Children's Sabbath

For the Presbyterian Church, this coming Sunday is Children's Sabbath. I've been wrestling with how to do my sermon this week because the text I'm preaching from is saying something different than my liturgical topic. I'm preaching from 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5, which is the non-gosepl lectionary text for this Sunday. My struggle stems from the fact that Timothy is telling me one thing while my liturgical calendar is telling me something else. I want to preach a sermon for the kids, but the text is telling me to talk to the parents about being leaders and getting involved in the church. Be an evangelist so the church doesn't die. I have been forcing the liturgical calendar to try and fit into my text more neatly than it does and I started to realize a couple of things.
First, I am guilty of doing what the text is warning me about. James Dunn, professor of theology at the University of Durham in England said, "Too much time is misspent asking scripture what it was not designed to answer. Better that scripture itself should instruct us as to what its purpose is" (New Interpreter's Bible commentary, Abigndon Press, '2 Timothy'). In my study of Timothy, I've been trying to make the text speak to kids when really the text isn't for kids at all. It's on behalf of kids, but it's really written to the adults. It charges adults with the task of fulfilling the ministry of the church even when the times are against them. "Tell the message. Be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable." Let scripture speak for itself; it has stood for thousands of years and will continue to stand on its own.
Second, of course the text connects to children's sabbath. It would be the lectionary text this week if it didn't some how connect to the theme (would it?). This thought makes me feel a little bit better about the sermon I've prepared (I'm talking about how if our voices don't rise up to tell God's story, other voices will rise up that might not be telling the story we want told the way God would have it told). I'm getting just a little bit snippy with the congregation, telling them to get involved in the ministry of the church as a way to participate in evangelism.
So how does this text connect to Children's Sabbath? Sabbath is about rest. It's about taking time out whatever kind of a schedule we're keeping to celebrate our relationship with God. As adults, sometimes we forget to be child-like because it feels child-ish. And I do believe there is an important distinction there. In doing the work of the evangelist as we're called to do in 2 Timothy, we can take time out of those schedules to participate in those baptismal vows; to raise children up in the nuture of the Christian community. In all that we say and in all that we do, we tell a story in our words and actions. It is our responsibility as Christians to be sure that our words and actions fall in line with the message of God's love and grace. Children's Sabbath is about celebrating our relationship to God in a multi-generational way. It's about recognizing that we have to keep telling the story of God's hope for our lives so that those who come after us have access to that same story. Scripture has stood the test of time in many ways (it's still here, right?), but it's our responsibility to take what we've been given and keep the story going.
Celebrate Children's Sabbath with me by taking time out of your schedule to tell someone the story of your faith. Remind a child that God loves them and that Christ is taking care of them, just as God has done from the beginning of time.

Love and peace,
Pastor Becki