Scriptures:
Deuteronomy 6:1-9
Luke 18:15-17
Despite the morning scramble it inevitably produced, “Show and Tell” was a favorite day when the kids were little. Finding just the right thing to fit the designated theme, whether it was by color, season, or letter, was a good game. Although, I’m surprised that our preschool didn’t ban Show and Tell forever after William went to school with the vuvuzela my cousin sent him from the South African World Cup soccer tournament. A vuvuzela, perfect for letter V day, is one of those long, skinny (and very very loud) horn-like things that makes it sound like a stadium has been swarmed by angry bees.
Show and tell, at least for our children, seemed like more than just a time to talk in front of the class and share their “stuff.” It was an important part of how they made sense of their lives. It know it could sound like I’m inflating this little classroom activity, but I think it’s true. It’s a ritual in which children, who often don’t have a lot of agency around meaning-making, get to choose what is important to them and stand up in front of their teachers and peers and declare it. They get to tell their stories, share what they know, remember what they have experienced, and in the telling, in a way, experience it all over again.
As an example from our family, the older two kids got a chance to tell their daycare classes about the birth of their younger sister, sharing a picture before they had even met her in person, because of Show and Tell. It was probably for each them they first time they said out loud, “I have a new sister,” speaking the family relationships into existence. On other occasions all of the kids shared pictures of our cats, even one cat that had died before some of them were born, but still talking about “our cat,” a member of the family that bridges time and space.
The disciples were less than excited about the “Show and Tell” that was taking place around Jesus in the gospel of Luke. People were bringing their children to Jesus to receive his touch, maybe for a blessing, maybe for a healing, but no matter the reason, the disciples wanted none of it. It wouldn’t have been abnormal in their culture, to brush the children away. Thoughts and feelings about children were much less positive and sentimental in biblical times than they are now. Children weren’t even “better seen than heard”; children were better fetching water, watching animals, or working in fields than anywhere else. Children were a commodity more than a blessing, so their presence around Jesus, in the minds of the disciples and many others would have been superfluous, unnecessary, or even a distraction from the real ministry that needed to be done.
But Jesus had a little bit of show and tell to do himself. “Let them come,” he said. Against all common wisdom, against all accepted understandings, he welcomed the children to him. In fact, he was indignant that they come. Not just here, but throughout his ministry he was insistent that his welcome be for all people, young and old, male and female, Jew and Gentile, sinner and saint, wise and ignorant, rich and poor, free and imprisoned. He was adamant that the boundaries the rest of society insisted upon had no authority in his faith, in his family, among the people of God. “Let the children come to me; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.”
“Let them come,” our sacrament of baptism says. Let them come whether they know about God’s love or not. Let them come when they can’t yet choose for themselves. Let the children come and be washed in God’s grace, God’s mercy, and God’s love – – the grace and mercy and love that God has showered upon them from the first moment of their existence. Let them come to these waters that remind us of so many other waters that have come before.
The waters God tamed,
bringing order out of chaos.
The waters of the exodus,
the ones God parted in order to bring
the children of Israel out of slavery to freedom.
The waters of justice that roll down
like a mighty stream washing away
inequality with compassion.
The waters where Jesus was baptized,
commissioning him for his ministry
and us for ours.
The waters that flow
through the city of heaven,
bringing life and nourishment to
all who dwell there.
Let them come, let us all come to this water that unites our family of faith, that joins us to Christ and his body on earth, the Church.
Let them come, our celebration of baptism shows us, but it also tells us what we must do when we go, when we come up out of these waters and go out into an uncertain future.
In the book of Deuteronomy we find the Israelites standing quite literally on the precipice of something new. God’s people who left enslavement in Egypt behind when they had passed through the waters of the Red Sea to freedom, were now getting ready to cross through the waters of the Jordan River and enter the Promised Land. But before they would do that Moses had been given some last few, but very important words to deliver to them. There were a few more things they needed to hear as they got ready to live their life, redeemed and freed from slavery.
These words from Deuteronomy 6 are some of the most important words in the Jewish faith. Some observant Jewish people recite these words in prayer twice a day. They are the center of Sabbath prayer services, and it is traditional for them to be spoken as a person’s last words. The passage, beginning with verse 4 is known as the “Shema” for the first Hebrew word in the passage – “Hear!” or maybe better yet, “Listen up!” The command lets us know something important is coming. The command alerted the Israelites that was was to follow would be the center of what they needed to know as they made their way through the water.
It’s a good command for us, too, for we who have come through these baptismal waters, for we who have promised even today to care for those born, through their baptisms, into our family of faith. “Listen up!” God’s going to tell us how we should live as this family formed by the water and the Spirit.
At a playground one day, a dad was waiting with his son for some space to clear up on a climbing toy. The only parent in that area, while helping his son wait patiently, he also helped some other children make their way safely to the top. Even after his child had reached the high platform he kept helping the others, spotting them so a potential fall wouldn’t be so dangerous, giving a hand to steady them if they got a little wobbly. Another dad came jogging up when he saw his daughter getting some assistance. He thanked the first dad, apologizing for not being there; he was chasing his other children, too. The first dad, smiled and shrugged, “Hey, we’re all in this together!”
We sure are. We’re all in this together! God’s commandment through Moses in Deuteronomy 6 doesn’t come in a little “For parents only” section of scripture even though it talks about children. It’s not set aside for just those who are raising children in their homes. It’s not that elusive instruction manual all parents sometimes wish came with their children. In fact, it’s a particularly intergenerational word for all of us. “Hear O Israel!” Moses directs his speech. To Israel! It’s for the whole community, the whole people of God. It’s for ALL of us!
The Lord is our only God, and the Lord has some important things for us to do. We are supposed to love God with all that we are and all that we have, and we show that love by following God’s commands and loving God’s children as God loves. This is the call and command to the community of faith. It is the community’s responsibility to teach our children (and God’s children of all ages!) about God and God’s love for us all. It is the community’s responsibility to recite these words by heart, to talk about them, to talk about God, to tell our children the stories and the promises of God’s love for them and for the world.
Sometimes it sounds daunting, I know, because we don’t know when and we don’t know how. Many of us think to ourselves, or even out loud to one another, “But I don’t know enough. Someone else speaks to the children better than I do. I’ll mess the story up, so maybe if I learn it a little better, then I’ll be able to teach it. I don’t really see a lot of children, so I don’t get the chance to teach them.”
But really, it’s not that hard! Moses tells us how we should do this – – by heart! We do it by heart, when we choose the Way of Jesus in our thoughts, in our words, and in our actions, in the church, in our homes, in the schools, and in our communities. We do it by heart when we remember we are the family of Christ, born through the waters of baptism, sealed by the Holy Spirit, marked as Christ’s own forever, and we ACT like a loving family both within and outside of these walls. We do it by heart, we hear God’s commandment and we teach it to our children, when we choose the way of love and forgiveness and justice, over fear and revenge and retribution in all that we do, wherever we are.
Just like Show and Tell in a preschool classroom, baptism is a communal meaning-making ritual. It’s not just about the one person on whose head the water falls. It’s not even just about their parents or sponsors or extended family. Baptism is our whole congregation’s opportunity to show what is important to us, both during our worship services and well beyond them. In baptism we show ourselves and the world, that God’s expansive welcome is for all people and at the same time God cares for each and every single one of us individually. And baptism also tells us what we should do – with God’s love that washes over us, we carry it into the world, sharing it as we received it, with abundance and grace. We tell of it to the children, teenagers, and adults who pass through the waters. And we tell of it to others, to the world, with our words and deeds, our thoughts and actions, our hearts and our very way of living.
From these waters we rise, not with some magical cloak of protection, not with divine fire insurance, but with a mission, with a responsibility to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our might, which we do by joining God’s Spirit at work in the world. With all that we are and all that we do, we love God by loving others, even those, especially those the world would rather turn away. Baptism commissions each and every one of us, as well as all of us together, to go out into the world with God’s Word written on our hearts and reflected in our lives. Amen.
