I've been flashing back 14 or 15 years this week.
As our high school senior and 8th grade kids head off to school each morning, it's been fun to hear our 3-year-old whine about wanting to go to church...literally, every day! It may sound wierd to get joy out of hearing your toddler tearfully beg to go church. But it took me took to when our older kids used to do the very same thing as toddlers. Honestly, I'm really glad that ritual is continuing in the lives of our kids!
Why would a little kid cry to go church every morning, anyway? What makes that so awesome is because they see it as a FUN place! They know they will feel LOVE there and maybe even see a FRIEND there. They intuitionally know it's a safe place to get interact with other people. And while our toddler is still too young to really connect with FAITH, I think that she senses the presence of her Creator and God in that place.
It's amazing what our kids can teach us isn't it?
I wish more adults felt the way our toddlers feel about gathering with the church, I really do. But honestly, sometimes going to a worship gathering can feel just the opposite to adults - boring, judgmental, lots of strangers, and a little scary.
The answer is probably not pulling out the "play dough" for adults -- but working hard to keep our gatherings creative, celebratory, genuine, and "real" definitely helps. Rather than crayons, we need to keep serving the coffee...and lots of it!
Psalm 100: 4-5 expresses the joy God wants us to experience when we gather with His people for worship. "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations."
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Your experience somewhat mirrored ours a few weeks ago, Greg, when my 2 1/2 year old grandson threw a fit becuase he had to leave his class after the service. That was followed a week later with your sermon on "Joy" (the entire family is still talking about that one). What a great joy it is to be part of the family of God and to enjoy the life He gives us and what better place to gather than First Church.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the post man. Thanks for the reminder that we need to have faith like a child!
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