The Fourth Sunday in Lent + Laetare | John 6:1-15 | The Church our Mother скачать в хорошем качестве

The Fourth Sunday in Lent + Laetare | John 6:1-15 | The Church our Mother

The Fourth Sunday in Lent + Laetare March 15, 2026 John 6:1-15     A beautiful reality of a church with children is that you get to see them grow from the time they are born.   The child, often carried to the font in a mother’s arms, enters the church through Holy Baptism and receives new life through the work of the Holy Spirit. For the first few months, one might wonder if the baby makes any noise as they remain in their mother’s arms, clinging to their love. But then, as they grow, they become more active. They move, fidget, and yes, they make noise.    Still, while some like to say, “They’re the future of the Church,” as baptized children of God, they are the Church, even now.   As St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. (1 Corinthians 12:12-13a)   Notice how St. Paul doesn’t mention age, mental capacity, or anything else. He simply states how we are all members of the body of Christ through Holy Baptism.   Maybe you can hear the words of Dr. Seuss in the back of your mind, “A person’s a person no matter how small.”   And this is especially true in the Church, where we believe all life born of woman is a gift from God.   However, in many congregations, the question has become, “How do we keep the children quiet or entertained so the adults can listen and hear?”   But one might ask, do these questions recognize what St. Paul said above, that we are many members of one body?   Could we ask a different question?   How do we care for the youngest lives and nurture the faith of the youngest among us? How do we help them remain faithfully in the Church beyond the years of Confirmation?   This is an important question for us to ponder.   Simply put, we don’t delay in teaching them that they are members of the Church today. We don’t hesitate to instill the liturgy in their hearts. We don’t wait to help them hear God’s Word of forgiveness. We don’t delay in preparing them and guiding them to receive the Lord’s Supper.    Instead, parents now actively guide and teach their children in the liturgy of the Divine Service, in hearing God’s Word, and preparing them to receive the Lord’s Supper.   Which raises the question, are we listening and participating throughout the Divine Service? Do we lead the little ones among us to follow along with the service by our example? Do we bring them to the rail to receive a blessing and teach them about the significance of Jesus’ body and blood in the Lord’s Supper, as well as how He cares for, feeds, and forgives us through this sacred meal?    But when parents aren’t present or available, we need to step up as members of the church as we are able, recognizing that, as the body of Christ, we all have different talents and abilities. Similarly, not all children are the same and respond to their older brothers and sisters in Christ differently, too. When these instances occur, we still have the opportunity to teach the faith through our examples in Divine Service.   Because, in the end, all of us were brought into the Church in the same way, through the font of Holy Baptism, and within this Church, we have all grown and been nurtured in the Christian faith through the same words of Jesus Christ.   For this reason, the Church is like a living, breathing mother, caring for her children, no matter how big or how small.   Throughout the Scriptures, the Church is often described as a mother. The prophet Isaiah spoke about the new birth of God’s children and how the Church will provide her children with eternal comfort and peace, as he wrote, “As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 66:13)   Jesus would expand on this theme as He describes Jerusalem as a hen that gathers and shields her brood of chicks under her wings from the viper that aims to take their lives. (Matthew 23:37)   Or St. Paul wrote to those in Galatia that the heavenly Jerusalem is the mother of all God’s children. Which prodded Martin Luther to write in the Large Catechism, “[The Christian Church] is the mother that conceives and bears every Christian through God’s Word.” (LC II 42)   For these reasons, how we nurture and lead the children of this church in the faith matters immensely.   As the familiar proverb goes, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)   Training, teaching, and leading start even while the infant rests in their mother’s arms.   Honestly, this lens should continue to change how we view and approach Confirmation and First Communion.   Today, Jonah Rogness will receive his First Communion.   While he remains but a ch...