Faith Like a Child
Feb 26th, 2007 by michelle
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
This past Sunday was the Sunday of Orthodoxy, which is celebrated on the first Sunday of Lent and is the celebration over the iconoclasts by the decision of the 7th Ecumenical Council. The service celebrates the restoration of the icons to be used in church and home.
Many families brought their home icons to church to use in the procession celebrating this day. One small girl of just two years old walked around the nave proudly carrying her icon (and dropping it a few times, as well). She brought her icon of the crucifixion of Christ to me and said, “This is Jesus on the cross. He loves me. He died for everyone’s sins.”
It really hit me at that moment what Jesus meant when he said that we must become like children or we will never enter the kingdom of God. This little girl was so proud of her icon of Christ. She wanted nothing more than to share his love with others and to kiss the icon.
When in my life have I had faith like this? Faith so simple and yet so deep. A child has the ability to understand the love of Christ much more than I, in my adulthood, have ever been able to. I bring along all my baggage and my expectations, but a child doesn’t bring anything but the pure and simple need for God’s love.
I pray that during this time of Lent that I may be able to humble myself just as a child before Christ and that I may learn what it means to have faith like a child.
lovely thoughts. My youngest dropped his icon a few times during the procession as well.
I was disappointed not to get to go to Chruch on Sunday, but needed to stay home with my sick child. Our first taste of Orthodoxy was two years ago on Orthodox Sunday. We were pretty freaked out and ended up leaving before the Liturgy was over, partly because our son was getting restless and we couldn’t see any end in sight. It’s a good thing we didn’t stick around for the icon procession- I fear we never would have given it a second chance if that was our first experience!