By Amy Butler
I have a secret fear of children’s sermons, largely because, even though you are leading the time, you really have no control over the situation at all.
Case in point: I had to do the children’s sermon on World Communion Sunday a few weeks ago. I took the children to the altar table and we looked at all the different kinds of bread baked by members displayed there. I wanted to point out that one loaf was still warm, so I asked one of the children to feel it and tell me what he felt.
“It’s as hard as a rock!” he shouted.
At least with the grown-up sermon you get to stand behind a pulpit and (usually) nobody shouts questionable comments loud enough for everyone to hear.
I think my fear of children’s sermons is partially a fear of how we nurture children in the church overall — that is, I fear sometimes that the spiritual care of our children is often an afterthought. Especially in churches where traditional approaches don’t always work anymore, sometimes I feel like I’m out in the middle of a great barren expanse, feeling around in the dark, trying to communicate to and include children, but never doing it very well.
I believe that faith is relevant for children. But, exactly how do we go about nurturing a faith in our little ones that will take root and grow into the kind of faith that guides their lives?
I guess I am not the only one thinking about these things, as some folks have organized a conference here in May of 2012 to examine just such questions. The Children and Youth and a New Kind of Christianity conference will bring speakers from all over to address these questions and more. I’m planning to take all the notes I can, to learn as much as possible about how we can tend the souls of our littlest ones.
I was thinking about my worries just the other day when I ran into the parent of one of our little ones, 2 ½ year old Lucy. Lucy’s Mom told me that Lucy was very interested in our stewardship materials for this fall.
I was a little bit puzzled by the comment. For one thing, in general it’s rare to find anyone, really, who’s very interested in stewardship materials. Let’s just be honest. And, while it was nice to hear that Lucy was interested, I’m fairly certain we weren’t targeting the 2 ½ year old set when we created the stewardship materials.
This parent went on to say that Lucy especially likes the big congregational picture on the front of the brochure. The stewardship team this year put our group picture on the front of the brochure, in full color, to demonstrate our stewardship theme, “Better Together.”
Lucy likes to look at it, her mom said, and point out the people she knows. She can see her friends from the nursery, and her teachers from children’s music. She points out her parents and her pastors. And even though her head is turned in the picture, she especially loves to look intently at the picture and find herself, right there in the middle of all her friends from church.
Upon hearing Lucy’s fascination with the stewardship brochure, I unexpectedly found tears pricking my eyes. While it’s probably true we have a lot to learn when it comes to nurturing our kids in the community of the church, children always know when they are loved and included. Maybe, because Lucy can see herself in the big picture of the church, she can feel the love of her church family. And maybe, when she feels the love of her church family, she is somehow learning to feel God’s love surrounding her, too.
I don’t think I’ll be rushing to volunteer to do the children’s sermons anytime soon. They still scare me. But while I try to learn as much as I can about how to be a pastor to the 18 and under crowd, I’ll hold on to the hope that our kids can always find themselves right in the middle of the big picture, very important parts of being the church together.