Written by Richelle Thompson
Luke 18:16 (NRSV) Jesus called for them and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.”
Every Sunday is a rush for a mother with young children. The pressure to make an early arrival (or at least not a late one) increases when you add the component that we’re a clergy family. It does not look great to arrive after Daddy starts preaching.
So I wasn’t super-patient with my daughter. As preschoolers are prone to, she kept asking questions about our neighbors. Why aren’t they going to church? Are they sleeping? What are they doing? What about God bread? (That’s what she called the eucharist). Finally, frustrated and late, I told her that our neighbors were probably sick this morning.
But, she asked plaintively. How will they get better without God bread?
Indeed. Her view of the eucharist was both childlike and deeply profound. And perhaps that is what Jesus is telling us in this scripture passage. Engaging the world like a child, with simple awe and wonder, can be an opportunity to experience and receive the kingdom of God.
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