"Everything I Need to Know about Discipleship I learned in Kindergarten"

Sermon 9-23-18

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.

Robert Fulghum wrote a book called “All I really need to know I learned about in kindergarten” which you have probably seen on posters all over schools and offices. You probably have heard of at least some of these “lessons” he shares: 

1. Share everything.
2. Play fair.
3. Don't hit people.
4. Put things back where you found them.
5. CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS.
6. Don't take things that aren't yours.
7. Say you're SORRY when you HURT somebody. …

12. Take a nap every afternoon.
13. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. …

I can tell by your reactions that these were lessons that most of us learned we were kids…. and then we promptly forget them as adults. Think for a minute about ones like: “share everything” …“clean up your own mess” ….“Play fair” …“Take a nap.” Anybody do these lately? Not so much. I fact, I would dare to say that the value system that we teach our children is the exact opposite that of how we live our adult lives. Share everything? We’re not so good at that. Clean up your own mess? Have you seen the news lately? Take a nap? No way – who has the TIME?

As we grow older, the lessons we learned as kids get un-learned and driven out of us.  Including our curiosity, and our tendency to ask TONS of questions. My sister used to babysitter a girl named Sophie who constantly asked, “what’s that? What’s that?” FOR EVERYTHING she saw and encountered!!! To us, it got really old, but after all she was a four-year-old trying to figure out this confusing and contradictory world, seeking information from us Know It All Adults.

Perhaps if the disciples would have benefited from having someone like Sophie along that day when Jesus talked about his death and resurrection a second time.  .. because they sure didn’t seem to get it the first time! They might have been inspired by a few of her “what’s that’s” and would have asked Jesus: Just who is the son of man? Who will betray him? Why will he be killed? And perhaps most importantly: how can someone come back alive after they have died?

But, sadly, Sophie was not with them, and they were too afraid, too embarrassed, and too cautious to ask Jesus what he meant. So instead of asking questions, they had a heated discussion about something they THOUGHT they understood – the ranking in the final line up. When Jesus comes into his Messiah-ship, in power and glory, who was going to be the “next” greatest in the line up? Peter? John? James? And who would be the unlucky guy to be in 12^th place?

But after their heated discussion, once Jesus asked them what they were arguing about…. Guilty silence… not unlike the silence that falls when your own children are up to something they know they know is not right. And the disciples are shamed into silence like naughty children, knowing on some level at least, that Jesus would not approve of haggling over who deserved the #1 spot.

Jesus, after all, has made it clear he is more interested being in spot number #12… or even lower than that. And he illustrated his point by bringing forward a child, whose worth to society at the time was even less than that of a slave, and he equates welcoming such a one to welcoming the very Creator of the Universe.

Even though now things are very different for children compared to Jesus’ time, it’s still not easy to be a kid. They don’t have a lot of say in what they eat, wear, where they live, or where they go to school. Kids can’t drive or earn a living – they are dependent on their parents and caregivers for everything. So, kids are still very vulnerable, even now. And it is with the vulnerable that Jesus has chosen to be, over and over again. Therefore: how we treat the most vulnerable among us is how we welcome Jesus in our midst.

And honestly, we as a society don’t seem to be having a very good “welcoming” track record … at least in how we have treated “other people’s” children. Let me give you an example from when I lived in New Jersey. The Trenton school district and the West Windsor school district are less than a dozen miles apart from one another, and they could not be more different educational experiences. In Trenton, the students suffered for years in asbestos-filled buildings that were literally falling apart around them. In West Windsor, each student started their freshman year with a Chrome Book. What accounted for this difference? School district funding is based on property taxes… and because people who live under the poverty line are less likely to own homes, much less likely for those to be the multi-million-dollar houses near Princeton… and so kids in one area are forced to inherit a cycle of poverty … in the same state that boasts some of the highest national incomes. I wish New Jersey was an exception, but they are closer to norm than we like to admit.

And we in the church don’t always do so well either. Floating around the internet for a while was a picture of a card one family received in a church they visited. The card addressed to parents with children, presumably to be given when kids are being a little wiggly or noisy, read: “… in order to allow those seated near you to engage in the message, please enjoy the remainder of the service in our lobby. An usher will assist you.” Not the most welcoming statement. I highly doubt this family went back to that church. I certainly wouldn’t. Many of my friends reacted by saying, “I would take my family into the lobby alright… but then keep going out the door and into my car.” And yet, this is closer to what is normal behavior in our churches than perhaps we would like to admit.

A pastor in another synod shared a recent experience she had of her council setting her congregational staff family leave policy. Now granted, as a nation, we are the very worst in all the “industrialized nations” with our average of 6 – 12 weeks unpaid leave. That particular church however, just approved TWO WEEKS parental leave. TWO WEEKS. What does that say about the priorities of this congregation to protect tiny newborn babies, and their parents, including the possibility that their mother might have had a C section, which is major surgery? .. or even welcoming adopted or foster children into families? And yet, this is closer to the normal attitude in churches than we would care to admit.

How we welcome those who are considered least says a lot about how we welcome Jesus. Martin Luther once said that Christ lives in each of us, and that we are all “Little Christs.” The good that we do is Jesus working in us. And we are to love, welcome, and value one another as children of God because of this. Not from pity, or deserving it from anything we have done or accomplished, or because we are deemed to be successful or trustworthy… but because we belong to Jesus as God’s children.

Jesus welcomes this child on her own terms, and not on her future value. He doesn’t welcome this child into his presence before the disciples and say – “welcome this child because she is the future of the church.” Or “Welcome this child because she’ll have a family and bring in more kids.” Or “Welcome this child, as long as she behaves in church.” Or “Welcome this child – as long as she stays quiet about how she ‘may or may not’ have been harmed by people in power.”

Instead, Jesus said, “Welcome this child because when you welcome her, you welcome me. And when you welcome me, you welcome the very presence of God in your midst.” Welcome her questions, her curiosity, her wonder, and her wiggles. Welcome her, believe her, stand up for her, especially when no one else is standing up for her. This is especially important in the face of those who CLAIM that they follow Jesus, and then do the opposite.  

It’s amazing that God can take an unimportant, overlooked child, and exalt her as the standard for discipleship. God takes our expectations and then does the opposite – treating the first as last and the last as first, much to our dismay and confusion. But this is more normal behavior for God than we care to admit.

God can also choose a rag-tag bunch of fishermen and generally clueless dudes and make them into passionate preachers and teachers of the message of Jesus.

God can use a tool of cruel and unusual punishment – the cross - and refashion it into a symbol of life and hope for millions for centuries. And God can use YOU, with all your strengths and all your weaknesses and with all your questions, as a vehicle to bring in the Kingdom of God by showing this radical welcome to all people… perhaps helped by all the lessons we learned as kids, like sharing, and holding hands and sticking together. … though naps are optional. Amen.