Embracing Youth: Recognizing Their Role in Faith
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Sermon Clips
"From there, we come to today's message. Jesus as a boy, 12 years old, on an annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover. And from there, we go right to Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River at age 30. So why this story? What is so significant about this story, this encounter, this event, that it is the singular event from Jesus' childhood years?" [00:00:59]
"My first call out of seminary, I was working at a UCC church in Palos Park as the youth and children's pastor. The custom of this church was that children did not take their first communion until they were confirmed. One Sunday, while communion was being served, I looked at the church and I said, I looked out from the table, and I saw two young brothers, Alex and Logan." [00:02:40]
"They could sense that something special was happening and they wanted to be included. So filled with longing, they sprung up from their pews, simply excited to be involved. They didn't know what was happening. They didn't understand the deeper theological meaning of the bread and the wine, but they knew that this was something special and they wanted to be part of it." [00:04:08]
"We spend so much time in churches telling children that they have to wait, telling them they're too young, too immature, that they haven't learned enough yet, that the world and the church aren't ready to embrace them and include them fully. Too often we separate and segregate them into their own spaces and ministries, apart from the rest of the body, instead of inviting them into the fold." [00:05:15]
"Passover has ended, families are heading back to their homes from Jerusalem, and the Jewish leaders and teachers are gathered in the temple, talking. When up walks the 12-year-old boy. We don't know what they were discussing, but I can imagine it was not the kind of conversation children were usually invited into. These teachers could have simply excused the boy, told him to go find his parents, but they didn't." [00:05:47]
"They let him ask questions and listen intently to what he had to say. They gave him permission to wonder, to learn, to ask, to speak, to share, and to listen, to pursue God in his own ways. Jesus, as a child, was embraced and invited into the inner circle, not pushed to the side and told people to wait." [00:06:20]
"Then Jesus grew and matured and began to minister to and teach others himself, inviting children once again, just like he was once invited to be at the center, giving them a place of importance, not in the future, but right here, right now. What if we as a church embraced children in the same way?" [00:06:50]
"Children already know that something special happens here. They are excited and yearning to be part of it, but that excitement will not last forever if we don't nurture it. Instead of sending our young people off somewhere else, we are called, like the rabbis, like Jesus, to invite them in, to let them pull up a chair and know without a doubt that they belong here." [00:08:20]
"It doesn't matter if they understand why we have communion, or why we pray, or how we pray, or know every detail about Jesus' life or anything else of the sort, if no one was allowed to participate in the life of the church until they fully understood all aspects and elements of faith and religion and worship, there would be no churches to be part of." [00:08:58]
"After all, our scriptures tell us the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. And this brings me to the other message I want to leave you with today. A deeper meaning we can find in this passage about where to look for Jesus today. After confronted by Mary once they found him in the temple, Jesus' response, kind of shocked and confused, says, why were you looking for me?" [00:09:51]
"Perhaps all these years later, having parented Jesus and watched over him, they lost sight of that prophecy, forgot who Jesus was and who he was destined to become. Maybe they were simply focused on raising this earthly boy whom they called theirs. Maybe they got so caught up in day-to-day living that they had stopped thinking about visits from angels and that night under starlit sky in a stable when Jesus was born and people came from faraway lands to kneel at the manger." [00:10:41]
"I came to do God's will on earth, bringing hope from heaven above. I came to break down barriers and fill the world with love. Why are you looking? Didn't you know where I'll be? I'm in the hearts of lost and least. Through them, you can find me." [00:13:44]
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"My first call out of seminary, I was working at a UCC church in Palos Park as the youth and children's pastor. The custom of this church was that children did not take their first communion until they were confirmed. One Sunday, while communion was being served, I looked at the church and I said, I looked out from the table, and I saw two young brothers, Alex and Logan." [00:02:40]
"They could sense that something special was happening and they wanted to be included. So filled with longing, they sprung up from their pews, simply excited to be involved. They didn't know what was happening. They didn't understand the deeper theological meaning of the bread and the wine, but they knew that this was something special and they wanted to be part of it." [00:04:08]
"We spend so much time in churches telling children that they have to wait, telling them they're too young, too immature, that they haven't learned enough yet, that the world and the church aren't ready to embrace them and include them fully. Too often we separate and segregate them into their own spaces and ministries, apart from the rest of the body, instead of inviting them into the fold." [00:05:15]
"Passover has ended, families are heading back to their homes from Jerusalem, and the Jewish leaders and teachers are gathered in the temple, talking. When up walks the 12-year-old boy. We don't know what they were discussing, but I can imagine it was not the kind of conversation children were usually invited into. These teachers could have simply excused the boy, told him to go find his parents, but they didn't." [00:05:47]
"They let him ask questions and listen intently to what he had to say. They gave him permission to wonder, to learn, to ask, to speak, to share, and to listen, to pursue God in his own ways. Jesus, as a child, was embraced and invited into the inner circle, not pushed to the side and told people to wait." [00:06:20]
"Then Jesus grew and matured and began to minister to and teach others himself, inviting children once again, just like he was once invited to be at the center, giving them a place of importance, not in the future, but right here, right now. What if we as a church embraced children in the same way?" [00:06:50]
"Children already know that something special happens here. They are excited and yearning to be part of it, but that excitement will not last forever if we don't nurture it. Instead of sending our young people off somewhere else, we are called, like the rabbis, like Jesus, to invite them in, to let them pull up a chair and know without a doubt that they belong here." [00:08:20]
"It doesn't matter if they understand why we have communion, or why we pray, or how we pray, or know every detail about Jesus' life or anything else of the sort, if no one was allowed to participate in the life of the church until they fully understood all aspects and elements of faith and religion and worship, there would be no churches to be part of." [00:08:58]
"After all, our scriptures tell us the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. And this brings me to the other message I want to leave you with today. A deeper meaning we can find in this passage about where to look for Jesus today. After confronted by Mary once they found him in the temple, Jesus' response, kind of shocked and confused, says, why were you looking for me?" [00:09:51]
"Perhaps all these years later, having parented Jesus and watched over him, they lost sight of that prophecy, forgot who Jesus was and who he was destined to become. Maybe they were simply focused on raising this earthly boy whom they called theirs. Maybe they got so caught up in day-to-day living that they had stopped thinking about visits from angels and that night under starlit sky in a stable when Jesus was born and people came from faraway lands to kneel at the manger." [00:10:41]
"I came to do God's will on earth, bringing hope from heaven above. I came to break down barriers and fill the world with love. Why are you looking? Didn't you know where I'll be? I'm in the hearts of lost and least. Through them, you can find me." [00:13:44]
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