It all started in the school cafeteria – the angst of finding room for just one more.  Earlier in life we had our own place at the table.  We knew where we belonged, but in the school cafeteria the bold little man or little woman of the house is reduced to a beggar seeking his or her place in the world as the tiny voice squeaks out, “Is there room for one more here?”

Our memories are stirred almost immediately and we may sigh, “Children can be so mean and exclusive.”  However, before we are too quick in our judgment of children, let me invite you to reflect on just this past week.  How many children have you encountered in your hurried life?  Some of them may very well have been in your home.  What was your response?  Did you make room for them in those moments?  It’s easy to move beyond them to the task at hand.  In fact, many children have come to almost expect it. 

Jesus had the essential habit of noticing the children and adding their presence to his agenda.  Christopher Maricle identified one of the eight essential habits of Jesus as Accepting Children as Precious. He noted in his book, The Jesus Priorities, that fourteen times in the Gospels we find Jesus focusing on children, lifting them up as examples, and blessing them.  One such story is found in Matthew 19:13-15.  Jesus was almost at Jerusalem.  Twice already he had told the disciples that he was going there to die.  Opposition was coming from all sides, his teachings were taking on an added urgency, his pace more deliberate, and yet, right there in the middle of it all, he noticed the children.  Hear now the Word of the Lord:

¹³Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; ¹⁴but 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.” ¹⁵And he laid his hands on them and went on his way.

This is the word of God for the people of God.  In this passage Matthew recorded for his readers Jesus’ regard for children.  Can you imagine the scene?  Jesus is making the 100 mile journey to Jerusalem from Galilee, crowds are gathering all around him, and parents are wanting him to stop and kiss their babies.  The question must have echoed throughout the region, “Is there room for one more here?”
 

Busy Lives Leave Little Room for Children

The disciples had shifted into high gear.  They were busy.  People were all around them, they were trying to soak in all the teachings that Jesus was speaking to them, they were seeking to impose some kind of crowd control on the masses, and then parents were lining up or crowding in with their children.  I is customary on the night before Yom Kippur for the Jewish elders to place their hands on the head of children according to the Mishnah, “to bless him and pray for him.”  But this was neither the time nor the place, according to the disciples.  The schedule was much too full to squeeze in one more person, especially a child.  Listen to what commentators had to say about the attitude of these disciples: Howard Vos observed, “These children, mostly babes in arms, could not benefit much from ministry to them.”  R.T. France stated, “The disciples’ objection was their master has more important concerns than to be bothered by children.”  David Hill wrote, “The disciples’ rebuke was based on their lack of understanding of Jesus’ mission.”  It is pretty clear from these statements that the disciples had gotten to a place where their lives became too busy for children.

It was not just the first twelve followers of Jesus that have struggled with this busyness.  I would guess we all fall prey to this temptation more often than we realize.  When was the last time you looked at your child and said, “Hurry up!”? Here is one thing I have learned – telling a child to hurry up is like telling a cat to bark.  It is contrary to their nature.  I have shared with some of you my frustrations with the game of golf.  I thought it would be one of those sports that would relieve stress, but I discovered it increased stress to do something over and over again and still be so bad at it.  Before realizing this and freeing myself by hanging up my clubs, I was playing golf with an older couple in the church I was serving.  It was a pleasant spring day so I took my preschool aged son (at the time) with me.  The older couple had hit their ball up on the green, while I was still flailing away in the woods.  I pitched out onto the fairway, and rushed over to the fairway and hit the ball back in the woods.  Frustrated I told Zac, “Hurry up!  Get in the cart.  Hold on!”  Zac jumped in the cart with his sawed off 5 iron that he had been swinging and sat quietly.  I was so irritated by this game and that little white ball that seemed to be mocking me.  After driving a little bit on the fairway, just to see what it felt like, I cut a sharp left to go back into the woods.  That’s when Zac went rolling out of the cart on the right side.  I stopped the cart as he came running toward me.  “I thought I told you to hold on!” I snapped.

He looked at me with tears welling up in his eyes, his hands gripping his one and only golf club, the sawed off 5 iron.  He held his club up and said, “I was holding on, Daddy!  I was holding on.”

Busy lives leave little room for children.  It’s not enough to bark orders, rush by them, and tell them, “not now”.  It is tempting, but it is not acceptable.  Jesus had a habit of accepting children as precious – even in the busy times.  He could see the children everywhere he went asking the same question, “Is there room for one more here?” Busy lives leave little room for children.
 

Kingdom Lives Create Room for Children

Jesus noticed the disciples’ screening effort and stopped them, pointing out that there is a great deal of kingdom life seen through these children.  Jesus had the habit of turning the social structures inside out and upside down.  These children who had little to offer were seen as unimportant to many, but to Jesus they were seen as extremely important.  These children, who were viewed as insignificant by society, were accepted as royalty by the King of kings.  Of course there was to be room for the children, even in the busiest time of his life. 

Christopher Maricle, the author of the book that prompted this series of sermons, has spent his life caring for children.  He was a teacher for five years and a school administrator for fifteen years before writing this book.  He encouraged his readers to create room for children by doing three things: First, make God the center of your family culture, do an inventory of your home and look for evidence that God is important in your life.  Second, be vigilant about the media to which your children are exposed, knowing that repeated exposure to certain behaviors will desensitize children’s values.  Third, talk with children every day, especially your own children.  Don’t talk to them, talk with them.  Practice your skill of listening without interruption.

A little over a week ago, This American Life, aired a radio broadcast of two families with children that had slid into terrible places.  The kids were artful about hiding their free fall from their parents, but I noticed that the first symptom was they quit talking with each other. 

When I came to this church nearly five years ago, Jerry Neff, the pastor at the time took me on a tour of the facilities.  The Christian Life Center was still under construction.  We walked through the shell of the building and he was pointing out all the designated space for children, youth, and college students.  I was excited about coming to a church that made it a priority to create room for children.  Last fall, the Leadership Team of this church identified three emphases for our ministry for 2009.  One of those is to expand our ministry to families with children and youth.  We realized that this is growing segment of our population that is underserved and at risk as fewer families make faith and church a priority, many because they are too busy.  I don’t want to blame or criticize those families.  I want to reach them with a community of faith that creates room for children and encourages a people to talk with them every day.  I can hear children all over this area – on soccer fields, in bedrooms playing video games, and yes still in the school cafeterias asking oh so quietly, “Is there room for one more here?” Kingdom lives create room for children.  Then there’s Christ.
 

Christ Continues to Seek to Bless the Children

I love that Jesus was not content to tell the disciples about the importance of children.  He lived what he said.  He stopped what he was doing and placed his hands upon the heads of those children and he blessed them.  R.T. France wrote in his commentary on Matthew that laying on of hands was, “an act of identification and acceptance.”  Jesus connected with each child as he placed his hand on the child’s head and spoke words directed to that individual.  I wonder if any of those children were in the Temple on Palm Sunday crying out, “Hosanna, Loud Hosanna”, reported in Matthew 21:15.

Tuesday afternoon I went to the emergency room to visit one of our church members.  On my way into the hospital I saw someone who has been visiting this church.  She had her child with her and needed to get her checked out.  When I came out of the ER, I noticed this guest of our church speaking to another child who was crying.  She motioned for me to come over and told me that the little girl’s sister was very sick and she was scared she wouldn’t live.   As I looked into her eyes, wet and red from crying, I could almost hear her asking, “Is there room for one more here? Do you have time to pray with me and for my sister?” As I knelt to pray with this girl whom I had never met, I knew that Jesus cared for her and for her sister.  I knew that Jesus continued to seek to bless them right there in the Emergency Room.  As I took her hand, I knew that Jesus was there, holding our hands together.   But I have to admit, if our guest had not been there to call me over to the anxious little girl, I may have never noticed her – it was a very busy day.  Christ continues to seek to bless the children.

Do you ever wonder what Jesus said to those children as he laid his hand on their head?  I think about it a lot.  I think of him locking eyes with the child, stretching out his hand, laying it on the child’s head, and speaking.  This morning I invite you to come to this Table like a child.  Come with that one question on your mind, “Is there room for one more here?”  As you receive this bread and dip it into this cup feel the hand of Jesus on your head and listen for his words of blessing. 

“Is there room for one more here?”  Oh yes!  Amen.