This week I attended a pre-Lenten clergy retreat at Camp MiKell. The bishop was with us for part of that time. He led us in scripture study for the upcoming Sundays in Lent.

Speaking of Lent, we will have a Lenten Study at St. Francis during the weeks of Lent.

The gospel for this morning's office is from Mark. Jesus is being questioned by the religious leaders about divorce but He notices that children are being kept away from him by his disciples. Mark says Jesus became indignant and said to them, "Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

I remind you that earlier in Mark, chapter 9, “Jesus took a child in his arms and said, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

Here’s a take on welcoming those like children into the Kingdom of God. In 1st century Palestine, children were not considered worthy to be welcomed, they did not have banquet parties for children or anyone for that matter who was considered weak. There was perceived no benefit in it. Jesus, through this passage of Mark’s, was showing another way. God does not welcome the powerful that are powerful only for themselves but does welcome those who exchange their power for service to the kingdom of God. God is not perceived in powerful things as we tend to think and expect but God is experienced in things we perceive as common and weak; like a baby in a stable, like wine and bread, like the hand of one who has fallen but stands again, lifting up another who has fallen.