C-19 Reflection #27: “Relinquishing” (2)
C19 Daily Reflection(#27)
Theme: Relinquishing (#2)
Scripture: Mark 10:13-16
13 People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.
Reflection:
I have lived much of my life very connected to children and young people – family, neighborhood, local school volunteering, church, youth ministry, camp, classroom teaching - and quite possibly, I have taken this lifetime gravitation and gift for granted. In this particular season of time, children and young people aren’t a main part of my daily interaction and influence. Maybe more than ever before, I feel like a confirmed citizen of the adult world and I’m quite sure I’m diminished because of that void in some way, shape or form.
As this has been dawning on me, I have been looking for stories about children’s experiences on various media platforms during the pandemic, but I think because Covid -19 doesn’t seem to affect the young among us physically in quite the same way, they seem not be at the centre of our storytelling. Even the ongoing saga of school closures seems to have been, at least partially, hijacked by the broader issues of politics, epidemiology and economics. I hope this changes as time goes on because I’m quite sure we have lots to learn through our children’s perspectives. Advantage in this goes to those of you who are locked down with your families (and those “zooming” grandparents), even though we realize this comes with significant challenges.
Jesus’ disciples are relying on adult-dominated assumptions and Jesus takes the opportunity to challenge them on their presumptive sources of reality with regards to the things of God; namely that the kingdom belongs to adults and those ways of perceiving and receiving are more important. Go figure, with Jesus, the child-like realities of kingdom, faith and blessing are more significant to the adult journey, instead of the other way around.
This rarest opportunity to spend more time in reflection and reevaluation might lead to relinquishing some of those habits of the adult heart; not for the sake of giving up something for nothing, but maybe for the sake of creating space in order to receive important things from younger people.
What we find lacking in Jesus’ teaching are specific descriptions of child development. The fact that we are sometimes tempted to approach this teaching, and much of life, with this kind of concern for more direct explication, might be a key indicator of why we need to have children and younger people around, and why more than ever we need to receive their stories, ideas and questions during this “difficult to understand” season. If we are not quite sure what Jesus is getting at maybe we can reflect on what makes children unique and what ongoing impediments to kingdom living we might need to let go of because of them.
Recently, I found this short prayer in a book called “Children and Prayer: A Shared Pilgrimage”, which I came across while scrummaging through my library in the garage looking for something else. I was struck by the innocence and the insight. I was also struck by the need to pray for our children and young people.
Dear God,
Thank you for trees so we can breathe. Thank you for food. thank you for church. Amen.
Trent, age 9
