Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world. Whether yellow, black or white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children.

Jesus Loves the Little Children" may have been a song you sang or heard being sung when you were a child. While the racial descriptions might not be the best choice of words, the sentiment that Jesus loves ALL is there.

As a church we have been studying the Gospel of Luke, and a couple of Sundays past we read the passage of Luke 18: 15-17 “and He said to them, “whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but welcomes Him who sent me.”

We talked about this passage- what does it mean to welcome children? Children in those days were outcasts; completely vulnerable and powerless. Certainly not the way we revere children today. Though even in some countries and cultures today, children do not have the recognition that we have come to expect in this country. I remember being with my sister in West Africa. When families had limited food and money, cooked rice was given to the men, any remaining sludge was given to the women and then the children. No wonder that the children were starving.

So for Jesus to single out a vulnerable powerless child was societal norm breaking. (He does the same thing with any underdog - women, lower cast peoples, etc.) He reminds us time and time again that He came to save the lost, to protect the vulnerable and give voice to the powerless. He wants us to do the same.

It does beg the questions both figuratively and literally- how do we welcome the child? First of all- who is “this child”? Who are the vulnerable and powerless in our society? In our surrounding areas? How do we welcome the children in our lives? Whether we have biological ones nearby or not? How do we listen and embrace those who are not on our “social” level?

I have been thinking about the children/youth that I know. At this point in my life, I am not surrounded by too many youngsters. While I enjoy children and youth, I am not seeking them out. For one, if there is not a natural, organic relationship, it might be “creepy” to the neighbors if I wanted to hang out with their kids.

Yet, I cannot help but think about our society’s imbalance with youth. In some ways we over glorify youth and the physical aspects of maintaining youthful looks and not appearing to age. We glorify and idolize youth too much. But I do not think we take children as seriously as we should. We do not truly listen to the youth. We easily dismiss them as lazy, unreliable, and entitled. Still, there are things to be learned from younger generations.

I especially think of Greta Thunberg the seventeen-year-old Swedish climate activist. The little I have read, heard and seen about Greta, I am impressed and hopeful for our future. What started as just a simple act of protesting “School Strike for Climate” in her native Sweden has led an increased global awareness of climate change. Here is a girl who is willing to stand up for what she believes. She is not shaken even when certain powerful global leaders bully and question her.

I have been impressed by Millennials and Generation Z’s who are thinking about questions of lifestyle: do I need to have all the “stuff” my parents and/or grandparents did, what does success mean, what is the purpose of my life and my career/life choices? Their self-assuredness and deep thinking is encouraging.

I have also learned from the figuratively vulnerable of society: resilience, humor, grace, guts, humility. Once again in God’s economy of the world- when we welcome others in obedience and response to welcoming Him, we learn and become the welcomed ones.

What about you? How are you at welcoming “children”? At the vulnerable, powerless? If you have, what lessons have you learned or seen?