Tag: celebration

Invitation: Come as a child

But Jesus befriends and elevates children

Matthew 18:1-5 The disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. Then he said, “Unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me.”

Matthew 19:13-15 One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could lay his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” And he placed his hands on their heads and blessed them before he left.

Where Jesus is King, children are valued, welcomed, and blessed.

And healed.

When you and I come to him as children, God can heal what was harmed and provide what was missing when we were small. Like the little ones Jesus welcomed when he lived on earth, we too can receive the blessing of his comfort and care.

It’s OK to be little.

It’s OK to not know or to not know how to do something.

It’s OK to celebrate growing and learning.

Last weekend the Pittsburgh part of our family spent a lovely time together in eastern Pennsylvania, delighting in the waterfall hike at Ricketts Glen State Park. Hiking a steep and rugged 3.2-mile loop, we enjoyed eighteen waterfalls, from 11 feet to 94 feet high! No image can do them justice. Our little ones, at 6 and 3, are enthusiastic hikers! The song in Portuguese, Aguas Purificadoras by Ana Paula Valadão (start at 50 seconds), kept running through my head. Click here for English (start at 1 minute).

The Airbnb where we stayed had a ping-pong table. On Friday evening after we arrived, my six-year-old granddaughter didn’t succeed in hitting the ball so it would land on the other side of the table. She spent much of Saturday afternoon, evening, and Sunday begging any adult available to practice with her. By the time we left at 4:00 on Sunday, she could volley 12-15 times without missing!

Meanwhile, her three-year-old sister, who could barely see above the table, contented herself with hitting (or more often, throwing) a ping-pong ball all over the house. “I’m too little for that,” she told me, pointing to her sister, thrilled at her success. “But when I’m six, I’ll do it too.”

In the Kingdom of Heaven, embraced by the King, we will always be small.

In the Kingdom of Heaven, we will always be learning and growing.

In the Kingdom of Heaven, it’s OK to be little.

Jesus prayed this prayer: “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike (Mt 11:25).

An extraordinary celebration, by Elaine Elliott, La Antigua, Guatemala

But God is honored when we honor each other

Romans 12:10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

(Debbie) Expand your horizons through Elaine’s rich and fascinating Art and Scripture. I love celebrating the determination, faithfulness, and stamina represented in golden wedding anniversaries! Here is Elaine’s description of an extraordinary day in Ordinary Time. It took place in San Diego, where all three of Steve and Elaine’s children and their families live.

On our 50th wedding anniversary (May 31) we received congratulations all day long. On Facebook, my husband Steve posted a picture of younger us cutting the cake and was delighted to receive many likes and comments.

The wedding took place in Mexico, where Elaine grew up as a Wycliffe missionary kid.

Unexpectedly, we received a video message from our pastor in Antigua honoring us, expressing love and appreciation. This should not have been surprising since the church articulates a vision for church culture in which honoring others is one of a dozen values (see the But God post on July 20, 2023):

“We give honor—to those we lead, we work beside, and those we follow. The cross gives every human being immeasurable worth. And we will treat people with the honor the cross displays and demands they deserve.”

To feel this deeply in our church context has been a great gift.

We decided to celebrate multiple family milestones and held a special luncheon on June 22 for 48 extended family members. Each milestone includes a back-story of God’s faithfulness.  My mother, Margaret Daly, reached 95 the previous week, and we celebrated her. Many had not seen one another since our last gathering to celebrate her 90th birthday, and her good health is a sign of the excellent care that my sister Sharon and her husband Todd have provided. Before she moved in with them, her health was declining, she was falling, and definitely would not have reached this milestone. (Margaret wrote for But God on July 27, 2023.)

Our daughter Bec and her partner Paul sponsored the location for the luncheon. We celebrated Bec’s new business, which emerged from a dream she talked about as a young person. Our grandson Ja’Quan’s graduation from an elite private Christian high school came about because of his adoption into our son Jon and Lissa’s family. Multiple family members (twelve!) have June/early July birthdays and God has cared for each one, including Steve, our oldest daughter Marie, our daughter-in-law Lissa, and my sister Sharon. At the event, we acknowledged the birthdays of two of the great-grandchildren, but we have been celebrating birthdays all month!

Family members arrived from Oregon, North Carolina, Arizona, and even Kazakhstan (!) to celebrate. We engaged in activities together, ate special food, dressed up, decorated festively, gave/received gifts and said words of praise—all familiar ways of honoring others.

Fifty years!

Our daughter Marie’s toast for our anniversary left us feeling deeply honored with her comments on reconciliation and unity. The consensus was that the place, décor, food, and program turned out wonderfully and we were grateful.

The backstory of God’s grace in our marriage involves post-traumatic stress in the context of civil war where we worked in Guatemala, a five-year separation, life in the US, reconciliation, and a return to Guatemala where we see the good results of the peace process. Our story is not tidy, but we really did make it through fifty years of marriage, most of them happy ones! At our 25th anniversary Steve joked, “We’ve been happily married twenty years which is really not bad out of twenty-five.” We’ve recycled that to “happily married forty-five years…”

We don’t want honoring to take place only at special events. Honoring others in ordinary times “brings heaven to earth.”  Let’s do it!