The Ministry of Children – How Babies & Toddlers Bring Healing to the Souls of Adults

Let the little children come to me. – Jesus

Children have not always been treasured in history.  In certain past cultures and arguably even in current cultures, they have been treated as being either a economic asset or liability; as commodity.  In some contemporary circles this pendulum has swung towards the opposite attitudes which may be no less problematic – where children are coddled and placed in a well-meaning cocoon of protection by helicopter parenting who constantly hover over their children as if they are the centre of the universe.  Somewhere between these extremes, a do think there is a healthy range.  What I write here, however, takes a different track.

This is not about parenting but the ministry of Children.  Nor is this about ministry to children.  I am talking about the ministry of children – to me and other adults.  In particular, little children, that is, babies and toddlers.  A lot of times when we read that Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me,” we assume that he just wants to bless them and their parents.  While this is certainly true, I wonder if in fact the unmarried thirty-something Jesus is appreciating something in these little children that we miss.  Perhaps he was letting the children minister to him.

One of the phenomenon I observe every week in worship service – before, during and after – is how the church community comes around young families and their babies and toddlers.  Certainly folks are looking to be supportive of these families and parents but there is another motive at play, even if unconsciously.  People want to see the faces of the little children.  They want to cradle these children or touch their hands or walk with the toddlers. They treat them like holy relics – and I would argue indeed they are.

I suspect that the reason people in the community love the children as much as they do is because children expect nothing from them.  Babies and toddlers don’t judge or think mean things of others.  They simply accept the love they are given and they also return it freely.  They have also do not have the overdeveloped self-consciousness that leads to anxiety and self-image issues.  They are authentically themselves when they are uncomfortable dues to hunger, sleepiness, full diapers or other basic needs.

In other words, the smallest, most dependent and most vulnerable members of our church remind us of the true value of each and every human being.  We turn from being exploited and exploiting, marketed and marketing towards simply being loved, being held, being admired for simply being human.  The only currency the human soul trades in is affection.

So despite all we are told about who we are or should be, children recalibrate us to the perspective of our creator.  We need to remember that after all, we are supposed to be his children and sisters and brothers to one another.

And in this I want to thank all the parents who bring these tiny ministers into our midst.  You who take care of these little souls when they cry or burp or have messy diapers are the saints who serve more than you know!

(Pastor Ted)