ARE WE IN THE WAY?

Matthew 19:13-15; Philippians 4:1-9

October 12, 2008 – Rev. Jerry Duggins

I wonder if you ever feel like I do sometimes: that life is too complicated; that feeling the love and presence of God in your life is not a 24/7 experience; that discerning what God is doing in life is no easy matter and discerning what God wants you to do in life, next to impossible. These big picture questions hardly ever surface amidst the busyness of the mundane details of life: keeping the house picked up, when and what to have for dinner, doing the laundry, paying the bills, getting the kids to their events, scheduling the furnace check, the oil change, doctor and dentist appointments… etc. etc. etc….

I’m not suggesting that life is never fun or fulfilling, only that sometimes I feel like the mechanics of life are so overwhelming that I scarcely have time to think about its meaning. And since at least to some degree my job entails thinking about meaning and fulfillment, I can only imagine how challenging it must be for many of you to just get through the details. There’s just no time to think about the mystery of God and the connection between God and life.

In spite of the difficulty in discerning God’s will in my own life, you may find it surprising that I see no mystery to the will of God for many aspects of our world. I couldn’t always say why, but it seems obvious to me that God wants peace between nations, cooperation among groups, harmony within families. God wants us to be healthy. God wants us to use our gifts, to be honest with and have respect for one another. God wants us to love our neighbor.

The mystery isn’t whether or not God wants peace, but why nations go to war, why groups choose an unhealthy form of competition, why families fight. The mystery deepens with those things seemingly beyond human control. We struggle to find an explanation for the children who die from leukemia before they reach puberty. Tragic death, unemployment and underemployment, illness, disability and accident: we feel a sense of unfairness about these things and wonder how such things exist in a world created by God. Having listened to many people who struggled through hard times, I remain convinced that God doesn’t desire them for anyone. Yes, I know we can learn from them, even that we can become better people because of them, but I believe God’s desire for our lives are more along the lines of health, wholeness and peace.

This is not my faith alone, but lies at the root of the church’s reason for being. Because we believe God desires health and peace, we, as a church, work for them. We seek to be a community in which health and peace are practiced, where the love of God can be experienced and not just talked about. We are not the sort of congregation that offers to people in distress, a word of hope in the “great by and by.” It’s not that we don’t believe in heaven, but that we believe God loves us in this life and desires our happiness on this side of the grave. We believe that God can and does bless us and the world. We believe that the world was brought into being for this very purpose: to receive the blessing of God and that we, as disciples of Jesus Christ are to extend that blessing to others.

We, as disciples of Jesus Christ, are to extend that blessing to others. This faith stands behind the Westminster Peace Prize. With it we recognize a person or organization that believes the world can be a better place. We recognize someone engaged in the act of blessing her world. Now I don’t know what Martha’s faith background is, but I do know that in presenting her with the Peace Prize, one thing we are saying is that Christians ought to be engaged in the sort of thing she is doing.

I love what Martha says at the end of the Gazette article on the Peace prize in yesterday’s paper. She says, “… the main thing…is about providing what the students need… about the relationships with the kids, not just services…. Positive relationships are something a lot of kids really need.” Can there be any doubt that Jesus shares this attitude when he tells the disciples: “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.”?

There is no doubt in my mind that God loves children and desires their happiness. The fact that one fourth of them in Kalamazoo County live in poverty doesn’t alter the fundamental truth of God’s love. The fact that many children are abused or neglected doesn’t make me less convinced of God’s desire to see them blessed. I know that the stress in people’s lives and the challenge that children can be often makes it difficult to love them as we ought. But Jesus leaves no doubt here that children belong in God’s kingdom. As his disciples, it is our privilege to welcome them, indeed to bless them.

This short story, only three verses, presents those who wish to follow in the way of Jesus, a very challenging question: “Are we in the way?” or “Are we in the way?” Are we in the way of the blessing that ought to belong to the children? or Are we in the way that helps the blessing come about?

“Do not stop them,” says Jesus. And yet we do sometimes, don’t we? Let me say it again. One fourth of children in Kalamazoo County live in families with incomes below the poverty level. Can you imagine what poverty does to a child? Lack of money is the least of the problems. Poverty compromises a child’s health, ability to learn. It can destroy a child’s self-esteem, make it difficult to bond with other human beings. Poverty undermines the capacity for love. It feeds a bitterness and cynicism that cuts out the very heart of hope. And a child without hope is about the saddest sight I know. Nothing could be further from God’s intent for the children of the earth.

God didn’t put these children into circumstances of poverty. And maybe you’re saying to yourself that you didn’t either. But that isn’t really the point. However they got there, God still desires to bless them. If we are not in the way or on the path that seeks to bring them to the blessing, then we are doing precisely what the disciples did in this story: standing in the way of the children’s best hope.

I know we can’t lift every child out of poverty. We can’t shield them from every hurt and pain and hardship in life. We couldn’t do that for our own children. But some of us teach these kids, some of us encounter these kids in the schools, at recreation programs, in our churches. Some of us have influence in funding or creating programs that support and nurture children. What they need most are “positive relationships.” They need to know that there are people who care. They need to know that you do want them around, that you are not too busy doing serious things. Jesus did a lot of serious things, but he was not too busy for the children. They need to be seen and heard and praised and nurtured and included and loved. “For to such as these belongs the kingdom of God.”

Are we in the way? This question concerns more than children of course. Wherever there is a need for blessing, we ought to ask ourselves whether we are on that path, following Jesus, which delivers the blessing or are standing in the way of the blessing by ignoring the need or pushing it off to the side or ducking responsibility. It is not the only aspect of discipleship. It is not the only thing that following Jesus entails, but when we neglect to be the blessing that we might be for others, we have forgotten what following Jesus is really about.

Are we in the Way, or are we just in the way? “Let the little children come to me,” says Jesus, “For it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” Then Jesus laid hands on them. in other words, he blessed them. So too, should we. This is one thing that disciples of Jesus do. Amen.