let the Little Children Come to Me

Jesus left that place and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan. And crowds again gathered around him; and, as was his custom, he again taught them. Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them. Mark 10:1-16

The disciples, in this passage of Mark, speak sternly to the parents in order to keep the children away from Jesus. He opened his arms to them. He knew that their authenticity and openness is always ready to receive God's love. Yet generations after, folks forced Indigenous children from their parents and their people, believing they were bringing them to Jesus. Some folks meant well; others wanted to "fix' a problem they saw. The disciples also wanted to fix a problem and yet, Jesus had a different idea.

The suffering and abuse which happened in our Indigenous Boarding Schools is a horror and continues to haunt and damage our people. Our ideas of control are not our saviors. 

Gracious God, you hang the stars

so we might delight in the night

and you light the day with sunshine

so we might work and play in beauty.

Some of us feel the need to control

and some would blame that on you

yet you let them all come to you

the tearful, the raucous and the silly ones.

Help us to follow you by welcoming

let our lives be dedicated to service

let us not inhibit or restrict anyone

knowing you love us all so perfectly. Amen.