Welcome One Such Child

Jesus and his disciples went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again." But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.

Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me." Mark 9:30-37

Indian Boarding School

The took away the little children
cut their hair and gave them hard shoes
made them speak a foreign tongue
and tried to make them in their image.

They tried to take away custom and language
but we still dreamed in Indian
dreaming of home prairie grass
songs sung in the moonlit hills
and our mothers soft warm arms.

They buried shame deep within us
and we tried to understand how God
could love us and not like us
making us over as if we were mistakes.

The Creator welcomed us formed us
gave us ancient names and breathed life
and sacred songs deep into our lungs
and in our hiding place we hummed them again.

They tried but God was watching
our grandchildren pried the stories from our lips
and we remembered again our language and the love
which has always been the drum beat of our lives.

Sound you drum, my heart beats with God
who sought a frightened broken child
and lifted such a one into loving arms
and directed the leaders to welcome this stranger.





The Collect

Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.