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| Image by Ema Can |
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A GREETING
With all my heart I seek you.
(Psalm 119:10a)
A READING
The disciples came up to Jesus with the question, “Who is the greatest in the kindom of heaven?” Jesus called for a little child to come and stand among them. Then Jesus said, “The truth is, unless you change and become like little children, you will not enter the kindom of heaven. Those who make themselves as humble as this child are the greatest in the kindom of heaven. “Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.
(Matthew 18:1-5)
MUSIC
The Prix de Lausanne is an annual international competition for young dancers between 15 and 18 years old. Jethro Thijs, 15 from Belgium, used his own choreography and won a prize in his category. How can a disciplined body be set free to show joy?
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Jesus said, “Let the children alone—let them come to me.
The kindom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
(Matthew 19:14)
A POEM
I will not spin and spin inside this skin
I will not mourn a future I never had
I refuse to bleed myself
For an almost reality rooted in the distant echoes
Of a once familiar voice
Chanting I know I can, I know I can
Because I know I can
Be the girl I am right now
Live the life I have right now
Choose to be the dream I am in right now
Maybe then it won’t be so hard
Just to breathe right now
- from "Dreams," by TJ Dema.
(Dema is an award-winning Botswana youth poet. Learn more here.)
VERSE OF THE DAY
How can young people keep themselves
on the straight and narrow?
by keeping to your words!
(Psalm 119:9)
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| "Woman and Child," by Kudzanai-Violet Hwami Hwami works with archived photographs and personal family photos, constructing collages first that give her a sense of what her themes are. Using digital apps and devices, she architecturally arranges the objects and then projects them on to a surface from which she then paints, not tracing the image, but taking the arrangement as inspiration. In this way, the digital collages become the lab from which she understands what her painting will be. In the end, her paintings hold the tension between intimacy and distance, with the bodies of her subjects forming the intersection between viewer and art. Hwami has said that this reflects her own identity as a displaced person, both anchored and unmoored. |
The gospel stories that unfold from Jesus' ministry hold contrasting positioning of bodies. When he is healing and upholding those in need, their bodies have a relationship to his own body. Sometimes they are directly facing him, sometimes they are at his feet, sometimes they touch the hem of his garment. Jesus uses bodies, gestures and positioning to teach his followers not only about how much he is capable of transforming the lives of others, but also how much his community can learn to perceive relationships in a new way. Those on the margins who seek Jesus' attention may not be familiar encounters for the disciples.
In the Jesus era, children had no rights or agency. They had no authority or independence or legal voice. And yet the Jewish story and law, especially in Deuteronomy, calls the people to protection of "widows and orphans." They need that protection because otherwise they have no status at all. Children were beneath slaves, especially if they had no attachment to a household of means. In this conversation that Jesus is having, however, it appears that a child has been listening.
In his customary way, Jesus upsets the order by drawing the child who is standing nearby into the very center of their circle. He makes the child the focus, and then he says that the disciples must make themselves as like a child. It is a call to completely reorient their sense of greatness. In the material world, human beings have gotten it all wrong, he is saying. The open and willing spirit of the child, the capacity for devotion and loyalty, the willingness to be fully embodied in their lives is the orientation Jesus is seeking from adults. We can only imagine what it was like for the child, to hear Jesus say this.
In Matthew 19, children in need of healing are brought to Jesus and the disciples don't want to waste Jesus' time with them. Conversely, Jesus draws them near, telling the disciples here also that the kindom of God belongs to them. But do the disciples understand?
Ultimately, the child represents Jesus himself -- drawn into a circle surrounded by others, both a focus of attention and an outcast. Although we in our own time value children very differently, even in our own time children live in poverty and neglect and are subject to exploitation.
How does thinking as Jesus would have us do change our imagination of the kindom?
How can we see the world through the eyes of a dancing child?
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| "Boy with a Dove," by Kudzanai-Violet Hwami (2019) Found in a youtube interview with the artist. |
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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.
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LC† From Dust, Still Holy is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!