A friend who is a surgeon stopped by a clothing store in a local mall. He had just returned from a hunting trip and was still attired in cap, plaid jacket and muddy boots. Looking through the showroom for a Christmas gift for this wife, he noticed that each available clerk was obviously ignoring him. None asked if they could help. None even acknowledged his presence. Soon he left, went home, showered, dressed and went to another store where he bought his wife an expensive coat. Then he told her to return to the first store, show them the coat, tell them who her husband was and why they had missed the sale. Though his wife is far too gentle and sweet-spirited to follow that advice, it would have taught the merchant a valuable lesson if she had. Looks are deceiving, and they had inadvertently turned away one of the best customers they could ever have hoped to have.

Christ's disciples were about to do the same thing on their way to Jerusalem. Busy, pushed, stressed out about so many truly "important" things, they were suddenly intruded upon by some mothers who requested that their children get to meet Jesus. "Children?" the disciples answered. "We don't have time for children! There are sick folks to heal, lessons to teach, Pharisees to challenge, temples to cleanse and thrones to establish. Don't bother the Teacher with children." And as the rejected mothers were about to turn away, Jesus realized what had taken place. The author Mark says: "When Jesus saw what happened, he was indignant, and said to them, 'Let the children come to me. Do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall never enter it!' Then he took them in his arms and blessed them ...."

The disciples almost turned away the very ones whom Jesus called closest to the Kingdom of God. It impresses me on reading this story that Jesus took time to laugh, hug and play with children. He was on his way to Jerusalem. He was embarking upon the final episode in his mortal life. Jesus was journeying toward the cross. One would think with all that looming before him, he would have felt that the time for play and laughter was past. But even there, even then, the Savior had time for children. There was something about them that got very close to the heart of Jesus. There is something about children that ordinarily gets close to the hearts of all who follow him.

We clergy usually do our best to steer clear of cliches. They are weary and worn. Our congregations or readers have heard them all before. Frequently cliches are polemically opposed to scripture. So, it is best to avoid them when at all possible. However, when the topic at hand is children, there is no getting around the use of cliches because one by one they are absolutely true: "Children really are our most precious natural resource." "The children really are our future." Yet, look at what is happening to them.

Currently in America there are just over 100,000 homeless children -- elementary school-aged kids who had no vote on whether or not they would be born into poverty and who sleep nights on the streets of our cities.

Every year in America one and a half million unwed teenaged and pre-teenaged girls get pregnant, an increasing number of them due to abuse from their fathers, stepfathers, other relatives or boyfriends of single moms.

Youth and teen suicides are up 112 percent since 1980. Every 20 minutes in America a child or teenager tries to take his own life. Dennis Campbell, Dean of the Divinity School at Duke University, is unquestionably accurate in his assessment: "We are guilty of giving our children too much to live with but not enough to live for." Every year in our nation an average of 600 children per state die because Mom or Dad or both have beaten the child to death. And for every child who dies, there are hundreds of others who suffer physical, sexual or psychological abuse. The scars sometimes never go away. Recently a news story ran about a mother and father who tired of hearing their newborn baby girl cry. So, to punish her, they held the infant over a boiling steam kettle, inflicting third degree burns from the bottom of her feet all the way to her waist.

"Our most precious natural resources ...." And yet, look what's happening to them. Most likely it does not occur in our homes. But, does it ever happen to anyone we know? When the topic is child abuse, sins of omission are almost as serious as sins of commission. Knowing of a child who is being abused and doing nothing to stop it is, by our very apathy, an act of participation in the abuse.

Children need and deserve the very best we have to offer in protection, nurture, education, role modeling, in the allotment of our time, in the sharing of our faith and in the generous provision of our love. "And Jesus took them in His arms and blessed them." There was something about children that was close to the heart of the Savior and should also be close to the hearts of all his disciples.

Another important consideration not to miss, though, is that not only do children need us, we adults also need them. There is a tremendous amount we mature, sophisticated adults can and should learn from children. The disciples thought they knew all about God and God's Word and will. But Jesus told them: "Whoever does not receive the kingdom like a child shall not enter it." Or, as another translation phrases it: "Except you believe with the faith of a child, you shall have no part in the kingdom of God." In other words, said Jesus, no matter how skilled or erudite those disciples considered themselves, the children were closer to truth than they were. They still had a lot to learn from children. That has not really changed so much from Christ's day to ours. 1 -- E.g., we learn about TRUST from children. There is not one ounce of doubt in a child's mind that Mommy has magical powers and really can kiss a hurt and make it go away. That is trust that transcends logic -- absolute confidence in the presence, protective power and unfailing love of a parent. Jesus said that God is enabled to do far more with our lives if we experience that same sort of trust than ever could be done otherwise. Doubt builds barriers, but trust opens doors. "Except you believe with the faith of a child," he said, you will limit what God can do with your life. "Except you trust with the faith of a child ...." 2 -- Children also teach us a great deal about FAITH.

During a particularly hectic Holy Week when our younger son was only five, my platter was extraordinarily full with church activities. There was a Maundy Thursday service to plan, a Good Friday community service the next day, a Good Friday evening choral concert in our sanctuary and, most of all, there was the challenge of getting ready for Easter Sunday with two full services, a sermon and additionally a family trip to see the grandparents. All throughout the week I kept talking about Easter plans, Easter services, Easter-this and Easter-that. One evening at dinner it was Zachary's turn to say grace. At the end of his "God-is-great-and-God-is-good" prayer, he added the words: "And I hope Jesus is feeling better." I asked my wife what in the world he was talking about, and she answered that his Sunday school teacher had been telling the children about the cross and how Jesus suffered there for us. So he prayed, aware of the suffering of Christ while I, a theologically trained pastor, during Holy Week had mentally jumped right past the suffering and was concerned only with preparing for the victory celebration.

Karl Barth, probably the greatest theological mind of the twentieth century, lectured many years ago at The University of Chicago. Following his lecture, a question-and-answer time with the audience was scheduled. As the story goes, a certain student asked a question, obviously expecting to receive a deep and cerebral answer. "Dr. Barth," he queried, "what is the greatest truth of the Christian faith?" Pondering only a moment, the profound theologican answered: "The greatest truth of the Christian faith is this: Jesus loves me, this I now for the Bible tells me so."

Children teach great lessons about faith ... especially, I suspect, because they get to the heart of the matter. Children more than anyone else seem to understand intuitively that at the heart of Christianity is Jesus -- his life, his death and his relationship with us. 3 -- Additionally, children share powerful secrets about HOW WE ARE MEANT TO DEAL WITH ONE ANOTHER.

My first seven years were spent on a street called Brookside Drive in a small southern city. It was in the early '50s, and Brookside Drive was more or less the racial line of demarcation that ran right through our town. From our street south was predominately (if not totally) White. North was predominately (if not totally) Black. All the children from the neighborhood where the two developments merged played together as we grew. We were children. We didn't realize the color of one's skin made any difference. We thought people were neat just because they were people. We were just little kids, and as such we were color-blind. Children almost always are unless somebody teaches them not to be.

Maybe there is a lesson there for sophisticated grown-ups, a lesson about who is or who is not worthy of our kindness and care. Maybe children know better than anyone else that it's not the color of skin or the gender or the size of one's home or one's political affiliation or kind of car one drives that makes a person worthy and special. Children seem to understand that everyone is worthy just because God made them, and that is enough. "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them," said Jesus, "for to such as these belong the kingdom of God. Truly, I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a child shall not enter it."

Years ago I heard someone quote the following poem. I have never been able to learn who wrote it, but whoever the author may have been obviously comprehended the Christ-likeness of children. The author obviously understood that to be like Jesus we must somehow become like children again.

There's something quite nice about children.
Every family should have one or two
They're such a fine race
When they're kept in their place:
Say, the playground, the park or the zoo.

In his place, a child's quite delightful,
Full of fun, a most interesting buddy.
But his yearning for action
Can cause a distraction
When he has invaded the study.

The office is no place for children.
They foul up our work with their fun.
So we make it a rule
That they must go to school
So their elders can get something done.

Some children came searching for Jesus.
His friends were distressed and inclined
To think: "Oh, how terrible
To have a fresh parable
Suddenly slip from His mind!"

So they tried to get rid of the children
Surely no major disgrace,
Protecting their Master, From certain disaster.
By keeping the children in place.-

"Let the children come in!" shouted Jesus,
Then said something frightfully odd:
"They are bearers of grace,
And their ultimate place
Is right smack in the Kingdom of God."

Well, the place of a child is the Kingdom.
That's what Jesus carefully taught.
So, the last time you did
Play some ball with your kid,
You were closer to God than you thought.