I do long to make our Church more accessible, posting transcripts for those who cannot manage closed captions etc, however, my own disability (Dyslexia and posibly others) causes memory and organisational problems.
I hope you will bear with me as I build this into my habits.
God bless
Mark 10:15English Standard Version Anglicised
15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
Sermon in 100secs
Some think that to have the faith of a child is to blindly
accept everything you are told, but those who think this way clearly have never
spent more than a few minutes with a child. Children are curious, inquisitive
and by far the favourite question of any Child is “Why?”
Jesus’ friends and followers were becoming obsessed with
status and maturity in faith. Arguing about who was most important. The
religious leaders of the day were obsessively rule following believing that
this was how you did faith “properly.”
Jesus says, “Receive the kingdom of God like a little
child!” After all, we are ALL children of God. As much as we try to be serious
and solemn about the kingdom of God, at best we are standing before God as a 3
year old wearing our mum’s high heels, our dad’s shirt and a hat so big it
hangs over our eyes saying “Look how grown up I am!” I’m sure this makes God
smile.
You might think that immaturity is a bad thing for something
as important as faith but in Our Church, in God’s Church our faith should be
childlike.
Childlike faith is questioning and searching, it plays hide
and seek and asks “Why?” and “Why not?”
Childlike faith is playful, it experiments, it jokes and it
is silly at times.
Childlike faith is Joyful! It smiles at strangers, it dances
around the house, it laughs with friends.
Childlike faith trusts in its parent, God, the creator of all!
Pocket Prayer
Loving playful God, you are the source of all mystery inviting
questioning and exploration, you set creation into motion and let us play within
it. You grant us the freedom to move forward, to travel and balance our lives but
when we wobble or falter you are near to take back control when necessary and
steering everything back to your purposes.
You show us love as a true parent and we glimpse your image
through the imperfect vision of childlike eyes seeing your smile and
responding with a smile of our own.
Forgive our maturity loving God, convinced of our superiority,
our wisdom and rationality. Forgetting that we are but infants to you, your
wisdom making fools of the wise and being ignorant of the upsidedowness of your
kingdom.
Rejuvenate us we pray, give us the thoughts and faith of a
child.
Forgive our certainty loving God, when we think we know
everything about you, when we are convinced that because we know you then those
who have met you differently are wrong. Forgetting that you and your love are
wider, deeper, older and newer than we could ever imagine or experience.
Rejuvenate us we pray, give us the thoughts and faith of a
child.
Forgive our solemnity loving God, when we appear to mourn
our faith rather than celebrate it, when our seriousness smothers the fire of
our joy and our cynicism calcifies our wonder. Forgetting you are the God whose
spirit danced on the waters of creation, who filled the skies with choirs of
angels at the birth of Jesus, and Christ who ate, drank, partied and laughed
with sinner and saint alike.
Rejuvenate us we pray, give us the thoughts and faith of a
child.
Loving parent God, we resign our adulthood in your kingdom,
discarding our self-made responsibilities and taking up those of a child of
God. Living a faith filled with imagination and questions, playfully and
joyfully living out your word with you as our eternal parent.
In our brother Jesus’ name we pray,
Amen.
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