What did you say?

Is it true children have the ear of God? I was teaching a Children’s Chapel at our Children’s Center recently and was proud of what I heard come from the lips of one of our preschoolers. I brought my 10 week old daughter, Sophia, to meet the other kids. Ms. Sharon the director of the Center was holding Sophia and showing her off to the kids while I stood off to the side along the gym wall, waiting to teach chapel. Ms. Sharon asked the kids, “Do you know who Sophia belongs to?” And a young girl spoke up, saying, “God!” “Yes,” Ms. Sharon said, “Sophia belongs to God. She is also the daughter of Pastor Janelle and Brad Hooper.” What a gift—to be reminded that our children belong to God and us. That we are entrusted with these gifts, this miracle of life; and that we too, as adults are children of God.! Thanks be to God for the Good News our children teach us—we belong to God!
And thanks be to God for the valuable teaching opportunities provided by Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church and the Children’s Center. In “Baptized We Live” Daniel Erlander says that we are all shaped by some story, and that baptism provides “storied waters” for our lives. Also, that we are not alone as parents in shaping the faith lives of our children but that it is the church community, responding “yes” at the baptismal ceremony that also promises to help our children grow in faith. What a gift that at both of our campuses, through church school and preschool, our kids are growing in faith and teaching us something about belonging to God!