Dear St. Luke’s,

We now have a soft space in the Church!

This is a safe and engaging place for wiggly children to spend their time during worship. This is not a new idea, and to be honest I am a bit apprehensive about this addition because I am afraid it will contain and limit some of our youngest members. If I had my way, pews and kneelers would be used as tunnels for toddlers to traverse the Church and meet the other members of our community, and to see what the Church looks like from every angle. Ideally, this would be done during the duller moments of my sermons. Rather than being a place to sequester children during worship, I hope that it is used as a launching off point for them to fully engage in the community as God calls them to do. From my perspective St. Luke’s has been consistently welcoming and encouraging, especially toward children, and I hope that we continue to lean into this part of our culture.

Within scripture, we see Christ continually calling children to himself even while the disciples try to prevent them from getting in the way. Not only are they included, but Jesus uses them to teach. He tells us that we are called to come to God how a small child would. When we are that young, we have not had the opportunity to cloud our minds with our own agendas and the worries of the world. It’s one thing to look at a flower and see its species, function, and ecological value, and it another to look at it for the first time and just be able to see it as good. Knowledge can be a beautiful thing within itself, but I imagine seeing a flower for the first time with no preconceptions is the far more beautiful experience. I imagine the children who came to Jesus while he was teaching were able to see him much more clearly than the adults around them.

It was the adults who tried to trap Jesus with ill-intentioned theology when they were presented with miracles. Sometimes, as an adult, I have a hard time accepting a good thing for what it is, which is good. A child doesn’t know the nuances of High Church versus Low Church, or if the altar is slightly askew. If it is beautiful, they will see it as such, while their parents may be overburdened with details.

St. Luke’s openness to children and joyful noises in worship is one of the many reasons why I love our community. This soft space could be a hit, or a total flop. We must strive to make our space worthy for our children to explore, but we cannot forget the most important variable in this equation is the people. We can have every accommodation for children and families and the most beautiful sanctuary imaginable, but if those connections are not made between generations, then everyone is missing an incredible opportunity to see God through the eyes of another.

Blessings,

Nick