SUFFER THE CHILDREN, a Sermon delivered for a Cradle Roll Service by the Reverend Dr. Geoffrey G. Drutchas, May 1, 2015, at St. Paul United Church of Christ, Taylor Today is a special day for us. As part of an annual Cradle Roll Service, we honor some of the newest arrivals to our congregation and its extended family. It s also a time to acknowledge their parents, which is so very important. If you re like me, you probably catch an awful lot of people saying, I wouldn t want to raise kids nowadays! But the parents of our newborns have made the choice to do so. We should commend them for their optimism, faith, and courage. The children they have birthed and are now rearing represent a vote of confidence in the cosmos and in God s beautiful creation. My own eleven monthold grandson, Naaman, who lives in Philadelphia and can t be with us today, is among their number. All I can say to our new parents is Bravo! You have embarked on the most wonderful venture in faith. Our savior Jesus Christ valued and cherished children. To his disciples and anyone else who had ears to hear, he declared: See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my father who is in heaven. (Matthew 18:10-12) He then adds: Suffer the children to come unto me and do not hinder them for such belongs to the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:14) By these words Jesus made clear that he couldn t disagree more with those who consider children a nuisance and don t have time for kids or want to keep them out of sight. Jesus was also on alert against any child exploitation or abuse. As he warns in the Gospel of Matthew, Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. (Matthew 18:5-6). In other words, should anyone harm a hair of the head of a child or lead them morally or spiritually astray, it would be better that they had never been born. God s punishment is going to be as severe as anything imaginable.
Significantly, Jesus actually taught that we can learn a lot from even the youngest children. As we all know, parenting teaches us patience. Also, in teaching young people we invariably get taught. In teaching and guiding children we usually have to simplify and distill what we are trying to communicate, which often helps us clarify what we think and believe. However, Jesus also observes that children have their own traits and qualities that we adults are well-served to emulate as God s children. As Jesus directly puts it: Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3-4) As I think Jesus would agree, part and parcel of this natural humility of children is their readiness to trust, their sense of wonder and delight, and an openness and honesty which makes them so vulnerable to others. While we certainly don t want to be childish (but should in fact be relinquishing childish ways as we grow and mature), a child-like capacity for humility, wonder, and honesty is admirable even for grown-ups. (1 Corinthians 13: 11-12) We need to encourage and cultivate these qualities in ourselves and preserve them in our children. Unfortunately, there s not a lot of cultivation or preservation of this kind happening today. In fact, I see a lot more adults who, unable to defer their own selfish gratification, are acting childishly. And I notice more and more children forced to grow up too fast without a lot of encouragement when it comes to their own natural spiritual inclinations. Indeed, in a challenge to those who say that they wouldn t want to parent nowadays, I would retort that I am not sure that I would want to be a kid growing up today. At the one end of the spectrum in America, we have a lot of children of kids who are being grossly neglected, not only by their own parents but also by a society at large that doesn t really put the welfare of kids first. Because of family breakdown and disruption, good parenting skills are not being passed on from generation to generation as they once were. And with just a few exceptions our mass media doesn t really model or encourage good parenting any more.
Meanwhile, our nation s spending priorities directly or indirectly consign 22% of America s children to life in poverty. That amounts to 16 million children. At least 14% of American households with children are also food insecure, which means kids don t always know when and where their next meal is coming from and what kind of meal they can expect. These same children from impoverished homes are growing up on streets that are less than safe and going to schools that, like many in the City of Detroit, are poorly equipped and environmentally hazardous. The problem is bigger and wider than Flint, Michigan. I think that we all know that adversity in life can sometimes goad to us to become stronger people. But it can overwhelm our young people, undermine any hope and trust, and demoralize their spirit. Of course, at the opposite end of the spectrum we see kids who are literally loaded down with privilege and opportunity and expectations that can blight their lives in a completely different way. All kinds of terms have been coined to describe this phenomena. One term is cornucopia kids. Another, invoked by the well-known Christian pastor and evangelist Tony Campollo, is affluenza. Just as we can have high-weight kids who are actually malnourished and in a sense starving because of bad nutrition, we can and do see kids who are so rich in things that they are poor in spirit and soul those things that make possible the kind of meaningful and rewarding life that God intends for us all. And in some cases parents are looking for their children s salvation in all the wrong places. Folks, some day I think we are going to look back on our present times and wonder how we ever got caught up in the sports mania that has come to dictate the lives of our so-called advantaged children. Sports and athletic activities can teach our kids discipline and lend structure to their lives. But time spent with coaches and other junior athletes should not replace time with mom and dad. Nor should it be a substitute for time devoted to God and an attentiveness to Christian education and spiritual reflection. In a strange asymmetry, kids and their parents can t seem to say no to sports coaches and their demands, but they feel they can say no to God with impunity, without consequences. Yet there are consequences of raising kids in a spiritual vacuum. At least 16% of all American teens today contemplate suicide in any given year. Half a million
teens actually attempt suicide each year. Drug and alcohol abuse are also a big problem for our youth. Approximately 27% of America s teens use illicit drugs. Although they are underage, more than a quarter of them regularly consume alcohol. And even if kids aren t overdosing now, the earlier any of them begin with drugs and alcohol the greater the chances that they are going to have a significant problem with substance abuse later in life. Ironically, despite widespread drug testing, sports involvement often increases, rather than decreases, drug and alcohol use. For instance, in college sports where the best polling has been done, 44% of all male athletes and 33% of all female athletes self-report excessive drinking. Almost a quarter of all college-level athletes acknowledge taking prescription pain medications on a regular basis. Moreover, in a statistic I found especially disturbing, 11% of all college Lacrosse players use cocaine more than double the narcotic use reported among hockey players and wrestlers. Thank goodness more young people don t play Lacrosse! Admittedly, church involvement and engagement is not a magic wand for children and youth. It cannot wave away or prevent all problems for them. Yet it can diminish the likelihood of substance abuse. A relatively recent report from the Institute for Spirituality and Health at the University of Texas noted that over a 100 studies suggest that religion may be a deterrent to alcohol and drug abuse in children adolescents, and adults. Adolescents who are spiritually or religiously engaged are less likely to initiate alcohol and drug abuse. The report added that there is Growing evidence that a [connectedness] with religion may help protect against delinquent behavior and attitudes among youth. Even more specifically, religious involvement may help adolescents learn [positive] social and behavior and social skills and concern for others welfare that may facilitate their degree of self-assurance and social comfort, making less disposed to withdraw or escape through alcohol or drug abuse. Other studies on teen suicide has similarly found a correlation between positive mental health for teens and an active faith life anchored in church participation. Simply translated what all this means that churched kids really do have a better chance in this world, just as our own church motto declares.
The benefits of faith and church participation for our youth cannot sprout, let alone bloom, overnight. There s no instant way to immunize them against future emotional and spiritual hazards. Just as skill in any sport requires years of practice, so does the faith for our kids. And the right momentum for their lives takes effort and commitment on our part as the adults in their life. As parents, grandparents, and caring adults, we all need to be concerned about both the material and spiritual well-being of all of our children. In the end, both God and future circumstances are going to judge us for how much or little we did to help strengthen young people against the temptations they are sure to face. I don t think that I am being rash in saying that neglecting either the material or spiritual welfare of our children and youth can almost be as bad as abusing them and is sinful on our part. That s true for us as a nation. It s true for us as individual families. There is enduring wisdom in the word from the Old Testament Book of Proverbs where it says, Train up a child in the way he [or she] should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6) Just as apt is the advice of the Apostle Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians where he declares: Fathers [and mothers], do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4) Discipline, not unlike discipleship, is a word that actually means learning. The Apostle Paul is warning us that our children will have cause for anger, discontent, and unhappiness in life if we don t teach them the way of Christ, which is the way to our salvation eternally and the only secure foundation for a rewarding, meaningful here and now. Even in our troubled, chaotic times, our children and grandchildren can have a good life if we conscientiously do right by them, facilitating their material security and well-being but just as importantly providing them with the moral instruction and spiritual nourishment they need. May the newborn children and parents whom we honor and celebrate today enjoy the positive life together that comes when we walk each day in the spirit of Jesus Christ, knowing that we each children of God. Amen.