Jesus Loves the Little Children

A Room with a View

Last week I was able to spend some time at Camp Bashore Boy Scout Reservation with Troop 134 and approximately 350 other scouts, including my son, Rowan, and Luke Davies. It's been almost 40 years since my first experience of summer camp at Bashore. I was a member of Troop 45 in Lebanon at the time. It was at Bashore that I first experienced the gut-wrenching feelings of homesickness. It wasn't that I missed the physical building of our house, but the familiarity and company of family - my mom and dad, and brothers. I was reminded of that this past week when I witnessed the tears of several young boys during the first meal in the dining hall Sunday evening. Needless to say, we all made it home in one piece.

When I returned home I was struck by the images of children inside chain link retention pens (cages) at our southern borders that have been in the news. Far from fake, these children are children loved by Jesus. They are children we are called to love. What must their feelings of homesickness be like?

No Crib for His Bed

When I was growing up, my maternal grandparents were instrumental in getting me and my brothers to participate in Summer Vacation Bible School at their church, Mt. Wilson Church of the Brethren. I can't tell you now the specifics of the instruction, but I can recall the atmosphere of care and nurture in that community of faith.

On one of those Summer evenings, I learned the song, Jesus Loves the Little Children. You probably know it too.

Jesus loves the little children
All the children of the world
Red, brown, yellow
Black and white
They are precious in His sight
Jesus loves the little children
Of the world 

Jesus died for all the children
All the children of the world
Red, brown, yellow
Black and white
They are precious in His sight
Jesus died for all the children
Of the world. 

Jesus rose for all the children
All the children of the world
Red, brown, yellow
Black and white
They are precious in His sight
Jesus rose for all the children
Of the world

As the Church, we balk. We hesitate. We fear even talking about this crisis openly. Maybe we dismiss it as something out of our purview. It's political, after all. We don't want to offend anyone or upset the bliss of our collective indifference.

This Sunday a theme that runs through our lessons is that of hospitality. Welcoming the stranger is not an optional activity of the body of Christ. In fact, over and over, it presents itself as one of the chief ways that we live out our shared faith in the Christ. For once, we were lost, and now we are found. We have been welcomed so that we can welcome others. That's how it works. That's how God works. We are necessary to the mission that God has for the world to bring about reconciliation.

"But know that to serve God is nothing else than to serve your neighbor and do good to him in love, be it a child, wife, servant, enemy, friend. . . . If you do not find yourself among the needy and the poor, where the Gospel shows us Christ, then you may know that your faith is not right, and that you have not yet tasted of Christ's benevolence and work for you."    -Martin Luther