Here's a true story. A dad is riding in the car with his young son, a five-year old who started kindergarten just a few weeks ago. Note that the two typically have interesting thoughts and conversations when in the car, and the following is no exception. From the back seat, the dad hears his boy say, "Dad, I can't decide if I want to be a rock star or a construction worker when I grow up."
This seems to be a common dilemma as we grow up, deciding what we want to be when we get big. Most of us remember our early years when we aspired to be a doctor, cowboy, or astronaut. When children, a number of us would have said yes to becoming a pro ball player—football, soccer, softball, baseball, basketball or soccer. A friend of mine has a sister and he remembers what his sibling wanted to be when she grew up. For years, this little one announced with conviction that she wanted to be a cash register—not a retail clerk, not a sales associate, but a cash register because the cash register gets the money!
I'm sure that if we were to take the time today to share with one another all the things we talked about being when we were young and dreaming about growing up, it would probably run the gamut—President, teacher, lawyer, architect, inventor, artist, ballerina, magician, journalist, or a dolphin trainer at SeaWorld. Given that we celebrate M&Ms today, a professional chocolate taster, or, perhaps one better, from the trademark 'M's imprinted on every individual M&M, one career choice would be quality control: pulling out all the 'W's.
This is true: when we are young, the possibilities are endless. Yet, how many of us when we were young said, "When I grow up, I want to be small." Now, I'm not talking about being small in stature. I'm talking about being small in power or in prestige, more like a servant than a master. This is exactly what Jesus is telling his disciples they should aspire to after he pulls the young child into his arms and says what in verse thirty-seven? Turn to your scripture sheet and read with me verse thirty-seven. Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me.
We acknowledge and align this scripture with where we are today, September 20th, as we celebrate and welcome the children and youth of our community into our brand new formatted Sunday school program. As we mark this milestone, let us remember that Jesus' lesson to the disciples extends beyond welcoming just the child.
In fact, let's talk about three ways we can welcome not only the child, but also, in necessary ways, to welcome back the child in all of us. The first way to do this is the following: when we get big, our desire should be to be small, to be servant of all. That's right. When we get "big"—like when we get big shoulders or self-promoting big heads—our desire should be to be a servant of all.
To understand exactly what Jesus had in mind when he, shall we say, "redirected" the disciples' conversation about who was the greatest, we must have an understanding of the role of children in Jesus' time. In the ancient near East, a child was considered a non-person. This is difficult for us to fully comprehend now. Yet, when Jesus was in ministry on this earth, children would have rarely been found among a teacher and his disciples. Inconsequential, children stayed with the women, working and serving in the households. They had no standing or influence in the wider, male-dominated society. And yet here, with his disciples before him, Jesus puts forth the child as his own "stand-in." But the child is also a stand-in for a wider social segment of humanity. Jesus' words to the disciples are not just about welcoming children, but about welcoming all who are socially invisible, welcoming all who are inconsequential or welcoming all who are marginalized. Jesus is turning the tables on the definition of greatness. The disciples knew that the conversation they were having was inappropriate, and now Jesus is letting them know why. The Kingdom of God is not about greatness and power; it's about service to the least. Jesus teaches his disciples that the one who is ready to serve someone who can offer nothing in return will be the greatest. According to Christ and his teaching here, when we get big, our desire should be to be small, to be servant of all. No recognition, no praise, no self glory, be a servant of all.
That's point one. Here's the second. Do not be childish but child-like. When it comes to the welcome of others, do not be childish, but child-like.
Face it. We all can be childish or petty sometimes. Consider times when you've held a grudge against someone. Consider the slight, the slander or the negative remark you've made of someone. Some of us may be more guilty of this than others, but we know this is a house of God, not a gossip or rumor mill. It's not a place where we judge; it's a place where we are judged by God on how we welcome and love others.
Regardless of age, be child-like. Share. Here's another true story. It's a very recent baseball story and it comes to us through a great Phillies' fan living in Harford.
Right fielder Jayson Werth fouled back a pitch during the bottom of the fifth inning in the Phillies' 5-0 win against Washington at Citizens Bank Park this past Tuesday night. Steve Monforto has been coming to Phillies games since he was three years old, and after all that time, Steve finally caught his first foul ball.
Steve, a thirty-something-year-old, reached over the rail in the first row of the 300-level seats and plucked the foul ball with an impressive two-handed grab. Other fans in his section were cheering.
After trading fist bumps with nearby fans, Steve high-fived Emily, who was clad in a pink T-shirt and Phillies cap, and handed the ball to her. Three year-old Emily immediately threw the ball back.
There, near his wife, Kathleen and other daughter, 15-month-old Cecilia, Steve's immediate reaction was to hug the little girl amid all the noise.
"I think she was a little startled by the reaction," the smiling dad explained later. "I just wanted her to know it was OK."
The point of this story is for us, in light of our scripture, to be like three-year-old Emily. Throw things back. When it comes to the welcome of others, and when it comes to giving back to others, do not be childish, but child-like.
Again, that's our second point today.
Finally, extend an extravagant welcome. That's our third point today. Extend an extravagant welcome. Consider our banners that flank me. The confirmation class made these for us, as most of you know. They were presented on the day of their class blessing, which was Father's Day, June 21. Across the top of both banners, what do you read? Each banner has one word that crowns it. And those two words are ... that's right ... extravagant welcome.
What we celebrate here in Harford today is only the beginning. The "welcome wagon" is just getting rolling. Even as we mark this noteworthy occasion, the kick-off of our six week M&M series that purposefully coincides with the start of Sunday school, let us be reminded that there is service to be done in this community. Again, the M&M means our ministry and that it moves. For the most part, people will not find their way to this church on their own. We must invite them. Furthermore, we must welcome them not casually but extravagantly.
But what about the people who have never heard the name Jesus Christ, those who do not believe in a creating God whose hand is still at work in his creation? What are we giving back or throwing back to those where the Gospel is a completely foreign concept? What are we giving back or throwing back to those who, like children in Jesus' time, are marginalized or just, well, not as homogeneous as we are, not white—and here I don't just mean color, I mean those not as established, not as full, not as pulled together, not as dyed-in-the-wool Harfordites. These things will not change, and lives will not be transformed, unless we make intentional efforts to reach out in the name of Christ and welcome those around us who may not have the same belief system as us. Surrounding us in these neighborhoods up and down the northern stretches of Susquehanna County are people who struggle in the midst of lives that are inconsistent with God's will for our lives. The message of Jesus Christ's sacrificial love brings with it the key to looking ahead and shaping lives that are fruitful and blessed. But this Word will not spread itself.
Once we have shared that message in the farthest reaches of our lives, we must be prepared to welcome any and all who come knocking on our door. We must be prepared to serve in the name of Christ whose love is already at work transforming our lives. We cannot stop here, rest on our haunches, pat ourselves on the back, and think that "we have built it, so they will come." We are still called to serve. The more we grow in Christ, the more we throw back, the more we will serve in his name.
Christ beckons us to seek out the socially invisible and to make for them a place in the body of Christ. God's vision for God's creation is huge, but to see the reality of God's Kingdom come to fruition, we here in the UCC have to start in places that seem insignificant and inconsequential. We have to be the ones to get down. We have to be the ones to let others get ahead. We have to be the ones to let others go ahead of us. The message is clear. We have to be the ones to give more, we have to be the ones do more, we have to be the ones accept more, we have to be the ones humble ourselves more.
If we are to really dream big—and that's why you hired this minister and that's what he is all about—it's time today to think small. If we really want to be great, then we will serve the least. Remember three-year-old Emily. Remember that boy and his dad and their conversation in the car. Our greatest aspiration as individuals and as a church community should be this, "When I grow up, I want to be a servant!"