Today's Scripture Reading (March 1, 2023): Hosea 11 & 12
I have frequently told a
story that occurred early on in my career. I was the youth Pastor of the
church, and one morning the children's Pastor needed to talk to me about
something. She pulled me over to the side, and we discussed a shared challenge.
But then she commented, "I don't know how you do it. I could never work
with teens. Children are so much easier." I remember smiling at my
colleague and telling her, "I feel the same way about you. I get teens,
but children are a little out of my league. I am very happy to let you handle
the children while you leave me with the teens." It has always been an
example of how God equips us differently. We are not supposed to be carbon
copies of each other; our differences are important, and together, we make up the
church.
As I said, I have told this
story a few times. Later in my career, by this time I had become the Lead Pastor
of a church, I was coming off a day where I had been busy with meetings and was
still at the church in the early evening. The church's Children's Department
was holding a celebration, so children and volunteers filled the various rooms
of the church. With no secretary in the office, I was left handling the phones.
And a phone call came in for the Children's Pastor, who happened to be with a
group of Kindergarten Kids in a room in the basement. I went to tell her to
come to the phone and offered to stay with the kids. She gave me a bit of a
funny look and then consented and went to answer the phone, leaving me with the
children. She wasn't the same Children's Pastor who had had that discussion
with me years earlier. But apparently, she had heard the tale.
She came back to the
classroom about fifteen minutes later. It must have been quite a scene. The Pastor,
dressed in a suit and tie, sitting on the floor reliving his childhood, playing
with a group of five-year-olds. Years later, I heard her retell the story to a
group of children's workers. She told her listeners that she had been called
away for a phone call, and she left her group of treasures in the presence of a
Pastor who admits he doesn't do children's ministry. She was a little nervous
leaving the children in his inexperienced hands, but when she returned, she
found him on the floor, talking with them at their level, doing everything that
a seasoned children's worker would do.
It was a great compliment.
But I also recognize that playing with children significantly differs from
trying to teach them something. Playing with them is on my level; many friends
continuously tell me I am still a kid.
Hosea's image in this verse
is of a parent or another loving adult caring for children. Chords of human
kindness indicate the cords or strings with which a parent would allow their
children a little independence. They would often tie them with ropes to the
adult, giving the child some freedom as they learn to walk while at the same
time keeping them safe and secure. Lifting a little child to their cheek or
bending down to feed them illustrates a parent getting down on the child's
level. The image Hosea wants Israel to understand was that God had done
precisely these things. God had tried to keep them safe, tying them to the
Temple that represented his presence on earth, but they had cut the cord and wandered
off to other gods and altars. God had gotten down on their level to lead them,
but they had rejected that leadership. God had been a good parent, yet his
children rejected him anyway. They had wandered away from their parent to
confront the world alone. And Dad was calling them back, but his children were
turning a deaf ear to his pleas, just like so many human children, deciding
that they knew better than Dad on how to live in this world.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading:
Hosea 13 & 14
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