When Nancy and I first became parents we both worked but were able to avoid daycare for Mary Beth by a combination of flexible schedules and supportive grandparents nearby.  The set-up did require me to play "Mr. Mom" a couple days each week when it was just me and Mary Beth.  Typically we had a lot of fun and adventure, but not always.  Some days we had "bad hair days," and I am not talking about Mary but about me.

I’m a brooder.  When something is not going well I tend to brood about it.  I sit by myself and just stare off into the abyss of darkness while pondering the hopelessness of existence.  I do not do this very often but, when I do, I do it very well.  I guess I was having a day like that while caring for Mary Beth when she was a toddler.  She was at that stage where she no longer had to hold on to a table to pull herself up, but she wasn’t exactly skipping rope either.  She toddled.

I remember sitting on the floor in our little living room with my back up against the couch completely lost in a "woe is me moment" when Mary Beth toddled out of nowhere and gently put her forehead against mine and just commiserated with me.  In her little preverbal way she was saying, "I know how you feel pal, and if that’s the kind of day you’re having we’ll just have it together."  I can’t remember what I was brooding about that day, because I completely forgot about it in that memorable moment of togetherness.

I do remember thinking that despite all the demands of parenthood there might just be something in it for me.  Did that ever turn out to be an understatement.  Now that my kids are off to college I find myself thinking of them all the time.  I just sent Mary Beth a tee shirt I found online that says across the front of it: "I’m Kind of a Big Deal."  That is what she is to her old man, and I’ve got to pity anyone who tries to diminish her in any way.  It "ain’t gonna" work in her case.  She’s been thoroughly indoctrinated otherwise.

As I read Jesus in our text, all of God’s children are kind of a big deal—and not only in his eyes.  They should be in our eyes too because there are things about our relationship with God that only children can teach us and model for us.  Indeed, today we are going to find that God often comes to us through the children in our midst.  The title of our message is "Christ Child."  God came into our world through a baby born in a manger, which sounds like a great Advent sermon.

But we are in the middle of the season of Lent and, guess what, God continues to come to us in all times and seasons and, in keeping with his MO, he comes in ways we least expect to find him.  Translation: he comes to us in the children that we often try to ignore even while we are doing for them all the things we do.  Jesus reminds us that children do for us as well when we welcome rather than ignore them--that there is something in it for us.  So today we are going to apply ourselves to finding the Christ in the child, and the child in us.

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" (Verse 1).  Mark’s Gospel says that the disciples were arguing among themselves about this issue.  Luke’s Gospel says that Jesus discerned their thoughts about this issue.  It is an issue with all of us.  We think about it and sometimes we argue about it.  Who is the greatest candidate for President?  Who is the greatest pop star?  And of course we are always posturing like the disciples, "Who is the greatest among us?"

Peter gets singled out for special attention by Jesus in the Gospels, although it is not always favorable attention.  Indeed, Jesus compliments him and slam dunks him almost in the same breath as we found on Transfiguration Sunday.  On that same Sunday we saw how, together with Peter, Jesus invited James and John to ascend the mountain where he was transfigured before them.  That must have made them feel a bit special.  Perhaps it was experiences like these that led the disciples to ask Jesus, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

He called a little child and had him stand among them.  And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Verses 2-3).  Two weeks ago we found Jesus telling Nicodemus that he must be born again.  Here we find him telling his disciples that they must change and become like little children.  What is it about the beginning of human life that Jesus associates with greatness in the kingdom of heaven?

Newborn babies are such noncontenders for greatness in my book.  They can’t walk (or even toddle) and they can’t talk.  They can’t eat unless you feed them, and then they thank you by soiling themselves while they smile at you.  I will grant you that, in time, they learn to do needful things for themselves but it is a l-o-n-g learning curve.  In the meanwhile they are utterly dependent upon others for their very survival, and nobody knows it better than they do.  That is why they are always crying for help, begging for some reassuring attention, asking endless questions.

Bingo!  This is exactly the point Jesus is making by using a child as an illustration.  He is saying that greatness in the kingdom of heaven is not arguing about who is the greatest.  It is not about posturing for some privileged position.  It is not about exalting oneself above others.  It is exactly the opposite.  It is humbling oneself.  Therefore, Jesus continues, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Verse 4).

In other words, we can learn a lot from children if we pay attention to them.  We can learn helpful humility, divine dependence and purposeful prayer that cries for help and begs for a reassurance presence.  For just as the cries of children do not go unanswered by good and godly parents, so do the cries of God’s children not go unanswered by their Father in heaven.  Yes, we can learn a lot from children if we pay attention to them because God has a history of coming to us through them, just as he came to us through the Christ Child.

Unfortunately our first reaction to children is to ignore them.  Listen to this story from the Gospel of Mark: People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them (Mark 10:13).  People were bringing their children to Jesus so that he could touch their lives—so that he could influence their lives.  But the disciples, of all people, figure Jesus is much too busy with grownup issues to be bothered by children and their issues, so they reprimand the parents (which probably made a very bad impression upon the older children).

The text continues, 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.  I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."  And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them (Mark 10:14-16).  In welcoming the children, Jesus leaves us an example of how we ought to welcome them too.

Indeed, he continues in our text saying: And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me (Verse 5).  What does it mean to welcome a little child in Jesus’ name?  I think there are some people welcoming little children in Jesus’ name right here as I speak.  They are called Church School Teachers, or Promise Land Leaders, or Godly Play Storytellers, or Vacation Bible School helpers, or Workcamp Chaperones.

There is a much bigger congregation that gathers here on Sunday morning than can be seen in this sanctuary.  It gathers in the classrooms upstairs, downstairs and over at the youth annex we call "The Escape."  Sometimes it spills over into the Fellowship Hall or the Great Hall or even out on the lawn.  This portion of our congregation ranges in age from newborns to High School seniors.  They are the children God has entrusted to our care, and they are the mouthpiece through whom he speaks to us as he will in the Choralier Cantata next Sunday.

I have an interesting vantage point from where I sit.  I can see you very clearly.  When the littlest choir sings you sit upright on the edge of your pew.  You smile and sometimes you cry when they sing.  They have your complete attention.  You applaud their proclamation of the gospel.  When I am up here preaching you are not nearly so interested.  A preacher could get a little jealous about that kind of thing, except that I love to see and hear our little ones as much as you do.  Jesus reaches us in a special way through them.  As Jesus said, "…whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me."

I have a feeling that those who welcome our children in Jesus’ name get as much as they give because they welcome Jesus in the process.  I suspect that the lessons they prepare and teach, along with the students’ input, open up new understandings of scripture and spiritual truth that they might not otherwise have realized.  Maybe that has even helped them through some rough spots in life just as Mary Beth helped me through a rough spot one time.  It would be interesting to hear the testimonies of our teachers and volunteers who work with children and youth about how they encountered Christ in the child or the young person.

I am sure that there are many here who could share a testimony like that right now, and I am sure that there are many would like to have a testimony like that to share.  Throughout the year there are many opportunities offered to work with the young people of our congregation.  In our bulletin insert we read about a Workcamp meeting being held this afternoon.  We read about a part-time employment opportunity for someone to work with our youth program.

Maybe a part-time job or week at Workcamp is a little too involving given your schedule.  But let us beware of that first reaction of the disciples to ignore God’s younger children.  Maybe that plug in the bulletin insert about a Godly Play Trainer coming to the Church in Aurora on April 5 is manageable.  Godly play is the program we offer to children ages 4 through 4^th grade (or so) that is concurrent with the 11:00 worship hour.  It is definitely one of the ways we welcome little children in Jesus’ name, and we seek to do it as faithfully as possible.

Godly Play is both interdenominational and international in scope.  If you Google Godly Play you will find their web site and a very interesting video about this method of Christian Education and Worship that is uniquely suited for young people.  The organization has 40 trainers that do workshops across the nation.  That is less than one per state, and guess where they have chosen to do a workshop in the great state of Ohio?  Right here on April 5.  You should think about coming to it and signifying your intention by signing up in Fellowship Hall today.  You are making no commitment beyond attending this rather exclusive 2  hour workshop.  As the tee-shirt says, "It’s kind of a big deal."

By welcoming children in Jesus’ name we believe that we are welcoming Christ.  We also believe that Christ reaches and teaches us through the children in our midst.  In them we find living illustrations of the childlike trust and dependence that we need to embody if we are to enter the kingdom of heaven.  So when you see a child at church, think Christ Child.  Think of the Christ who comes to us in the child, and who calls forth the child in us.