As a parent I remember when our sons were babies, often at night they would cry and even though Lynne or I would get up (Lynne more than I), we wished for silence so we could get back to sleep. Since both my Son's (one in college and one in high school), are older, I find myself sometimes missing those childhood sounds in the house. A while back I was listening to a recording that my wife made of our son Sean when he was just learning to talk, and I thought to myself: "As much as I love my twenty-one year old son, part of me misses that toddler voice that is now only a missed memory".
After Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, he went to the temple and began conducting miracles, while this happened the sounds of children shouting "Hosanna to the Son of David" could be heard outside. This upset the temple priests greatly and they complained to Jesus that they were interrupting a house of worship. Jesus replied: "Have you never read, Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast brought perfect praise'?"
Brothers and Sisters, next time a child cries in church, or is a bit to loud, I ask that you cast a vision of a church where the sounds of children are forever silent. Churches that do not have the sounds of children, the sounds of youth are churches that are withering on the vine of healthy ministry. As a teenager, I remember attending a worship in which the parish priest chastised a family in worship for the sound of their crying child. The only thing that this priest did was remove the sound of a healthy church, and a young family from the ministry of this parish. With this picture branded on my mind, it comes into view every time I hear an infant or young child sound in worship.
Beloved, the sound of children and youth in church is the sound of a church that is healthy and doing vibrant and relevant ministry. My prayer and wish for us all is that this Palm Sunday as we see the kids waving the palms, we embrace that picture in or memory. Next time our babies cry in the middle of the night, or when they cry in worship, I ask that you think what the sound of their silence would be like.
Thanks for your kids crying and making sounds in worship
Pastor Tim.
Day Thirty-Three Scripture Readings
Matthew 21: 14-17
Galatians 6: 9,10
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