Move Up Here
Today is Move-up
Sunday, so, I'd like to ask all the kids to come up
front and form a line extending out from me. Now, turn
towards the congregation and just look out. What does it
feel like for you to be up front here looking out at all
these folks? Are there any friendly faces looking back
at you? (The goal, hopefully, is to have different
responses of uncomfortable, shy, quiet, or "cool,"
showing off, etc. Different kids feel differently when
being stared at - being the focus of attention.)
Now, we're going to take a walk
to the back of the congregation. Let's stand here and
see if things feel a little different. So, looking at
the backs of people's heads, instead of their eyes, what
is this like? (After their answers…) Does it feel safer?
Do you feel like you have more control? Like you could
sneak out without being noticed? Or whisper? Or play
with toys without bothering anyone. Or be the first one
out so you can go home and have lunch?
Well, if that is how you feel,
then you are not the only ones apparently. If you look
at the congregation, most people tend to sit in the
back. I don't know if their reasons are the same as
yours. But it is almost certain at any church you go to,
most people leave space between them and the pastor. It
kinda makes me feel lonely.
Things weren't that way in
Jesus' day. It would have been more like going to a
concert to see your favorite musician or singer. You
would go early so you can get front row seats. Or
Disneyland and going up close to Mickey Mouse. If
somebody wanted to have a good life, they needed to hang
as close as they could to someone who was famous, you
know like getting autographs of movie stars and baseball
players. AND, they had to make sure other people saw
them there. Because then everyone knew they were special
and would treat them special as if all that would rub
off.
So, can you imagine on a Sunday
morning, everyone running in here as early as they could
so they could get to sit on the steps leading up to the
pulpit and tugging on my robes, saying, see me Pastor
Joan? Look at me. See, I came early so I could sit next
to you. You'll remember me when its time to hand out
rewards won't you?
But Jesus reminded them that
wasn't always the best thing to do. He talked about
parties. Jesus mentioned that its not so good to go to
the spot next to the bride and groom at a wedding. I
imagine you might be familiar with staying real close to
the birthday person at their party because you're hoping
you'll get a chance to play with their presents first.
But the birthday person might have other ideas. They may
have had someone really special that you never met they
wanted to have be close to them. You know how
disappointing it is to get crowded out. How embarrassing
it is to be asked to move away. Instead, Jesus says,
wait and see. Wouldn't it be better to have the birthday
kid say, "Hey, Alex, come here, you've got to see this!"
A lot of us make a lot of noise
and carry on and draw all kind of attention because we
can't imagine what it would be like if no one ever did
notice us. Deep down inside all of us want to be
noticed. But we're not exactly sure what kind of
recognition we want or need. The truth is if we hang out
with people we think are popular we just stand in their
shadow and it really isn't us that gets noticed. If we
do notorious things, you know, stuff people don't want
us to, oh, they'll know my name, but will they really
know me?
Jesus reminds us that isn't the
kind of attention that we are craving. We need something
genuine, something real. There's nothing better than
having the kind of friendship that lets us just be us.
Jesus talked about the people in his day, throwing big
parties and inviting just the rich people. It's like us
buying all the things that have the best advertising on
TV, the clothes, the games, and the toys, and thinking
that will make us popular. You can't buy your way to
friendship with stuff, it doesn't last. You simply have
to be a person that is real. I hope that some of you
know the story of the Velveteen Rabbit. He's a stuffed
animal that doesn't have any wind up mechanism inside
him to make him move, no batteries, no bells or blinking
lights, he doesn't even have legs. But you see, he
couldn't be broken either - he was always there to be
with the boy. One day when the rabbit was in a room
alone with the skin horse, he was told, "Real isn't how
you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that
happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long
time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then
you become real."
A lot of adults come to church
because they want to have a few moments out of their
hectic week with someone who knows them for who they
really are. They want to have a place and a time when
they don't have to pretend. And they know they have
found that in Jesus.
Those same adults bring you here
because they want you to meet a real friend and to
become a real friend. I'm going to guess that most of
you right now hear the stories about Jesus and say, well
that's nice and just forget about it the rest of the
week. But when you go downstairs to your class, you
actually have a chance to get to know God. You have a
chance to ask questions that are hard to answer. And,
I'm hoping your teachers are prepared to hear those
questions when they are asked and direct you to a place
to get answers.
We call this "Move-up Sunday."
And I suppose in bigger churches, you would get to move
up to a new classroom and a new teacher every year.
Instead, at this church, Jesus is calling you to move up
closer to him. We could actually have a one room Sunday
School, but each year you could still move up and never
leave your spot or your chair. That sounds crazy, I
suppose, but it has to do with how close and real you
are with God, not with how many stories you know, how
many crafts you can make, or how many songs you sing. It
has to do with how much time you give Jesus to love you.
Read other
sermons by Pastor Joan
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