Crescent Hill Baptist Church
Crescent Hill Baptist Church
Louisville, Kentucky
Easter 6
May 13, 2007
W. Gregory Pope
THE CHURCH AS MOTHER
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
1 Samuel 1:9-22
(A Sermon on the Dedication of Children)
The first title of this sermon on the care of children was “Nurturing the Future of the Church.” But then I thought: that makes it seem like the church is an end in itself. When in reality the church exists for the sake of the world. What we do in this place for children and families is for the sake of the future of the world. And so the title “The Church as Mother,” marking the church as the actor not the recipient.
It is overwhelming to the human heart to realize the condition in which many of this world’s children live: hunger, poverty, disease. We bemoan the world’s condition and rightly so. But the question in our laps as followers of One who blessed children and as believers in a God who created all children is this: What are we going to do about it?
How much are we willing to invest to help change the world of children?
Are we willing to vote out of a larger purpose than self-interest?
Are we willing to do more than vote?
As citizens and as a congregation, are we willing to give of our time and energy and money to invest in the lives of children and families?
The question I really want us to ask ourselves is this: Do we really believe in what we are doing when we dedicate a child to God in worship?
In just a few minutes, almost thirty children are going to stand up here, along with their parents and care-givers who are desiring to dedicate them to God. What is this all about?
1. The dedication of a child is, first of all, an acknowledgment of the child as a gift from God. In our scripture reading this morning, Hannah was given a son and promised to give that son back to God, nurturing him in the temple and in the ways of God. She knew that Samuel was a gift from God and she had a responsibility for his well-being.
As parents children have been given into our care. It can be an overwhelming responsibility. And we must take it seriously. Though they will grow to be teenagers who are certain we have no brains and live on another planet, we as parents have a responsibility to God to raise them as the children of God they are.
The act of dedication is not a baptism. As Baptists we reserve baptism for older children and adults who make a decision of their own to follow Jesus. This act of dedication does however acknowledge that God is at work prior to conversion and baptism. And we want to commit ourselves to nurturing that work of God so that one day they may choose of their own free will to follow Jesus.
2. And so the dedication of a child to God is not just an acknowledgment that your child belongs to God, but because of that acknowledgment, you as a parent or caretaker make a commitment to raise your child in the ways of God in the context of the community of faith.
This is an act of worship on your part. It is a commitment to God to raise your child in the ways of God. Teaching them as Jews teach their children what is called the Shema. We read it responsively and sang it together at the beginning of worship this morning. You teach them at home and everywhere to love the Lord our God with heart and mind and soul and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves, which for Jesus, included loving our enemies.
That is at the heart of what it means to raise your child in the way of Jesus. You want them to love God with everything they are - heart, mind, soul and strength. And you want them to love others, the neighbor next door, the neighbor on the other side of the world. We teach them to love their enemies, for only by loving our enemies can they ever become our friends.
And you commit to nurture them in God’s ways in the context of a faith community. They need to know that though being spiritual apart from community may be easier, we must teach them that God has created us to live in community, and that learning to live together makes the world a better, safer place.
To make this commitment as parents means you don’t ask a five year old or a ten year old or a fifteen year old if they want to go to Bible study or worship. You tell them as a parent it is your God-given responsibility to make sure they learn to love God and others while living in a community of faith in order to grow in faith as a human being and a follower of Jesus. When they leave home, it becomes their choice. Until then, it is your God-given responsibility.
This is a commitment you make by example, daily modeling for them the way of Jesus and being connected to a faith community yourself.
When we think of the significance of a faith community, Bill Johnson and I were talking just the other day how transforming and life-shaping it will be for his grandson Jake and my son Ryan to grow up from the nursery with Karen children from the other side of the world as they learn to follow Jesus. That would not happen if we kept them at home.
3. This act of dedication also includes a commitment from the faith community. As parents stand before the congregation acknowledging their children as gifts of God, committing themselves to nurture their children in the ways of God among the people of God, then the church itself is called upon to make a commitment to help parents raise their children, giving of ourselves, our time, our money, in order to provide ministry to children, nurturing children in the way of Jesus. In this act of dedication parents are asking for our help. And we the church commit ourselves to give that help.
You don’t have to be a parent yourself, to know what a difficult and demanding job it can be. And if you’ve ever tried to be a parent without any help, you know it can almost drive you crazy. In a culture that drives us to make it on our own, parenting is not a make-it-on-your-own kind of thing. It takes extended family, friends, community, and government to provide for children. In an act of dedication, the church says we will help in the most profound, life-shaping ways.
How as a congregation can we help children and families?
1. We can start with the children among us in this place, offering ourselves, engaging in ministry to children who are here.
We talked this past Wednesday night about our crowded nursery on Sunday mornings. We need 8-10 adults every week to help care for our children. And the more men and women who serve, the less often they will have to miss Sunday School and worship themselves. If you are willing to help, see me or Karen Scott today.
2. You can also find a place in the community where you can touch the lives of children. It may be in your own home, your own children, or the grandchildren you are raising. If those children are your focus, do not lose sight of other children. Never act only in your child’s interest, but in the interest of all children everywhere. In this act the church is also committing itself to the well-being of all children.
There are those unable to have children of their own and have unofficially adopted the children of the neighborhood or the children of friends or the children in church. There are school teachers who choose not to have children of their own because the children in their classroom are their children given into their care. It is time we begin seeing all the children of the world, especially the ones around us, as our children.
3. You can also support parents and caretakers of children. I can testify with an 19-month-old at home, your continual support of Cindy and me each Sunday makes us feel certain that we can make it at least until Wednesday of that week! And on Wednesday we get enough encouragement to make it to Sunday.
You can offer to keep a child for a few hours while the parents get away on a date, or so they can run errands, or just take a nap. The Solidarity Sunday School class has so graciously been offering a parents night out one night almost every month, and it has been truly a gift.
The church is called to be a mother to all children, offering them the love of God, teaching them the ways of God, providing a shelter in the midst of life’s storms, protecting them whenever possible from whatever would seek to do them harm.
May this service of dedication today mark a renewed commitment to the nurture of children in this place, in this community, and all over the world.
Because with children all around him, disrupting his teaching and upsetting the disciples, Jesus said, “Do not turn them away. Let the children come. For it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” Like Jesus, may we lay our hands of blessing on them and welcome them with the love of God.
Who knows? The kingdom of heaven might just break out among us in ways we could never imagine. I think it’s already begun.
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CRESCENT HILL BAPTIST CHURCH
2800 Frankfort Avenue
Louisville, Kentucky 40206
(502) 896-4425
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