Saturday, December 29, 2001
Saturday, December 29, 2001
Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and I will
praise you with the harp, O God, my God.
Johnny's experience of going to church was not as positive as Jesus' visit to the
Temple when he was twelve years of age. In fact the two stories bear little
resemblance.
Jesus' parents were devout Jews. They went every year to Jerusalem at the feast of the
Passover. But this year went a little differently from prior years. On the way home
Jesus' parents realized that Jesus was not with them. This was not like their son, and
so the worried parents headed back to Jerusalem. It took them three frantic days before
they located him. He was in the temple, sitting among the learned men, listening and
asking questions. "And all that heard him were amazed at his understanding and his
answers."
And when Mary and Joseph saw Jesus, they were astonished. And Mary asked, "Son,
why have you treated us like this? We have been worried sick." And Jesus said, "Why
did you worry?
We all worry about our children and about a lot of other things. But, what really matters
is being connected to God like Jesus was.
(Psalm 43:4
NRSV)
The pastor had been trying for months to get little Johnny to come to church to be with
his third grade Sunday school class. Finally, after talking to Little Johnny and his
mother for what seemed to be the hundredth time, Johnny finally agreed to go this next
Sunday. The pastor came by the house and picked him up and Johnny did seem to
enjoy all of the proceedings except as the baptismal service began he ran out the back
door and all the way home. His mother asked him why did he run home instead of
riding with the pastor. Little Johnny answered, "It's all a racket. They get you there
and let you make all those nice things, and tell you great stories just to get you relaxed,
so they can drown you at the end of one of the services."
Dear God, keep me connected to you. Amen.
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