let the children come

Good night/good morning brothers and sisters,
This passage may be familiar to many of us, but it's a great fit for this week as we consider children and the church's responsibility to support kids, healthy families and communities. The disciples try to protect Jesus' time or dignity or something in the face of parents bringing their children to Jesus for a blessing. I'm not sure what their concern was. In some way, they seemed to feel that children were not worthy of their great teacher's attention. As we see, Jesus felt differently. In fact, a child's curiosity, engagement and openness provides a model for how all of us should approach the kingdom of God. How can we do better? I hope many of you will join UPT for prayer in front of the school board offices (131 W. Broad) on Sunday morning at 8. I'd also like to invite all children/youth and the young at heart to join in a youth led worship service at Brockport Presbyterian Church. We continue Jesus' legacy by honoring, protecting, and ministering with children today.
God bless,
Sam

Mark 10:13-16

¹³People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. ¹⁴But when Jesus saw this, he was 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. ¹⁵Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” ¹⁶And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

Children's Sabbath

Good afternoon brothers and sisters,
Sunday we finished a long series of preaching and daily readings taking us on a tour through the Bible. This week we shift our focus to thinking about children. We know that children are our future. We also know that today's kids face all kinds of challenges and pressures. This coming Sunday we will observe the Children's Sabbath, led by a group called the Children's Agenda. Children's Agenda works to raise awareness of the difficulties facing kids in Rochester. As a major concern in our society, that's a major concern for the church too. The first part of our children's Sabbath will be a prayer vigil in front of the city school district building (131 West Broad Street, downtown between Plymouth and Washington) at 8 am on Sunday morning with other urban Presbyterian churches.

Today's reading shows Jesus healing two women, a girl with a powerful father and a woman who would have been an outcast with nothing. Jesus loves all of us, no matter what.

God bless,
Sam

Matthew 9:18-26

¹⁸While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” ¹⁹And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. ²⁰Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, ²¹for she said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” ²²Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. ²³When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, ²⁴he said, “Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. ²⁵But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. ²⁶And the report of this spread throughout that district.