“How Are The Children?”
A Meditation by the Rev. Dr. Hilary J. Barrett
Pleasantville UCC, October 18, 2009
“Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me…”
(Mark 9:37)

In the countries of Kenya and Tanzania, there is an indigenous ethnic group of semi-nomadic people known as the Masai.  The Masai are famous around the world for the fearsomeness and intelligence of their warriors.  But when adults from different villages encounter one another on the African plains, it is traditional for them to exchange a greeting by asking one question: “How are the children?” 

Here in this country, the custom is not so different.  When we speak with friends or meet up with acquaintances we haven’t seen for a while, we often ask the very same question: “How are the children?”  And when we do, we usually expect to receive an update on their chronological age, their progress in school, their choice of careers, whether they are happy in their relationships and their life.  We usually receive some sense of how it goes with their health, and sometimes we learn how it goes with their spirit -- all important pieces of information to know. 

But when the Masai people ask one another “How are the children?” they are not really asking how are your children, the ones in your own biological family -- your children alone.  The questioner wants to know how the children of the whole village fare.

And just as the question is standard, so is the answer.  “Even warriors with no children of their own always give the traditional answer: ‘All the children are well,’ meaning…that peace and safety prevail, that the priorities of protecting the young [and] the powerless are in place; that Masai society has not forgotten its reason for being, its proper functions and responsibilities.”   This traditional greeting among the Masai acknowledges the high value that the Masai place on their children's well-being. 

“How are the children?  All the children are well”.

“’All the children are well” means that life is good.  It means that the daily struggles of existence do not preclude proper caring for the young.

I wonder how it might shift our awareness, if we began greeting one another with this daily question.  Imagine if a dozen times a day – as we work, as we shop, as we encounter one another at the library and the barber shop and the ball field – imagine, if we were to engage the question: “How are the children?” and have that question refer to the well-being of all the children?  Not just yours.  Not just mine.  But all the children. 

I wonder if our language and our custom of greeting forced us to ask and answer that question all day long, whether it would begin to make a difference in how we care for the children in our country and our world.  I wonder if asking the question over and over each day would remind us of the lives that depend upon our care, our compassion, our advocacy, our willingness to act.  “I wonder if every adult among us, parent and non-parent alike, felt an equal [sense of responsibility] for the daily care and protection of all the children in our community, in our town, in our state, in our county, could we truly say without any hesitation, "The children are well; yes, all the children are well."

The welfare of children is a priority for every Christian community.  And we owe our thanks for this perspective to the pioneer and perfecter of our faith: Jesus of Nazareth.  Because Jesus broke the mold of his culture and his time to embrace children in ways that were not common in that period of history.  And Jesus teaches us – his followers -- how children should be valued in the eyes of the world.

The two texts that guide our reflections this morning come from the 9^th and 10^th chapter of Mark’s gospel.  Both of them share a similar message.  In Mark 9, we encounter the disciples arguing among themselves about who will be greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus has been trying to teach the disciples that following him did not mean greatness in the ways that they always understood greatness.  But this time, he decides to teach them by example. 

He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”  Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me…” (Mark 9:35-37)

In Mark 10, Jesus is making a point to welcome children who are brought to him for a blessing even when his disciples try to push those children away.  And the words that Jesus used have become the very words we proclaim in our services of baptism.  We begin the sacrament of baptism with these words:

They were bringing children to Jesus, that he might touch them; and the disciples rebuked them.  But when Jesus saw it he was indignant, and said to them, "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God.  Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it."  And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands upon them. (Revised Standard Version)

These are Jesus’ central teachings about the importance of children:

 “Whoever welcomes a child in Jesus’ name welcomes Jesus himself.
and
It is to children – and those equally vulnerable – that the kingdom of God belongs.

It would be easy for us – in our day – to miss how remarkable Jesus words and actions were at the time.  Nowadays, our worship service reflects the very image of this story in its shape and form.  This morning, as every Sunday morning, we put the adult conversation on pause for a few moments, during the children’s sermon, and we turn our attention wholly to the children in our midst.  We draw them into the center, just as Jesus did, and we not only teach them important aspects of the faith, but we also learn from them in the perspectives they share and in their guileless manner.

We do all this now.  But in Jesus day, a child would have never been called into the midst of a group of men to serve as a model for faith.  Children were confined to the province of the women who cared for them and held little value in the eyes of the male world.  Jesus completely overturns the expectations of both followers and bystanders when he says, if you want to be first you need to be last, if you want to be strong, you need to accept being weak – just like this child is weak.  And if we are open to receiving his message, then it is this: those who would follow Jesus must invite those most vulnerable, those who are most at the margin into their midst.  For it is then that we are most likely to be changed and to find our calling as followers of Jesus. 

This morning, we are marking a significant milestone in the life of the Pleasantville Pre-School: we are celebrating 40 years of ministry with children and families in our local community.  And as we mark this significant accomplishment, this story about Jesus and his disciples reminds all of us that a ministry to and with children is one of the most faithful that we can be about.  Because when we minister to the least of these in the eyes of the world, when we minister to those who are most vulnerable and those who have the least power in the eyes of the world, then we minister to the very Christ himself.

For all of the ways that our own culture celebrates and values its children, this is a still a world where children are powerless.  They are powerless in the face of violence and poverty.  They are powerless when surrounded by ignorance and bigotry.  They are powerless when the adults upon whom they rely are not trustworthy or do not place the child’s interests above their own.  In Pennsylvania, over 16% of our children are poor and almost 8% of our children are uninsured and every day in the United States almost nine children and teenagers die from gunfire.

How are the children?  That depends on us.

We, as believing people, must make the welfare of children a matter of faith.  Pleasantville Pre-School bears a proud history of doing just that.  But there is more to be done.  This weekend marks the 18^th National Observance of the Children’s Sabbath.  The Children’s Sabbath, sponsored by the Children’s Defense Fund, aims to unite religious congregations of all faiths across the nation in shared concern for children and a common commitment to improving their lives and working for justice on their behalf.

Jesus said that when we welcome a child in his name, we welcome Him.  How are the children?  May each of us consider how Jesus is calling us to welcome Him in every child, so that we may say with one accord:  "The children are well; yes, all the children are well."

May it be so.  Amen.