Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood

from my message on 10/21/12, Children's Sabbath, from Mark 10:13-16

During the children's message, I sang "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood..."  While singing, I took off my suit jacket and put on a blue sweater. I took off my dress shoes and put on some sneakers.  I told the children that my message was very simple and powerful.  I quoted Mr. Rogers without using his name, "You always make each day a special day.  You know how:  just by being yourself.  There's only one person in the whole world that's like you, and that's you!  And people cna like you exactly the way you are."  I then took the time to lay my hands on each child's head, look them in the eyes, and say, "God bless you."   At the early service, while I was doing this, a child (away from me) sneezed, and I said, appropriately, "God bless you."  At the second service, as I approached the last child, this boy reached out his hands to me, placed them on my head, and said, "God bless you."  It wasn't in the script.  It was a God moment.

My message...There once was a man who treated children as if they mattered.  His name was Fred Rogers.  He had a degree in music.  He wrote and published more than 200 songs, including that one I sang about a beautiful day in the neighborhood.  He was an ordained Presbyterian minister.  He was a storyteller and a puppeter.  You probably know him best from his children's show on PBS, called Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.  This month, my messages are based upon shows from PBS.  As it is Children's Sabbath, we thought it most fitting to use Mr. Rogers.  He treated children as if they mattered.  For more than 33 years, he had his program on PBS.  He told the truth to children.  He knew that they would not tolerate any fakery.  One of the most watched episodes was the show where he talked about the death of his goldfish.  Over those decades he confronted real life situations like war, divorce, making friends, hurting friends and needing forgiveness.  His message was always simple.  There's only you in the world.  People can like you just the way you are.  He treated children as if they mattered.  He did not treat children as if they were objects or projects.

Do you know how we can make children into projects?  I am reading this Scottish author, Alexander McCall Smith.  The latest series I just finished, called 44 Scotland Street, was set in Edinburgh, where I lived for one school year.  I got to relive my memories through reading.  He wrote the story as a serial, published daily in the newspaper, like authors used to do.  Later, it became a 4 volume set.  In the books, one of the main characters is a little boy named Bertie, who goes from 5 years old to 6 over the arc of the story.  Bertie's mom is  a woman named Irene.  She calls her son, the "Bertie project."  I don't want to blame this mom or any mom.  She is very domineering.  Her husband, Stuart, Bertie's father is no help.  He is passive.  He barely has any relationship with his son.  He works crunching numbers for the Scottish government, and caves in to Irene's wishes.  Irene has the "Bertie project" as a  5 year old playing the saxophone.  Not just squeaking out notes, but playing "As Time Goes By."  She forces him to try out for a teenager orchestra, and he gets in!  Bertie is learning to speak Italian.  He wants to play rugby and to watch trains, but Irene has him take yoga.  She has painted his room pink so that he won't be into gender stereotyping.  Bertie is embarrassed to have anyone over.  Irene is so pushy that she alienates the staff of the school where Bertie attends, and he gets removed from the school.  Irene's response is to get Bertie into psychotherapy.   I wonder if we ever try to make children into projects.

I got a chance to talk to some of the parents of our children from our preschool this past week.  On Wednesday and Thursday mornings, I had "Coffee with Pastor" in our Wyatt Hall.  I am happy to say that some moms and dads took time to visit with me.  Without revealing any names or exact quotes, I got these general impressions of parents with their children today.  "Our kids have every material blessing.  They want for nothing.  We are so busy.  We are running from soccer, to ballet, to tutoring.  We never have enough time.  There's got to be more to life than just "things."  How can we give our children a moral compass?  What if my child doesn't get into Harvard?  Harvard only takes a few every year." 

I told the parents that this is the very reason that the church exists...to give a foundation, a faith that helps us cope with whatever we face in life.  We offer the spiritual component.  That simple message of you are loved for being you is true.  It is not about what grades you get or how athletic you are.  We talk about being children of God, in relationship with God and with others. We are not objects or projects.

In 2 weeks time, some folks from this congregation including our director of children's ministry, Hilary Martin, are going to take a field trip to First UMC in Ft. Worth, where they do a worship service every month called Children First.  Imagine a service where children take a leading role every month, where families feel welcome.  No one else is doing this around here.  I am excited about trying to welcome children here....as children, not projects.

Jesus treated children as if they mattered.  He didn't treat them as objects or projects.  In this passage he welcomes the little children.  This was highly unusual behavior for that time.  As I did the research, children weren't valued highly then.  One reason was that many of them died.  Only about 40% made it to age 16.  Fathers had the power to accept a child or not.  It was not a biological matter only.  Some writing from that time period said that scholars should not waste their time on children.  So the disciples were acting totally in harmony with the culture by screening out the children.  But Jesus welcomes them.

Did you notice that the parents wanted Jesus to touch them?   Every other time the word "touch" is used, it is always in relationship to healing.  The parents wanted Jesus not to just touch or bless the children, but to heal them.  I know that we may have sanitized this scene in our minds, with the children having scrubbed faces and in clean clothes.  But what if they have stuff coming out of both ends?  What if they are sick?  Jesus touches them, perhaps to heal them.

Where do children need healing today?  I know the national Children's Sabbath movement advocates for healthcare for children, for nutrition, for adequate funding for education.  I hope we don't treat children as objects or projects, as statistics or numbers on pages.

People were bringing children to Jesus so that he might touch them.  He did.  He laid hands on them and blessed them.  I would love for you to have that experience.  What I did with the children up front, I would like for you to do with one another.  I envision it being like Christmas Eve where we pass the light of Christ from one candle to another.  But this time, we pass a blessing.  I will lay hands on some of you in each section, saying, "God bless you."  Then you pass that on to others, spreading throughout the sanctuary.  It's okay if you get blessed 2 or 3 times.  Let's try it.

I see that the blessing has made it all the way to the back.  It doesn't have to stop there.  It can continue beyond these walls and beyond this time out into the world, because there are many that don't know that they are God's children.

There once was a many who treated childen as if they mattered.  His name was Jesus.  He said, "Let the little children come unto me, do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God."

That's the good news I have to share.