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"Placing our Children the hands of God”
Children's Sabbath
October 15, 2006

        Sabbath means rest.  Its means a break from all worries and cares, or at least it should.  On the 7^th day God rested and has asked for us to do the same, for our own Good and to give honor to Him.  The Children’s Sabbath is about honoring God by caring for and lifting in prayer his precious children.   Oh how I wish that all children could rest on this day.  When I was a child I had so few worries.  If there was ever a day there was no money in the bank, I didn’t know it.  If divorce was ever looming or the mortgage was barely paid, it never occurred to me.  My mind was at rest knowing that my parents had things taken care of, at least for the day.  This day is an attempt to create a children’s Sabbath.  A day when the needs of our children are the main concern, through action and prayer.

        God deeply cares about children.  Matthew 19:13 reads:

        Little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them.

        Much like we just did… people came from all around bringing kids to the feet of Jesus for him to bless them.  I can almost imagine the scene.  They yearned for Christ to touch their kids, to embrace them in unconditional love and to pray for them… as it was today, it was back then.  They gathered together for prayer…. But not everyone liked it.  Not all that were there appreciated this.  There were some who complained.  First among them – the disciples.  They could not understand how these parents and children could dare to bother such an important and influential man.  Jesus had so much to attend to… after all he was working on all of humanity’s salvation plan.  How could he possibly have the time for children – it seems they thought, because they complained.  They rebuked the parents and children, as a matter of fact.  According to the next verses of Chapter 19, the disciples rebuked those who brought the children. And Jesus said: let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.  He then placed his hands on them and he went on from there.

        Notice the emphasis on hands… there is something powerful about the laying on of hands.  Did you know that the moment that a baby is born it is strongly encouraged that the mother immediately bring the baby to her bosom?  Once I heard that the more and the sooner a newborn is touched the healthier they might be on average.  Children who are denied embrace and cuddling for too long could be placed at risk, one study found.  It seems all of our lives this reality plays out.  Our spirits sometimes ail simply because of a lack of touch.  A jester of kindness, a tender pat, a warm embrace can make all the difference in the world… it can make someone’s day if not the week, and sometimes it changes a life.  No doubt these children were blessed. 

        Jesus said the kingdom of God belongs to people like them.  Child-like hearts are open and receptive because people who are child-like, not childish, but child-like have attitudes of trust in God. Education and experience does not stand in the way of their simple faith.

        These parents had faith. Perhaps they had some notion that a moment in Christ arms, a minute in his embrace, a few seconds at his feet and the brush of his hands were a touch of heavenly eternity.     They knew that he was not too important for their kids.  He was not too busy to take time with their families.  Christ was willing to engage the children and if only for a brief period God had time to place his focus completely on them.  They were not too small, nor insignificant to deserve all of his attention. As a matter of fact, we find from Christ’s response that he would like nothing more… nothing at all.  Children are important.

        Part of our job as parents, leaders, pastors and as a community of faith is to show them the way to Christ and to place them in the hands of Christ.  This is far from easy, as it sounds… in order to lead others to Christ we must know ourselves where he may be found.  Christ is to be found in us, in the ways that we love one another, care for one another and live lives as examples.   We have no control over the eventual outcome, but we have much influence.  Great influence.

        The bible sites many parents who used this influence well.  They were parents who truly knew their source to be almighty God.  He was their source of strength, source of wisdom and source of joy… these parents knew to present their sons and daughters before God.  One such woman was Hannah, a woman who yearned for years and years to be a mother… and stood little chance.  She tried and tried, then cried and cried, her pain was undeniable. I Samuel chapter 1 reads:

 

 

Hannah is a woman who knew what it was to feel pain.  The part of this story that I did not read tells us that she was ostracized in her own home, made fun of by another woman who taunted her day and night.  It was the custom in that day to honor motherhood above all else.  No women worked, owned property or were celebrated for their self worth in some cases unless they had children, and helped the man to pass his name on.  As unfair as it was, it was the way of the day… and Hannah was the brunt of many a joke from another wife and mother who had all that Hannah yearned for.  Hannah had her husband’s devotion and love, but it was not enough.  They one thing that she did not have is what her heart most yearned for, a son.

        But rather than complain she took her concern to God.  I paint this picture so that we can see just how pertinent this plea was for her.  She was not a worthy wife in the minds of many, simply because she had no children… to be childless in the ancient near east was not an easy circumstance… Hannah needed divine intervention.  She begged for God to step in and make the situation right on her behalf.  She promised after beseeching God… to dedicate the child that she received  and present him to the Lord for his purposes after he was weaned.  Imagine years of heart wrenching prayers for a child… and then taking that baby, as a toddler, to the temple to present him before God and leaving him there.  If you know anything about Samuel and what he became you know that Hannah did the right thing.  But what gave her the strength?  How did she let go?  How did she trust God with one so young?  Trusting God enough to hand him over for His will and use?

        Almost like a little seminarian, Samuel grew up in the tabernacle under the care and tuteledge of the head preist.  His mother gave him over to God.  She visited from time to time making him special child-sized worship robes… but she left him there… and he worshipped God each day, just like she promised that he would. 

What can we take from Hannah’s example.  How can we hand our children over today… how can we help them become worshippers?  Children can worship God in all that they do, but we need to show them how.

        Samuel had a mother who led him to God and lived out what most of us have to learn.  She knew that ultimately Samuel belonged to God.  He was a blessing to her, but he was only on loan.  At some points this story is a little unsettling to me as a mother with a young son my self.  To think of handing over one so young.  But as we live and learn to trust God it becomes something that we practice everyday.  Every time someone keeps my child, I place him in the hands of God.  Each time we hit the road and he rides in a car, I place him in the hands of God.  Every time he goes to sleep, I have no guarantee that he’ll awaken in the morning, accept for the peace that I have in my heart, from God.  Ultimately, all of our children belong to God.  Hannah did nothing more than is asked of all of us – present our children to the only one who can care completely for them wholistically and that is God.  We can not breath for them, we can not hold back death or disease, we can not be there every leg of the journey to protect them, but God can.

We have no guarantees that when they leave for school, they will return.  We’ve seen recent tragedies that attest to this.  We have no promise that when they fall in love it will be until death and they’ll share life with spouses that cherish them before God.  The burden, the weight and the power of protecting and caring for our children must be trusted to God.  He had all power in his hands.  They power that we have is to place them there.

The children that I feel most for are those who have no one to take them to the Lord.  No one who prays for them, or exhibits the love of Christ.  No one who patiently cares for their needs, or shows them unlimited, unconditional love.   I am concerned for those children – the ones who feel that they are out there on their own. 

        Hannah begged, prayed and cried as she pleaded for the priveledge of bearing a child.  But what about the young men and women whose parents wept instead when they heard that they were on the way?  Who will pray for them?  That’s a job for us.  We must remind them God makes no mistakes.  Those children must know that God says in his word that he knew them before he formed them in their mother’s wombs.  They are not accidents.  GOD MAKES NO MISTAKES. From the moment that they were conceived God had them in mind.  God has a purpose and a plan for each on of us.  This is a message of love for the children of the world that we should be sharing as a church. 

In the body of Christ, there is a place for all.   In the kingdom of God, there is a call and a plan for all… not every child had a mother like Hannah who will hand them over to the care of God.  But through our actions, and our support and our concern, we can.

        Men like Abraham and women like Hannah, trust their kids to the Lord.  They place their lives before God.  They know that he will go with them, where no one else can go.  Comforting their deepest pains in places that we can not even conceive.  This may not be the sermon that you were expecting on Children’s Sabbath.  But with the world the way that it is today, I could not get up her and preach something that was simply light and fun.  We live in a world where children who live among us face danger each and everyday… and some make decisions even at young ages that can forever influence their worlds.  With the burden that many parents bear, we as the church must be prepared.

        I attended a very special bible study years ago.  It was held in a retirement community.  I was not the teacher, the woman who taught the class was named Ruth.  She was 80-years old.  At first I was amazed at the things each woman would pray when it came time for requests.  A long list of needs was always shared… for children, grandchildren and even great grandchildren, every week.  It was then that I learned what a great responsibility parents share – that they care greatly for their children no matter how old they are.  That they never stop worrying sometimes no matter how advanced in years they become.  Instead of the load getting lighter and lighter as they got older… these women’s lives were filled with concern for children… their children’s children… and more.  But they knew what to do with the burden’s that they bore… they took them to the Lord.  Every week we prayed for the offspring of their grandmother’s… and every week God heard our prayers… I know that God heard our prayers.  I just know.

        God bless the Abraham’s and the Hannah’s of this world… who are not afraid to take their baby’s and present them before the Lord… they know what all of us, if we want to have any true peace or real rest… our children belong to God.  We are the caretakers… he is the one with the true power.  Let’s pray today for the parents and children who do not know the Lord.  Those who have no lived out his will in their lives.  Those who have no understanding of prayer and therefore, lack the wisdom and the love that only God gives.   Let’s pray for children who are tired and weary with no one who truly cares.  Let’s pray for families in crises and school out of control.  Let’s pray.  Let’s pray today… that one day Children’s Sabbath will be celebrated in some share or form for all of the children of the world.

Rev. Faith Green Timmons

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