Coming to Remember - 16-Jun-09: Houston Methodist Church article: contact Richard Laster

Jesus said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven. So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.” (Matthew 18 various)

Jesus said: “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of Heaven belongs.” (Matthew 19)

And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them. (Mark 10)

The Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. (Revelation 7)

These few excerpts from the Bible give us a picture of what God thinks of children. When we look back in history to the time when Jesus was alive in the human experience we’ll find it to be a time when children, no matter the age of the child, were looked upon as property of their parents, and could be legally used or abused, as freely as they could be loved and cared for. It was a breath of fresh air to hear Jesus make statements during his ministry which actually gave children a special place in the Kingdom of God. The new thought to those of Jesus' time is one we know for ourselves; God loves children, and even has a special place in his heart for these little ones.

Jesus also reminds us about what it is like to be young, to be children. He says; in order to understand some things which are so deep adults cannot understand there must be the innocence and the desire to learn that children have as part of their creation. Children are more willing to admit that they are wrong than adults, children have a natural sense of love which is unconditional; children are quick to be dependent on someone, and look to receive all they need from someone else. This is how God encourages us to be in relation to Him. So when we look at the Gospels we see first the importance of children as examples of what we should be like. Be like children in the ways in which we deal with God and with one another.

But this doesn’t really fit why we are here today. It does however give us a framework to help us comprehend how God understands children and how important children are to the heart of God. I find it particularly inspiring to note in the passage from Matthew 18 how Jesus makes the statement “so it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.” He was speaking in general about the world of people who are God’s good creation, and each unique. Yet at the same time I cannot help but think it was literal in meaning as well. God cares for us all, but has a particular place in His heart for children.

Let’s take this even a step further here. There are several places in the scriptures where comments are made about how God relates to children even before the child has been able to be blessed by the opportunity to see the light of day. In the Old Testament Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, for example, when Jeremiah receives the call of God to go into the world and work specifically as a spokesperson for God, there is an interesting revelation. God says to Jeremiah “before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.”

In thinking this through, and reading a few like comments from the Old Testament, I have come to understanding life as a good gift which only God can give. It is also my understanding the good gift of life is not just some haphazard creation which comes because somewhere over time circumstances developed which caused life to just merely happen. Today we know so much. We can tear down physical structures, we can explore what makes the body work, but we have yet to be able to create the very basic form of life; the power of being, the power faith calls the soul. The soul, the creation of life at its most eternal form, isn’t ours to give but is God’s to create. It is intentional. It is a good gift. And even better it is God’s to understand and God’s to know.

God says to Jeremiah, “before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” Before you were even in the process of development, you already were. God’s love for Jeremiah was great from before the beginning. God’s love for us is the same. God’s love for the Child of God we come to remember today, even though he was only in the middle stages of development, is as strong as God’s love for someone a hundred years old and more. The way I understand it, to God there is not a difference. Life is life. There is a soul, in traditional Christian language, in all who enjoy life no matter for how long or for how short a duration, at least in the way we judge life in time. Each human being, including those in the process of “becoming,” has the love of God as part of his being.

There is debate about when life begins. It seems to me, after considering all that is before us today, life must begin when life is the gift given by God. Even in the midst of the second trimester there is life. There is love to be known and felt even before the mind can comprehend it. We know this don’t we? If we were to sit down and talk feelings at a deeper level than we are able to at the moment I know the one here today who lovingly carried the child will share feelings of love she has for him. Carrying the child in the womb, even in the earliest stages of the birth process, brings mother and child together. There is nurture and there is caring at the deepest level. There is the ability to bond and for the child to understand the good things the parent has to offer, especially nurture and love.

What we mourn for here is in many ways the loss of potential as we understand it. You mourn for yourselves because you have had your dreams taken away and your hope for the future challenged. What you have so long planned for, hoped for, and even felt, unfortunately is not going to be. I believe however the potential for this Child of God has already been fulfilled. The part of him which is eternal is already with God and is experiencing God’s love.

Life is a precious gift which comes from God, and in time returns to God. Time is such an interesting thing. For us the years are long. But, over the run of history they aren’t. In time we shall all be in God’s presence, knowing God’s love, experience God’s hope, being cared for and nurtured eternally by the angels, or however God chooses to touch us all. It is unfortunately for us that this young life of promise didn’t enjoy the interim, the time we know as life on this good earth. No, unfortunately, we do not have the chance to interact with his precious spirit for these years. But we can find strength in knowing in God’s time he has a place and it is as warm and as secure as the place he knew on earth in the physical care of his mother, and in the warmth and comfort of the birth process.

There is a scripture I find quite reassuring during times such as this. I won’t go much into an understanding of where it comes from, and what it all means. I will tell you it is from what is probably the easiest, yet the most difficult, book in the entire Bible. It is from Revelation. In this section John, the one to whom the vision of God was shared, is standing before the throne of God. He is brought to that particular place in his mind’s eye, in order to receive a word of assurance from God concerning what is, what is to be, and of how God acts. Maybe John of Patmos had been in his life in the place we are today, faced with a challenge and sadness which is hard to bear.

What I want us to remember is a phrase which is quite well known. In Chapter 21 of the Book of Revelation, God says to John “I am the Alpha and the Omega.” Now anybody who has studied these things knows that Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet and Omega is the last. When we first look at and consider the idea it is as though God is saying; "I am at the beginning of your life and I am at the end of your life." That is reassuring in itself. But I think there is more.

I took Greek somewhere down the way in school. At one time in my life I even saw how the Greek mind thinks. I worked for a while with some Greeks in my earlier working life. Even though I don’t remember much, to do know the Greek language is always more than it seems, that the words and the concepts the words present are understated. This means every idea is open for debate and expansion. What I believe God is telling John is this; “I am always with you, even before you are, you were, even after you have been, you are. There is no time, nor place, not in life, not in death, nor even before life, when you have been away from my love and my care.”

As we go from here in a few moments there will be much to think about. There will be feelings of sorrow and loss, even feelings of the loss of potential which will cause us to think we have been cheated. These are as they should be because these and more are where you all must be today.

But on the other hand let us keep in our heads and hearts another perspective. Life is a good gift from God. God doesn’t leave anyone behind no matter the age, or even the state of development. Life is life. Life is under God’s care. God loves us. And even though we haven’t had the chance to see, touch, or experience the life of our young friend whom we come to honor today, we know God knows him, loves him, and cares for him because he is, not he was, but he is, God’s good gift, and blessed creation.