Preached by Tammy Martens on June 8, 2008
Text: Mark 10:13-16
In A. A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh book, one of the chapters I love to read is “Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets Into a Tight Place.” The chapter begins with Pooh walking through the forest one day and he stumbles upon Rabbit’s Home which is a Hole in a Tree. Pooh pushes himself through the very tight hole and makes it into Rabbit’s house. After a good meal of honey, condensed milk and bread, Pooh starts to leave. But as Pooh tries to push himself out of the hole in Rabbit’s Tree, he gets stuck, very stuck.Rabbit is not able to push Pooh out so he runs to get Christopher Robin. When Christopher Robin arrives, and evaluates the situation, he determines that there is only one thing to be done. He says to Pooh, “We shall have to wait for you to get thin again.” “How long does getting thin take?” asked Pooh anxiously. “About a week, I should think.” “But I can’t stay here for a week!” “You can stay here all right, silly old bear. It’s getting you out which is so difficult.” “A week!” said Pooh gloomily. “What about meals?” “I’m afraid no meals,” said Christopher Robin, “because of getting thin quicker. But we will read to you.” Bear began to sigh, and then found he couldn’t because he was so tightly stuck; and a tear rolled down his eye, as he said: “Then would you read a Sustaining Book, such as would help and comfort a Wedged Bear in Great Tightness?”
Of course the story ends happily and they are able to get Pooh out of the hole of the Tree. What a beautiful story, rich in its message. Have you ever felt like a Wedged Bear in Great Tightness? So tight that you couldn’t even experience the relief of a sigh? And in those times of great tightness what did you do? What did you turn to? Pooh asks to be read from a Sustaining Book.Is there a sustaining book in your life that brings comfort in times of great tightness?
Certainly we all know what it’s like to feel tightness; to feel wedged in by life’s circumstances. To be stressed and overwhelmed to the point where we are stuck and unable to find a way out. Of course, it’s not just an adult phenomena; children and young people experience “great tightness” in their everyday world too.
In her book, The Way of the Child, Wynn McGregor shares the following: “When I lead workshops on children’s spirituality, I often ask participants to describe the world in which today’s children grow up. Here are words that typically surface: fast, materialistic, fragmented, fearful, controlled, cluttered, busy, noisy, activity-focused, hurried, overstimulated and chaotic.” This sounds like great tightness to me.
Wynn goes on to share that she then asks participants to name the natural qualities of young children. The words that come to the fore include: openness, trust, energy, wonder, enthusiasm, awe, laughter, creativity, receptivity, curiosity, joy, and truthfulness.”
As we hear these two lists, are you not struck by how incongruous they are? It seems very clear that the natural way of life for a child and the way most of us have come to live in this world seem to be two different orders of reality. It is true that our children can feel at times like a wedged bear in great tightness.
And so as we have gathered for Sunday School this past year, one of the things we did was read from the Bible, something we value as our Sustaining Book, and we shared with the children life-giving words of truth, comfort and love. Our hope was that as children heard the sustaining words from Scripture and experienced care and grace in our community, they would feel valued and loved.
So on this day, what are the sustaining words that all of us (children and adults) need to hear. How can words from Scripture fill us with life and hope and healing?
Hear once again the words from Jesus: “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these…and Jesus took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.”
How are these sustaining words for us and our human condition? How do they bring healing to us? The message is that God welcomes children, and people like children, into his heavenly kingdom. But what is it about children that Jesus sees?
Perhaps it is as simple as this: Children are drawn to Jesus, because they see so clearly that they need him. Jesus notices this about them repeatedly; that childen see him, whereas adults are blind to him. Children cheered Jesus at the temple, and the so-called men of God were outraged. “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” says Jesus, “have you never read, ‘From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise’?” “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.”
Children simply know how much they need adults. Particularly the adult called Jesus, it seems; but adults in general. The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as them. God welcomes people into his heavenly kingdom who have seen what the children see. God welcomes adults who know that God sustains them only by his grace and favor, and not on their own merits. God welcomes adults, who have seen their own deep need when they see Jesus Christ, and who are drawn, like the children, to him.
Jesus comes because we are lost, because we are wedged in, because we are broken in our sin and selfishness. Without him, we can’t find ourselves, make forgivness for us or give ourselves life. Each of us is every bit as dependent upon Christ as a child is upon an adult. And any adult who has finally seen this about herself or himself is able to understand what Jesus goes on to say in Matthew 18:5: “whoever welcomes a little child like this is my name welcomes me.”
What does it mean to welcome a little child in Jesus’ name? We don’t just welcome children because they are cute or smart or funny. We don’t just welcome children when when it’s convenient or when children are behaving. We understand from this story from Jesus that we are able to fully welcome children when we adults have come to our own realization that we need God, that we need Jesus Christ. It is out of this understanding that we welcome and embrace and accept children in this community of faith.These are the words from our Sustaining Book; may we find hope and comfort as we have listened together. Amen.
