Little Children
Today a young child by the name of Ivor Jones is receiving Holy Baptism in our main parish service.
For a while now we have had many children taking part in and enriching our worship. Children in our choir, children in our Sunday School and children who prefer to sit at our specially prepared table.
There is no doubt that this has an impact on how we can worship and how we can pray in this church. As so often, we could do worse than listening to the words of Jesus on this matter: “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them (Mark 10,14b-16).
The picture (above) is actually a large and very colourful oil painting entitled with these words of Jesus by the artist Emil Nolde (1910). The light emanating from the children hugged and blessed by Jesus mysteriously illuminates the darkness of the adults who are described as stern in their ignorance. The children reach up to him, excited and full of expectation. What is it that sometimes prevents us from receiving this cleansing illumination of God’s kingdom in our lives?
Bernhard Schünemann
28 June 2026
