teaching-receptive place as they sit in front of the rest of us. Perhaps the way forward is to see them less as passive recipients and more as active leaders. Because for Jesus and our church, that’s precisely what they are.
We also want to encourage families that want to keep their children in worship. Worship is what we’re made for. We’ll spend eternity at it. We all need to start practicing now. When any of us hears a fidgeting child in worship, let us give thanks that God became a child. And if I or another speaker can’t speak over a badly-tempered child with a microphone, then speakers need to speak up and we all need to focus better.
We have some ideas for our folks who want to continue bringing their gifts to bear in teaching children. We would love their help in teaching children’s Sunday School (the most terrifying assignment in our church!). We would love to draw on their help in children’s church where they can teach at length and the children can have time to absorb and ask questions without being on stage. And we will call on them in other areas that none of us can now anticipate.
Jeff and I will offer children’s blessings for the time being, and will share that task with others later. The goal will be to see the children’s leadership in worship. We want them to lead us in prayer. We want them to lay their hands on bread and wine and water and bless them so God can use them to make us all holy. We want them to lay hands on leaders and missionaries and those undertaking special tasks to send them out with a blessing. A “sermon” suggests content and teaching. A blessing suggests an exchange: something almost physical passes from these children to the rest of us, and we go out made new.
My hope is that our children will know their importance in leading us all toward God. And that all of us will take our cues from them in how to be small in God’s kingdom.