The Fourth Sunday in Lent + Laetare

***Today was meant to be First Communion Sunday, but the service was cancelled due to a snowstorm.***

John 6:1-15

A beautiful reality of a church with children is that you get to see them grow from the time they are born.

The child, often carried to the font in a mother’s arms, enters the church through Holy Baptism and receives new life through the work of the Holy Spirit. For the first few months, one might wonder if the baby makes any noise as they remain in their mother’s arms, clinging to their love. But then, as they grow, they become more active. They move, fidget, and yes, they make noise. 

Still, while some like to say, “They’re the future of the Church,” as baptized children of God, they are the Church, even now.

As St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians,

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. (1 Corinthians 12:12-13a)

Notice how St. Paul doesn’t mention age, mental capacity, or anything else. He simply states how we are all members of the body of Christ through Holy Baptism.

Maybe you can hear the words of Dr. Seuss in the back of your mind, “A person’s a person no matter how small.”

And this is especially true in the Church, where we believe all life born of woman is a gift from God.

However, in many congregations, the question has become, “How do we keep the children quiet or entertained so the adults can listen and hear?”

But one might ask, do these questions recognize what St. Paul said above, that we are many members of one body?

Could we ask a different question?

How do we care for the youngest lives and nurture the faith of the youngest among us? How do we help them remain faithfully in the Church beyond the years of Confirmation?

This is an important question for us to ponder.

Simply put, we don’t delay in teaching them that they are members of the Church today. We don’t hesitate to instill the liturgy in their hearts. We don’t wait to help them hear God’s Word of forgiveness. We don’t delay in preparing them and guiding them to receive the Lord’s Supper. 

Instead, parents now actively guide and teach their children in the liturgy of the Divine Service, in hearing God’s Word, and preparing them to receive the Lord’s Supper.

Which raises the question, are we listening and participating throughout the Divine Service? Do we lead the little ones among us to follow along with the service by our example? Do we bring them to the rail to receive a blessing and teach them about the significance of Jesus’ body and blood in the Lord’s Supper, as well as how He cares for, feeds, and forgives us through this sacred meal? 

But when parents aren’t present or available, we need to step up as members of the church as we are able, recognizing that, as the body of Christ, we all have different talents and abilities. Similarly, not all children are the same and respond to their older brothers and sisters in Christ differently, too. When these instances occur, we still have the opportunity to teach the faith through our examples in Divine Service.

Because, in the end, all of us were brought into the Church in the same way, through the font of Holy Baptism, and within this Church, we have all grown and been nurtured in the Christian faith through the same words of Jesus Christ.

For this reason, the Church is like a living, breathing mother, caring for her children, no matter how big or how small.

Throughout the Scriptures, the Church is often described as a mother. The prophet Isaiah spoke about the new birth of God’s children and how the Church will provide her children with eternal comfort and peace, as he wrote, “As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 66:13)

Jesus would expand on this theme as He describes Jerusalem as a hen that gathers and shields her brood of chicks under her wings from the viper that aims to take their lives. (Matthew 23:37)

Or St. Paul wrote to those in Galatia that the heavenly Jerusalem is the mother of all God’s children.

Which prodded Martin Luther to write in the Large Catechism, “[The Christian Church] is the mother that conceives and bears every Christian through God’s Word.” (LC II 42)

For these reasons, how we nurture and lead the children of this church in the faith matters immensely.

As the familiar proverb goes, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)

Training, teaching, and leading start even while the infant rests in their mother’s arms.

Honestly, this lens should continue to change how we view and approach Confirmation and First Communion.

Today, Jonah Rogness will receive his First Communion.

While he remains but a child, so do you.

While he has learned to seek forgiveness for his sins from Jesus, so do you.

But what makes Jonah prepared at his age to receive the Lord’s Supper? St. Paul answers this question, “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”[1]

Meaning, can he confess his sin? Can he approach the altar and confess what the body and blood of Jesus are and what benefits they give to us? Can he articulate who should receive such a blessed gift from Jesus?

These are really questions for all of us…

If the answer to these questions is yes, then he has been prepared to be received at this altar.

The truth is that Jonah needs the same forgiveness of sins as you do, and since he has learned what the Scriptures teach about this, there’s no reason to withhold this gift from him or any other child who has been properly prepared. 

Did you listen to the words of the Collect we prayed today? We prayed,

You receive us as Your children and provide for all our needs of body and soul. Grant that we may heartily acknowledge Your merciful goodness, give thanks for all Your benefits, and serve You in willing obedience.

We are all God’s children.

One thing I love about today’s Gospel reading on the feeding of the five thousand is that it wasn’t the apostles who had the bread and fish for Jesus, nor were they any of the followers; it was a boy, a child.

Jesus used the gifts of a young boy to care for those who had followed Him into a wilderness of life.

In the same way, these words today teach you to depend upon the Son and Child of your heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, for life and salvation as you wander through the wilderness of this world.

And here is the challenge: if we delay in preparing not only the children of the Church but also ourselves for eternity with Jesus, we will all fall away. Sadly, this might be why we have seen so many young people leave the Church over the years. We haven’t always taught and led the children of the Church with joy and compassion, nor have we always seen them as the brothers and sisters in Christ that they are.  

My brothers and sisters in Christ, we must not leave anyone behind as we journey through the wilderness of the world. If we look around and see someone missing today, we should call and check on them. If we see someone needing help in the Divine Service, no matter their age, we should be moved to support them. If we see families in need of help, let us at least pray for them.

The truth is that we are all journeying through the wilderness of this life together. While our struggles and temptations change with age, our need for God’s compassion and mercy remains the same.

And the mercy and compassion of Jesus are present here in His Church, where the heavenly Jerusalem descends upon us as a nurturing mother, comforting her children with the mana of God’s forgiveness. Protecting the Father’s children under the wings of her grace.

What a wonderful image of God’s Church on earth.

So, why would we delay in leading the children in the way they are to go to receive God’s comfort and peace, even now, in the Lord’s Supper?

As we walk through this life and wilderness together, let us point one another, no matter how big or how small, to the cross of Jesus. Let us learn together to depend on Him for every good and gracious gift—trusting that He will care for us and provide more than we could ever need, just as He did for the five thousand.

Do this, because the abundance of His mercy and forgiveness leads us to grow as brothers and sisters, ensuring that we all remain nestled in the arms of the Church from the moment we enter through the font, to the day we are brought into eternity with Christ Jesus. +INJ+

Rev. Noah J. Rogness

Pastor, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

Tomah, WI

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Website: www.goodsheptomah.org

The Shepherd’s Voice Podcast: https://goodsheptomah.podbean.com/

[1] Luther, Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2017), 342.