The Eliot Church of Newton

Texts: Proverbs 2:1-11; Mark 9:30-37

It often amazes me that, when we have a certain theme or ritual set
      for a particular Sunday, the lectionary of assigned readings for that Sunday
            will often offer up a perfect scripture text for the occasion. 
Today we’re recognizing our lay leaders in the many roles and ministries
      they serve here at Eliot Church, and the Gospel tells of Jesus teaching his disciples
            “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” 
We do thank and congratulate our leaders, and celebrate the strength and depth
      of lay leadership we have here at Eliot Church. 
We are richly blessed.

But I’m not going to talk about that this morning. 
I’d like to reflect on Jesus’ admonishing his disciples to welcome the little child.
When I think of Jesus taking a child in his lap and telling his disciples,
      “Whoever welcomes a little child welcomes me,
            and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me” 
I am reminded first of all of some of the profound and sometimes startling things
      that children say as they try to grasp the teachings of the Bible and Christian faith. 
As some of you may know, Virginia Webber was a Christian Education Director
      for a time, both here at Eliot Church in the 1950’s,
            and at a couple of other churches. 
Last week at Virginia’s Memorial Service, someone recalled one of the stories
      that Virginia loved to tell. 
She was teaching a Sunday School class about the creation story from Genesis,
      and she asked the children what they remembered about the creation of the first humans. 
At first, no one raised their hands, and no one could remember anything.  
Then one little girl waved her hand wildly and said,
      “Oh, I know! I know! First God created the man, then he put him to sleep,
            and God took out his brains, and created the woman.”

I also remember hearing the story of a Sunday School class
      learning about the ten commandments. 
After explaining the commandment to “Honor thy father and thy mother,” the teacher asked,
      “Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?” 
Without missing a beat, one child answered, “Thou shalt not kill.”

But in truth, I think it’s hard for us from our 21^st century perspective
      to understand what Jesus was really saying to his disciples,
            after they had been arguing about who was the greatest,
                  posturing for position in the Messiah’s new kingdom-to-come. 
We can’t understand, because we prize and value our children,
      and do everything we can to help our children thrive and succeed. 
Even though every parent knows the trials and frustrations of parenting,
      and how exhausting and exasperating our children can sometimes be,
                  they are also our greatest joy.
Most of us would agree that our children are the most precious treasure in our lives.  

However, that was not the case in the ancient world. 
Childhood in antiquity was not a time freedom or innocence.
Infant mortality rates sometimes reached 30 percent.
Another 30 percent of live births were dead by age six, and 60 percent were gone by age sixteen.
Children always suffered first from famine, war, disease, and dislocation,
      and in some areas or eras few would have lived to adulthood with both parents alive.
The orphan was the stereotype of the weakest and most vulnerable member of society.

Children had little status within the community of family.
A minor child was on a par with a slave, and only after reaching maturity
      was he/she a free person who could inherit the family estate.

So in this Gospel passage, the child is not used as an example of humility,
      but as an example of the "least" and most insignificant ones,
            the most overlooked, the least valued, the most vulnerable.
That is who the followers of Jesus are to receive and welcome.
Disciples are not to be like children, but to be like Jesus who embraces children.
This is what Jesus means by the disciple being “the last of all and the servant of all”
 It is in the small and powerless that God appears to the world.

Back in the 1940’s the pastor and theologian  Dietrich Bonheoffer   wrote,
      “The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.”
In the midrashic stories of Judaism, a young rabbinical student asked the rabbi,
      "Rabbi, why don't people see God today as they did in the olden days?"
The wise old man put his hands on the student's shoulders and said,
      "The answer, my son, is because no one is willing to stoop so low."

Who are the "least and most insignificant ones" in the world today?
      the most overlooked, the least valued, the most vulnerable?
I said a few minutes ago that we in modern America treasure and value
      our children, and do everything we can to and help them thrive and succeed.
But maybe I spoke too soon.
How narrowly do we define “our children”?

We live in a world where thirty-five thousand children
      under the age of five die every single day around the globe,
            most from preventable poverty conditions
It has been proposed that the financial cost to end most of these child deaths
      is about $2.5 billion a year, which is the amount Americans spend on chewing gum.

Now, perhaps we can’t solve the issues of poverty and disease for all the children of the world,
      although in a few weeks you’ll be hearing more about a powerful ministry
            called Communities Without Borders,  an initiative of several suburban
                  Boston congregations, of which Eliot Church is a part,
      which is reaching out to hundreds of AIDS orphans and children at risk in Zambia, Africa.

But today I want to raise the issue of children closer to home – the children of our own nation.
Here in the United States of America, the wealthiest nation in the world,
      there are 37.5 million people lived in poverty. 
That’s 1 in every 8 people, 12.5% of the population
(And this statistic was from 2007,  before the current economic and unemployment crisis.)
18% of all children under age 18 are living in poverty.
18 % -- nearly one of every 5 children in our country.
Every year, more than 1.3 million children, experience homelessness
      for some period of time and many more are at risk.
On any given day 800,000 people are homeless in the United States,
      including 200,000 children in homeless families.
Families with children are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population.
And most children living with homeless parents are very young -42% are under the age of 6.
Over 47 million U.S. residents have no health insurance.
 Of those 47 million, 8.7 million are children without health coverage. 

“The test of the morality of a society, Bonhoeffer said, “is what it does for its children.”

These are children who’s health and well-being we can do something about,
      and some political and social leaders in Washington are trying very hard to do so. I’m talking, of course, about the health care reform movement,
      and the effort to provide affordable health care for all Americans.

The United States is the only developed nation in the world
      without a universal health care system that provides care for all.
That’s one reason the U.S. ranks 29th in the world in terms of life expectancy,
      and at or near the bottom of most international health care comparisons.
Indeed, the countries of Western Europe rank higher on most measures of good health.
Not only that, but many of the universal health care systems in Europe
      provide high-quality health care to all residents at a much lower cost
            than what people in the United States spend on health care.
Spending per person is about half of what's spent in America.

It is utterly incomprehensible to me that so many Americans
      continue to resist and fear and rebel against the idea of health care reform,
            and want to keep our nation in the dark ages.
And I find it even more incomprehensible that so much of the resistance
      is coming from the so-called “Christian” right. 
To me, health care for all is not just a political choice,
      or a civil right, or a social justice issue. 
It is an issue of Christian morality. 
It is about the last and the least and the most vulnerable among us. 
It is about the health and well-being of our children
      and of our most impoverished and of our senior citizens. 
It is one way to begin to break down the huge disparity
      between the wealthiest and the poorest in our land.

The United Church of Christ, under the leadership
            of our new Minister and President Geoffrey Black,
      has started an initiative to deliver 100,000 signatures
from UCC members to congress in the next few weeks,
       supporting universal health care. 
The petition says, in part,
“Our faith teaches us that health care is a both a human need and a human right. Offering comfort to the broken, sick and injured was foundational
       to Jesus’ ministry and is central to our serving the least among us.
Our nation deserves a health care system that is inclusive, accessible,
      affordable and accountable.
This is a moral issue that requires bold, courageous and visionary leadership
      on the part of our elected representatives.”
the internet link is http://www.ucc.org/justice/health/100k-for-health-care/ for those of you who want to read the petition and/or so that you can sign on to it.