Dedicating Our Children To The Lord

And God was there to help them. In the temple that day that met this old man, Simeon. Luke tells us that he “was righteous and devout.” And it looks like they walked into the temple and this old stranger walked up to them and asked to hold their baby. And Simeon blessed them. Just out of the blue he seemed to understand something of what a special child Jesus was and he confirmed to Mary and Joseph his special calling to bring salvation for the world. He understood their longings and he shared them.

Can you feel what that would mean to young parents? One of the saints of the temple, who valued your child so much, who affirmed you in your every desire for your child to be blessed. Parenting is hard these days. There are so many dangers for our kids. The church can have such an important ministry of supporting and encouraging young families.

This church has had a long tradition of ministry to children. I hear it in the stories about the gym in the old building that burned down. I see it in this building with all the classroom space and the beautiful lawn. I see it in the programs for children that are here: Head Start, Mother’s Day Out, Kid’s Club, Scouts, Sunday School, Children’s Choir, youth groups.

And as we wrestle with the question of what God has called us to do that is special as a congregation, ministry to children seems like such an obvious fit for us. Children were a high priority to Jesus. Children are a big part of our history, here. It was just in the Northwest Herald a few months ago that they needed to make our street a one-way street from our intersection here because over 450 children go through our intersection here on the way to school each day. I encourage us to see ourselves as a church that loves and supports children and their families.

What did Simeon give to Mary and Joseph and Jesus? He gave them love. The first thing we read that he did was that he took Jesus in his arms. Boy, there are a lot of kids hungry for love today. My dream is that the church would be a place where any child will find a whole bunch of extra grandmas and grandpas, aunts, uncles and cousins, that every child who walks into this building would know that there is love here, and that he or she is included in God’s love.

I think back to one of my Sunday School teachers. I’ll guess I was in junior high. His name was Mr. Moore. I can’t put my finger on anything he taught us. But I remember feeling loved in our classroom, because he cared for us. Simeon gave Joseph and Mary and Jesus the gift of love.

Simeon gave them a gift of vision, also. Simeon had immersed himself in the scripture. He was so hungry to see God’s Messiah come and save Israel that God had promised to him that he would not die until he saw the Messiah. He was just immersed in scripture. The prayer that he prayed over Jesus pulls together a number of phrases from the Old Testament, especially the prophet, Isaiah.

And in Jesus’ case, he was confirming a totally unique identify and calling and vision. But I dream that every child who is part of this congregation would grow up with a vision for this world that is much greater than business as usual, dog eat dog, the one who accumulates the most things is the winner. I dream that every child would have a first hand experience here, from us, that God can enable people who may be very different to share their lives in Christian love, that God can enable us to really make a difference in the world as blessings to others. Those things are caught more than taught. They are experienced by the different generations serving God together.