Let's value heroes of all ages

The preacher, standing alone and lonely at the front of the church, peers down, over the large pulpit, at the congregation before her.

A sudden and unexpected smile creeps in and lights up her face...

What has she seen, but a small child bringing forth his offertory gifts to put in the basket, during prayer time ... A small plastic horse and a packet of biscuits.

In the face of such generosity and grace, a frustrated whisper comes from up the back: “It’s prayer time. Why can’t they control their children!”

There is a sad and strange thing happening in our church today, and I hope to challenge us all in one short swoop. There seems to be an age–old mistake and assumption that we, as humans, have always made. Do you remember the story of the little children approaching
Jesus to be touched? Do you remember Jesus’ reproach, “Let the little children come to me.”

How is it that we value people in our churches? Elderly people? Young people? Do people have to appear like us, or “valuable” to be respected and cared for? And I don’t just mean “value” ... I mean V A L U E. I don’t mean wishing we had young people, for example, I mean believing in what they have to say, and making room for it.

What we seem to be seeing are people in the Uniting Church generally crying out for youth — “the future of the church”. And yet we don’t like candidates who appear too youthful or “inexperienced”. We want young families in our church, but we “respectfully” ask that the children remain in the cry room, or send them out to Sunday school, because we want to listen without distraction. And we want the children to have “fun” here, but God help them if they even think about running through the church after the service. Kids these days, no respect! “They are ‘too at home’ here.”

Or let’s think about the reverse. The Uniting Church has so many elderly people, praise God. Yet why are we scared; why do we bemoan the fact? Why aren’t we rejoicing, and celebrating the enormous collective experience and wisdom that our elderly members can share with the church, and our young ones? Why do our young people want church in their style, and yet are willing to overlook everything that ever was important to those that have built our church. We have many, many wise, elderly people in our church, and the very least we can do is uphold their hymns and respect their tradition.

As a church, and as individuals, a decision must be made here. Do we value young people or not? Are we willing to accept youthful candidates for the very gift they are offering us of being young? Are we willing to accept children for teaching us about joy and play and frivolity? And spirituality?

Are we, as a church, willing to uphold tradition, even in new ways? To hear the stories and respect the wisdom of those who have lived much longer than us?

This edition of Insights focuses on “unsung heroes”. We have so many! So, in your worshipping community think about the child that offers toys and biscuits to God each week, despite the cost to him. Think about the wise old men and women with so many stories that sit quietly, and go unnoticed each week. Let’s value age ... no matter what it costs us.

Joy Conner is ... a pseudonym adopted by the author to protect their privacy.