The Greatest Love of All: A Sermon for Children of All Ages
Rev. Jim Merritt
Trinity MCC Gainesville
September 20, 2009
Would all the children in the congregation please come up and join me?
I.The Skin Horse (from The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams )The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.
"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
I.Teachings on Love
You have heard me mention Buddhist Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh many times.Listen to these passages from his book, Teachings on Love;
At Plum Village children are at the center of attention.Each adult is responsible for helping the children feel happy and secure. We know that if the children are happy, the adults will be happy, too. If you succeed in bringing your child up happily, you can share the fruit of your practice with many people. One fourteen year old boy told me this story.He said that every time he fell down and hurt himself his father would shout at him.The boy vowed that when he grew up, he would not act this way. But one day his little sister fell off a swing and scraped her knee, and the boy became very angry.His sister’s knee was bleeding and he wanted to shout at her, “How can you be so stupid!” Why did you do that?”But he caught himself. Because he had been practicing breathing and mindfulness, he was able to recognize his anger and not act on it.He said, “I realized that if I did not do something about the anger in me, I would transmit it to my own children.” That was a remarkable insight for a fourteen year old. We have to let the ancestors in us be liberated.The moment we can offer them joy, peace and freedom, we offer joy, peace and freedom to ourselves, our children and their children at the same time. Doing so, we remove all limits and discrimination and create a world in which all traditions are honored (and a world in which all living things can be loved).
II.Love that prefers the vulnerable
Did you notice like I did that the disciples were focused on power and position?They wanted to determine questions like who was the closest to Jesus.They wanted to know who was the most influential.They wanted to know who belonged to Jesus’ “inner circle.”And isn’t that just like the way our culture teaches us to live?We constantly worry about who we know or who we don’t know, how much power and access we have and we wonder how we can overcome the stereotypes of gender and the lasting cultural preference for systems of patriarchy over equality.We’re taught the be the best at academics, to be the best at sports, to be the best in music and theatre and to be the biggest and best church and to go to the best and to continuously climb the ladder of success no matter who we step on or push off during our journey to the top. And at times like this when the lectionary leads us to consider a gospel such as this one, I often wonder when we’ll get our fill of stepping on people and pushing people off the ladder or out of our way to get what it is we want for ourselves. Rev. Dr. Holly Hearon, assistant professor of New Testament at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, reminds us that "Scripture constantly subverts our definitions of power and privilege."
Notice with me the way Jesus subverts the disciples discussion of power and privilege in this gospel.The disciples are exposed as inadequate in their understanding of who Jesus is, and what it means to be identified with him. They hide their ignorance, even as they indulge their preoccupation with power and status. This sets the stage for important lessons regarding authentic personal existence and wholesome community. Jesus moves the concern from "who is the greatest" (Mark 9:34) to the spiritual significance of "being like a child" (Mark 9:35-37). With "child" understood as representing "the vulnerable," people like us, queer people, gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans people, women, children, people of color and many other vulnerable people may more closely identify with those to whom Jesus is pointing. "The vulnerable" are those who operate in terms of the reversal of customary power relations. In verse 37, "vulnerability" is associated with the capacity to be welcoming, to receiving the other. Surely the welcoming person is one who facilitates nurturing an inclusive community. This emphasis is far-reaching as it clearly indicates that whoever welcomes the vulnerable welcomes the one who was sent by God, and ultimately God.That, my sisters and brothers is counter-cultural for us.It is different from the way almost every one of us was raised and it is one of the most important concepts for us to embrace as we live into our commitment to the practice of Radical Welcome, Radical Inclusion and Extravagant Hospitality.These are the way that we embrace and practice the greatest love of all, the love of God, the love of Jesus that says to all people. Come. Welcome. Come join us in Jesus name.The greatest love of all is a love without exception.It is a love that embraces the vulnerable with the word, “Welcome.”It is a love that gives up a preference for power in favor of a preference for equality and justice.It’s a love that believes in healthcare for all people.It’s a love that believes in food, clothing and shelter for all people. It’s a love that knows no boundaries because Love is born of a God…this God…our God whose boundaries know no limit.That is the greatest love of all.I love children and I’ll let you in on a little secret, when I worked in the child and adolescent psychiatric treatment field, I preferred the ones who acted out the worst.I preferred the ones who were the most vulnerable.I preferred the ones most other folk had written off for hopeless.And I have seen it over and over again that when a child or a vulnerable person of any age understands that she or he is preferred, she or he gets better, he or she has the lights come on, he or she begins to hear a voice well up from within that first whispers, then speaks, the shouts, I CAN MAKE IT!I can make it because somebody believe in me.I can make it because God loves me.I can make it because I believe in myself.And I’ve seen the light in their eyes and I have seen them go on to experience successful lives contributing greatly to our world.And I stand before you this morning/evening to tell you that YOU CAN MAKE IT, TOO.Many of us have been the vulnerable and we can make it.Many of us have been the underdogs and we can make it, too.Many of us know a whole lot more other people like us and I have a question for you as I try to wind down; Will you be the one that says to them, “YOU CAN MAKE IT?”Will you deliver to them the gospel of the Greatest Love of All that says, “God loves you and in the name of Jesus, YOU CAN MAKE IT and you will; in Jesus name?” My sisters and brothers, in whatever circumstance you find yourself this morning, God loves you and has a plan for you life and YOU CAN MAKE IT.That is the Greatest Love of All.That is the message that God has for us in this time together.You have received the Greatest Love of All, the Love of a God who says YOU CAN MAKE IT. Now go make it and go share it, in Jesus name.YOU can do it. You can make it. And with God’s help, we will be a place that practices the Greatest love of All, the love of God for children, the love of God for the vulnerable, the love of God that says, “Y’all come, no exceptions.”That is today’s message for children of all ages; The greatest love of all.Amen.
Psalm 54
Judge in my favor, Lord, use your power to save me.O God, hear this plea and listen to what I say.For godless people attack me, strangers without conscience plotting my death. But God is my savior, God alone guards my life.Let their evil rebound on all who plot against me.True to your judgment, Lord, put an end to them. With a free heart I will sacrifice to you and praise your good name. You saved me from danger, I see my enemies routed.
Mark 9: 30 – 37
30They went on from there and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know it; 31for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Humankind is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” 32But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.
33Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” 34But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. 35He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” 36Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37“Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”
