Let the little children come to me

 

Not too long ago, a print of this painting was put up in our fellowship hall.

Look at those disciples fighting off the kids, while Jesus gently rebukes them with baby in hand.

I love it.

If anyone knows  title, creator, date let me know.

Image found at: http://catfoundations.com/?p=973

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Unable to affirm “infant faith” with Luther…

Lutheran theologian David Scaer has a new book coming out that looks very interesting….

“Well-known Lutheran theologian David Scaer shows that when Rationalism is welded to Lutheranism, faith doesn’t become more credible but instead is lost. Unable to affirm “infant faith” with Luther, nineteenth- and twentieth-century German theologians no longer had a strong basis to baptize infants. If this practice were to be kept, they needed to skirt around the fact that infants were also sinful humans in need of a savior—and that Christ promises himself to all who are brought to him in the sacrament of baptism. Their attempt to compromise confessional loyalty with modern psychology whittled away the foundation of sacramental theology….”

—Mark Mattes, Ph.D.

 

Read more about it here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Utter trust and dependence on the Other.

From Anthony Sacramore’s “Strange Herring” blog (very funny):

“Lutheran churches still allow children of the corn to disrupt people’s peace and prayer, drown out the pastor’s sermon, and otherwise endanger the personal holiness of all in attendance. I believe this is due not so much to the fact that there is no staff to look after the derelicts bu[t] that Lutherans place a heavy emphasis on children’s capacity for faith — that utter trust and dependence on the Other.

And so I expect I will have to endure many a Sunday like the last one, where Mom (Dad is inevitably AWOL) allowed the star of the Ransom of Red Chief to bring toys to church to keep him occupied. Now I’ve seen coloring books and mini-bake ovens before, but Albert DeSalvo Jr. was rolling his Matchboxes cars along the back of the pew, making engine noises, and otherwise daring me to throw the LSB at him (and I am a good shot).

I know I am being tested. But, to paraphrase Woody Allen in Love and Death, I wish some days He’d give us a written…”

Our family tries to keep the toys to a minimum. Picture Bibles, bulletin inserts and crayons – and a trip outside the sanctuary if the little guy can’t stop talking (even if we are sitting all the way up front, which is the way it is most Sundays…)

Read it all here.

 

Learn to see yourself in this way (i.e. utterly dependent, weak and vulnerable)

Gene Veith quotes his pastor:

“…It’s not primarily about what we do, it’s about faith. For to be a child as Jesus is describing here means to be dependent. To be dependent upon your Father in heaven, like a child, for everything – to supply your needs, to give you your identity, to rescue you, and to protect you from your enemies. It is to acknowledge that you are, in fact, utterly dependent and in need of Christ and His provision. It is to be weak and vulnerable, and to learn to see yourself in this way.

For no matter how strong or high or learned or powerful you may be in the world and in the eyes of the world, none of that matters when it comes to the kingdom of heaven. Here, greatness is quite different. Here, greatness is to be among those whom Christ serves. And to see others and to serve others in the same way. . . .”

Read it all here: http://www.geneveith.com/2011/09/07/the-greatest-in-the-kingdom-of-heaven