The Answer is "Jesus"

             Ever since the advent of the Reformation, churches in the reforming traditions have sought to be contextual in their expressions of worship. Attempts have been made to consider the particular needs of particular times and places, and create worship experiences that are attentive to those particulars. This has resulted in attention to space, aesthetics, music, and language, among other things.

            In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, mindful of cultural changes in family structure, community life, and church attendance patterns, worshiping communities often added something to their collective worship life – the children’s sermon. As regular Sunday School participation began to wane, the logic went, it was good and right to have a message within the whole of the worship experience that was specifically for children.

            Over time, various patterns emerged and developed for the children’s message. Some seized the opportunity to tell Bible stories, to either enhance or create a biblical literacy. Others have used the occasion to provide moral lessons, and still others, often have focused on a “question of the day” to drive home a point.

            Among my colleagues and friends, over the years we have enjoyed a standing bit of humor regarding the “question and answer” method of the children’s sermon. What is the correct answer to every children’s sermon question? “Jesus.”

            How do we know God loves us? Jesus!

            How do we know that our sins are forgiven? Jesus!

            Who promises to never leave or forsake us? Jesus!

            Who will be with us in the good times and the bad? Jesus!

            Who helps us love our neighbor? Jesus!

            Who shows us what God is like? Jesus!

            Who do we follow? Jesus!

            Who feeds us in church? Jesus!

            Whose light do we carry out into the world? Jesus’!

            My friends and I have often laughed about this, asking among ourselves, “what’s the point? If every answer is ‘Jesus,’ well, why have a children’s sermon at all?”

            But why not? What better answer could there possibly be around which to gather week after week? Isn’t that what worship is all about, to be drawn into the presence of God, to be reminded of God’s love poured out in Jesus, to be immersed in the promise of grace – in Jesus, to be fed by Jesus at Jesus’ own table, and to be sent out in Jesus’ name for the sake of the world?

            In the letter to the Colossians in the Christian Scriptures, we find these words “he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of creation.” The letter goes on to say that Jesus is before all things, holding all things together, the beginning, the firstborn of the dead, the one through whom God reconciled all things.

            When we dig around a little bit into the history of the people of Colossae, we learn that they were living in a time when they believed in Jesus, but they thought that Jesus was just one among many. They thought that Jesus was a revealer of God, among many revealers of God. They thought that Jesus was one mediator between heaven and earth, in a long line of mediators, and they thought that Jesus was merely part of making everything whole, one link in a long chain.

            The writer of the letter, however, wants to make it clear that Jesus is not one among many. Jesus is the revealer of God. Jesus is the mediator between heaven and earth. Jesus is the one who has reconciled everything in all creation.

            Jesus is the answer to every question.

            Sometimes these days, I find the news of our world downright terrifying. Gun violence. Otherizing. Fear. Division. Racism. Sexism. Name calling. Public rhetoric that is beneath our human dignity. Violence. International strife. Terror. I look at my newsfeed on social media and read the headlines on various news outlets, and it is often more than I can take.

            How are we ever going to “turn the temperature down?”

            How are we ever going to put on the brakes, take a deep breath, and see our common humanity?

            How is it all going to end – the violence, the hatred, the pain that we seem destined to inflict upon one another, with ever increasing speed?

            Abel’s blood is crying out from the ground day after day after day. How is it ever going to stop?

            And then I am reminded that the answer to every single question has already been given: Jesus.

            Jesus has already claimed it all.

            Jesus has already born it all.

            Jesus has already carried it all. Buried it all. Defeated it all, and risen - the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of creation, and the firstborn of the dead.

            Jesus – who did not meet violence with violence, but met violence with love, Jesus is the answer to our despair.

            Jesus – who tore down every single dividing wall he encountered – Jesus is the answer to how we live together as neighbors, brothers and sisters, friends in our common human family.

            Jesus – who washed feet instead of throwing stones, Jesus who told Peter to put away his sword, Jesus – the leper-healing, sight-restoring, other-loving, dead-raising image of the invisible God – is the answer to every human question.

            And so, we gather week after week to be reminded that in the river that flows from his side, we have been washed and made new. We gather week after week to be fed at his table. We gather week after week to be reminded that we are his body now – his flesh and blood in the world to bring his healing, hope and life.

            Jesus is the answer. We are part of Jesus’ own body. Go be Jesus for the world.