One day Jesus was in Judea, when a great crowd came to hear him preach. The children came also in great numbers. The disciples, perhaps caught up in their own self-importance, saw them as a nuisance and an annoyance and ordered them away. There position doubtless was: This is serious business; we don't have time for this; don't bother the man.

It is hard to imagine the disciples taking such a position. It strikes us today as rather uncaring and cold. I can assure you, however, that I have been in churches that, in their own subtle way, are not child friendly. I well remember one of my former congregations where a group of people bitterly fought opening up the annual children's Easter party to the community. Their reasoning went something like this: We don't know who these kids are, they will run wild through the building, they will damage the building. Now, doubtless they thought they were doing the right thing. The disciples thought they were doing the right thing. Yet, Jesus took a very different position. Suffer the little children to come unto me, for to such belongs the Kingdom of God. He then went on to proclaim: Unless you become as one of these, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Strange words. What did Jesus mean by them? Well, as always, there have been some who have taken the words literally, because they believe that everything in the Bible must be taken literally. You may be interested to know a little historical footnote. In the 13th century, in what is today Switzerland, there was a popular movement that said that Jesus words (you must become as a child to enter the Kingdom of God) must be taken literally. I want you to know that tens of thousands of people quit the farms and quit the mills and started playing ring around the roses and acting as children, for they reasoned that there eternal salvation was at stake if they did not. Finally the government came in and forced people back to work. It actually happened.

Well, if we can mutually agree that Jesus’ words in this case are not to be taken literally, that they require interpretation, then what is the interpretation?

I

First, children have no prejudices. They don't understand about skin color and socio-economics. Oh, for sure, by the time they get to adolescence they do, and many mirror the thoughts of parents and peirs, But very young children have an openness to all.

I suppose most of us older folks remember Rogers and Hamersteins movie South Pacific. There is a song, sung by Mitzi Gainer, entitled: "You've got To Be Carefully Taught." If you are not careful, you will get so caught up with the catchy tune and the pretty face and you will miss the biting sarcasm that is in this song. It reminds us that hates and prejudices are taught behavior. For children the natural order is openness. "I'ts Got to be drummed in their dear little heads, you've got to be carefully taught," goes the song.

A seminary students told the story about a course he had to take with all the other beginning theologs called Supervised Ministry. It was non-credit, but still required. He was assigned community work at a Head Start center near downtown. Every Monday he would go down there and volunteer his time. All of the children, as well as the adults, were black. After he had been there for some weeks, a child was sitting in his lap one day, when suddenly she looked with amazement at his skin. She glanced at her hand, and then she glanced at his and she said: "You're different." She didn't say: "You're white." The young student said of that little girl, ”I am not sure that she quite understood how I was different. The interesting thing was that she was just then noticing the difference.” Children are so innocent and beautiful in that respect, and I think that Jesus must have had that in mind when he said: unless you become as a child, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God.

II

Children have about them a sense of wonder and awe. I had a man come into my office several years ago. He had it all--talent, looks, personality. I felt myself being almost jealous of him. As he sat down, however, I could tell that he was deeply troubled. He began by saying: Do you know what my problem is. I have lost the child within me. I am doing financially well. I am sophisticated, I am businesslike, I am calculating, and I am also miserable. I don't trust anyone any more."

Somewhere along the line I suppose many of us lose the child within us. Karl Barth, one of the world's preeminanent theologians, has said: "God's world can be experienced only in wonder. The Christian should be struck by wonder about his own being. We ought to have a sense of wonder about the world, about one another, about all of humanity."

Someone once gave me a book entitled: Children's Letters to God. It is a marvelous collection of actual children's prayers.

Listen to this sampling:

Dear God: Where do people come from. I hope you can explain it better than my daddy." Helen

Dear God. I never did think that orange went very well with purple until I saw your sunset last night. That was cool. Eugene

Dear God: Could you please send me a burning bush in my back yard. My dad never can get the drill started. Sherry

Dear God. I am sending you a penny to give to a kid who is a lot poorer than me. Chris

Maybe Jesus is suggesting to us that we need to recapture our childlike imagination. It is fascinating to me how Walt Disney World understands this, but the church seems to miss it. We become the victims of routine. We lose our spontaneity.

It is interesting that after the disciples try to turn the children away, a rich young ruler comes to Jesus. The children Jesus accepted; but the young ruler he sends away. Maybe that sequence is trying to tell us something. Maybe Jesus is saying that this man is opposite of these children: he is proud, success oriented, image conscious. He has got everything figured out. To see the treasure of the gospel, he needs to be like a child.

III

God used children to help user in the Kingdom. You will recall that on Palm Sunday, as Jesus made his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, there were shouts of Hosanna, Son of David. This enraged the Pharisees. But when we read on we find out that the ones yelling this out are the children. The Pharisees come to Jesus and say:

Tell them (the children) to quit yelling this. He answers: If I told them to stop, even the stones would yell it out."

Lest you still do not believe that God used children to usher in the Kingdom, let me remind you that our Savior came to us in the form of a child. You see, only innocence and freshness can usher in the kingdom. Yet, how did the world treat the holy innocents? Herod proceeded to kill the children who are two years of age and under. We read that and we are repulsed. It sounds so primitive. Would we rather read some modern statistics on children. 35,000 children around the world die of malnutrition every day. More than 100.million children have died of poverty related causes in the world during the last ten years. 12 million children today are growing up homeless. 80 million children between 10 and 14 work in sweat factories.

Two million children have been killed and 4 million wounded in wars during the past 15 years. In the United States, homicide is the third leading cause of death in children. A child is killed by gunfire in the U.S. every two hours. A child in the United States is reported abused every 11 seconds. In my home town of Memphis, more children were reported abused than were reported in Sunday School than in all the Methodist churches in the Memphis and Tennessee conferences combined.

God valued children so much that he used them to help usher in the Kingdom. He came in the form of a child. At the First Methodist church, I want us not only to be educated about this subject, but also devise a strategy to help address the issue of children in danger. Certainly we can create programs that help remove children from danger. When we get out new recreational facility, I want us to have an after school program, that is desperately needed in this community. I want to have open court basketball for community kids during the summer--maybe even midnight basketball. I would like the program to be run by some converted college students. The message should go out to all--children are precious to us. Amen