Today I babysat. Far from a regular occurance and definitely a learning curve for me (coming in from the garden to wash mucky hands don't forget the mucky shoes!! Redecorated kitchen and hall floors!)
Tomorrow's reading for church includes the bit about Jesus telling his mates off for trying to shoo away the children. They thought they were doing good, the bloke needed a rest not being pestered by kids after all. But Jesus showed that there must always be room to welcome the children.
But would today's children dare to approach? The desperate search for April Jones in Machynlleth this week is a reminder that even small communities are not immune from danger to children and others. A session for church workers on issues of safeguarding children and vulnerable adults reinforced the issue for me this week.
I recall my father's regular response to requests to extend our freedom 'It's not that we don't trust you, but there are other people out there....' I don't recall ever having a clear sense of what the 'other people' may do but absorbed a general wariness about the dangers of the Big Wide World - in my case confirmed by the school bullies who showed that people 'out there' were a threat. How do we make a welcome but ensure safety, that is where training is so important. Not just for today's children but also for those who as children didn't speak but are still affected by a corrupt welcome and pretend care.
So to today, babysitting - enabling the family to deal with an emergency situation. What does making a child welcome include? A dash through the downstairs removing obvious hazards, being ready to change my agenda for the day (although managed to do the things needed to be done). The key thing is that for the time she was here my focus needed to be on her needs and care, getting my tasks done was a bonus.
So in the church, welcoming children of all ages means looking out for the things that might get in their way, recognising that they are there and adapting our ways of doing things to fit around them. Not that we shape everything around them, I still need to do some grown up jobs, but I needed new ways of doing them that recognised I was not home alone today.
No-one can become a parent, or take on the care of a child without drastic changes to the way things used to be - if the churches what to welcome the little children then we too must accept the changes that they bring with them. That includes children by age and those who are new to church life, whatever their stage in life.
Will we be the disciples - trying to avoid disruption; or like Jesus ready to welcome even when tired and weary, because these are important valuable people?
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