Mark 9:30-37

They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again." But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."

My task as a preacher is to take the good news, which often comes to us as an abstract theological idea, and flesh it out in terms that we can relate to. Luckily, today’s gospel texts include both an abstract theological idea and an object lesson provided by Jesus himself. By simply reading the gospel I’ve done just about all I can hope to accomplish in a sermon. So, allow me simply to remind you of what you’ve just heard in the gospel text.

Today’s theological idea is the concept of greatness. Who or what is great? What makes someone great?

I hope the irony is not lost on you that the disciples are the ones arguing among themselves about who is the greatest. Up to this point in Mark’s gospel, the disciples have been busy doubting Jesus’ teaching and doubting their ability to heal and cast out demons in Jesus’ name. They really do come across as the bumbling Keystone Cops in Mark’s gospel.

And what were they doing in today’s story as they walked to the next town? They were arguing about who among them was the greatest. This is like players on a winless team arguing about who on the team is the best. It’s a discussion that misses the mark. The disciples wanted to be greatest. They wanted to be first. So they sped off to the next town, leaving Jesus behind on the road, and argued while they were on their way.

Jesus entered the room where all the disciples have gathered after their roadside argument. Notice, this means Jesus walked in last; which makes his words all the more demonstrative and incisive: “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”

Jesus is literally talking the talk and walking the walk. He literally walks in the room last and calls the disciples’ attention to the fact that when they get too far ahead of him they lose focus and direction. I imagine Jesus saying, “Quit running ahead in ignorance and arrogance. Instead, walk with me, or ••gasp•• even behind me once in a while so you can see what it is I’m actually doing in the world.”

But he doesn’t stop there. The gospel continues, “Then [Jesus] took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’”

These disciples who run off ahead of Jesus…

These disciples who can’t manage to do what Jesus promises they can do…

These disciples who misunderstand what he says…

These disciples who argue among themselves about who is the greatest…

…do you think these disciples are the type of people who would make any time for children?

I doubt it. After all, children were invisible in that culture. Children had no inherent worth until they reached the age where they could produce income for the family. Males would work and females would marry. In that culture, children were nothing more than potential adults.

Showing attention, care, or affection to a child would have been a significant waste of time in that day and age. But along comes Jesus insisting that whomever wishes to be great must be last, a servant, and a friend to valueless and overlooked people such as children.

Here, too, Jesus talks the talk and walks the walk. Jesus heals and casts out spirits from children, such as daughter of the Syrophoenician woman in Mark chapter 7 and the boy from the passage immediately preceding today’s account from chapter 9.

In another account, in Matthew 10, Jesus raises a girl from the dead! Imagine that…not just any child, but a female child (a double whammy of cultural valuelessness at the time) – a female child benefiting from what we could call Jesus’ most amazing miracle.

Jesus insists that children have intrinsic worth and they should be welcomed.

And so, we, like the disciples, are called to be welcoming

Unfortunately, I can’t think of any churchy word that has come to mean as little as the word “welcoming.” Every single church today would claim to be welcoming. Even if they don’t allow you to take communion due to not being the right denomination, or if they don’t allow you to serve in any leadership capacity because you’re a woman or not straight, I guarantee you their signs will say “All are welcome.”

Welcoming does not mean merely tolerating. Instead, to be welcoming means to actively draw people into full inclusion, participation, and relationship.

Children are a great gift…not because of their potential, but because of who they are right now. Children are open to possibilities, full of enthusiasm, truly humble, and living as through no one can keep them at arm’s length from God’s love.

By welcoming children, by actively drawing children into full inclusion, participation and relationship, children change us. Their openness, enthusiasm, humility, innocence, and love rubs off on us. It’s frankly a selfish commandment for us to follow, because we stand to gain so much from being in relationship with children.

So, permit me to extend an invitation for you to reflect on the degree to which you heed Jesus’ words about children, particularly as it relates to our ministry in our church and community. Are you someone who tolerates the presence of children, or are you someone who actively celebrates their full inclusion, participation, and relationship?

Trust me when I say there is a need for more inter-generational relationships in this congregation. Would you consider spending an hour a month helping other adults teach a Sunday school class? Would you stand to gain anything from learning the name of the child who is sitting near your seat in worship? Would you go to cheer on one of youth as they demonstrate their talents in extracurricular events? Would you help staff the nursery once in a while so that parents who are completely submerged in the art of parenting little ones can have an hour of the week to focus and worship?

I nearly talked myself out of making this sermon an appeal for you to get involved in the life of our youth. I thought maybe it would come across as heavy-handed. I thought you’d probably say “no” to the invitation; or tell me that’s my job, not yours; or tell me it’s a woman’s job, not yours (which must be a thought some of you have because we only have one male Sunday school teacher right now). But then I remembered that this isn’t an appeal for help, it’s an invitation to follow Christ by having fun with awesome little people. I would be doing you a disservice by withholding the invitation.

Regardless of where you individually go from here. Here’s what we as a congregation are going to do to honor our youth this morning. Before the music plays, I am going to ask the children’s church leaders to bring the kids back to the sanctuary. As they walk in I want you all to turn to face them and applaud them as they enter. These kids deserve a standing ovation.

Matthew 16:13-20

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

In today's gospel text I recognized an opportunity to talk about the ways in which Cross of Grace ministers to and with our youth.

You might think this is a stretch, given that Jesus doesn’t explicitly say anything about youth in today’s passage. However, today’s gospel text is all about the future of the church; and Jesus makes it clear that his disciples, uniquely Peter, have a significant role to play in the future of the church. It is worth noting that the consensus in Biblical scholarship is that Peter, along with the other disciples of Jesus, would have been teenagers during their time with Jesus.

That’s probably not the image of Jesus’ disciples you had in your mind, is it?

The centuries of canvas artwork, stained glass, illustrated Bibles, and made-for-TV movies have lied to us by portraying the disciples middle-age white guys with thick beards. Delete the mental image of the scene you had in your mind and realize that this is a conversation between God’s Son, himself in his late-twenties, and a bunch of teenagers who are eager to be a part of something bigger than themselves. This is a story about youth ministry, the future of the church, and the identity of God. We would be wise to contemplate its implications for us today because today’s teenagers are equally as eager to be a part of something like what Jesus promised.

At least four years ago Cross of Grace started discussing the possibility of bringing in someone to focus on its various youth ministries. I wasn’t part of those discussions; however, for better or worse, I am the result of those discussions. For 3 1/2 years we have served together. You have entrusted your youth into my spiritual care and I have sought to care for the entire congregation, and in particular our youth, albeit with various level of success.

In a very real sense, 3-1/2 years into this position I still don’t know what I am doing. The landscape of youth ministry is changing as rapidly as everything else in our society. Tried and true approaches to youth ministry are no longer as effective as they once were. Books on the topic written just a few years ago seem to reference a time long gone by.

Congregations no longer serve the same functions as they did in previous generations. One’s involvement with a congregations is no longer a top priority, nor a cultural expectation. In fact, now more than ever before, congregations are viewed as a liability rather than an asset, even for people hungry to sense and serve God – people who prefer a safer individual spirituality so as to avoid the all-too-common painful experiences of religion observed alongside other imperfect people.

There is no one-sized-fits-all approach for a successful youth ministry. Nor is it something I can do on my own. I would have left this position long ago if I felt that you were expecting me to ‘do’ your kid’s spirituality for them (or for you, for that matter). In fact, the times when I have recognized success in youth ministry have been when I have been able to empower you to be the most important spiritual influences in our kid’s lives. That goes for you whether you are a parent, grandparent, or someone who simply wants to make a positive impact in a child’s life.

The call to support, encourage, inspire, and equip the youth in our community is a call that extends to every Partner in Mission at Cross of Grace. And you participate in this virtuous work by acknowledging our youth, smiling with them, asking them about their lives and interests, teaching them and learning from them, serving alongside them in the community, showing up at their events to support them, and letting them know that they are valued, respected, and loved.

So take this moment to acknowledge the role you play in the lives of our youth, both inside our church walls as well as the youth in our wider communities. I sincerely thank you for being parents, grandparents, Sunday school teachers, children’s church leaders, youth group volunteers, nursery attendants, mentors, and more. I trust that you have been inspired by encounters with our youth.

A few weeks ago I was talking with a Partner in Mission who told me how she grew up in the confines of a religion that made her afraid of God because God she was taught that God judged her unworthy to be loved. She told me how much our weekly children’s sermon time means to her because every Sunday morning Pastor Mark or I take something out of the box and always turn it into a message about how much God loves each child. She is optimistic that generations of youth who grow up in a church inundated with a consistent message of grace and love will yield abundant spiritual fruit both now and in the future.

I also keep a memory tucked in the back of my mind as motivation for the difficult work of youth ministry. During my first year of serving a congregation in Kentucky I recall telling the congregation I would skip the youth message that morning because no children were there. A potent sense of sadness and despair emanated from those pews. It was a despair rooted in two stark truths: 1) the congregation wouldn’t exist much longer without another generation to rise up; and 2) a feeling of failure, that they had not taken seriously their call to nurture generations beyond their own.

It fills me with so much joy and energy to be able to say to you that if I lived in this area and had a job other than pastor at Cross of Grace, I would still choose to worship here and raise my children here. I hope you recognize what a gift we have here. I hope that you recognize your role in it.

Go ahead and pat yourselves on the back, but stay focused, because there is work left to be done. And I desperately want you to be a part of it, both for the youth’s sake, as well as your own.

One of the directions I have been trying to steer us towards is a focus on building relationships across generations. The only reason I am a part of the church today in any capacity is because I was fortunate to have a number of people in my home congregation from all different ages who went out of their way to make me feel appreciated, valued, and loved. In my darkest times, I could remember many people from my home congregation whom I knew thought that my life was important. This is incredible gift that you could give to our youth at Cross of Grace.

I place a high priority on any ministry that brings different generations together to create nurturing and healthy relationships. Starting in October, Cross of Grace will start its second year of “Cross-generational gatherings” between worship services on the first Sunday of each month. These are opportunities to sit at a table with a child, work on a craft or activity, play a game, sing a song, talk about Bible stories, and make a new friend. Last year’s participants told me how much they enjoyed the events. I hope you realize I am talking to you when I say you missed out if you didn’t participate last year; and you will really want to be a part of this.

Another exciting cross-generational aspect we’re trying this year is a mentoring program with our Faith Formation students. Pastor Mark is pairing an adult faith mentor for each of our Faith Formation students. This adult will pray for the youth, make a point of conversing on Sundays, and take it upon him or herself to be an example of faith and dependability for the youth. I had a faith mentor when I was in Middle School. He and his wife became dear friends and I still look forward to seeing them, even though those opportunities are rare these days.

And here is one more way that you can make a difference in the lives of our youth: show up for their concerts, performances, and sporting events. Joannie Bowen preached a fantastic message at a midweek Lenten service in which she encouraged us to be the “fans in the stands” for our youth. She was instrumental in bringing women’s athletics to Hancock County and she makes it her mission to go to as many games as possible. Talk to any of our youth and they will be able to say that Joannie came to at least one of his or her games. You know that’s powerful. And it’s something you can be a part of. So look for our F.I.T.S. announcements and mark your calendars to show up and be amazed at what our youth are capable of.

The landscape of youth ministry is changing and it is a very exciting time to be a part of it. What amazing news it is to know that every change, experiment, success, and failure is supported by God’s promise that the church built on the rock will last forever. May you remember that Jesus first gave this promise to a bunch of teenagers. And may you be inspired that the future of God’s good news through word, service, and sacrament is in the hands of our youth.

Amen.

Children Are Great!

"Giving the Kids the Keys" – Matthew 16:13-20