02-05-21

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
February 5, 2021
Scripture: Matthew 18:6
As for whoever causes these little ones who believe in me to trip and fall into sin, it would be better for them to have a huge stone hung around their necks and be drowned in the bottom of the lake.

Thought for the Day: The Rt. Rev. Barbara C. Harris was the first woman consecrated a bishop in the Anglican Communion, and not only was she the first woman, but the first woman of color. I just learned she died last March. Rev. Harris was a giant even though she was barely 5ft tall. Recently, I reread a sermon she delivered in 2004 entitled, “A Circle of Concern,” and in the sermon she talked about different children’s games that are all about who is in the circle and who is not. Depending on the mood of the child who has the power that day, some unlucky ones would be left outside the circle. She said in the sermon:

The games children play often reflect deeper things about a culture or a community and its prevailing trends and values.

What are the children teaching us about what we are teaching them? From the games they play to the way they treat each other, I’m guessing we can learn a lot about who the adults are. Though children are creative, they are usually mimicking what they see in the world. In many ways they are trying to be adult-like, even though we as adults would much rather they do as we say and not as we do. The rhetoric of Jesus used in the above scripture was pretty strong when it came to causing the young ones among us to stumble. In that challenge, I believe he was inviting us to look seriously at what kind of life we are modeling. Is it one of inclusion and grace or exclusion and cruelty?

Prayer: Let the children and anyone else who might be watching see within me something that resembles you, Merciful God. Amen.

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