Childlike Faith
Pastor JonAlden Pedersen

What is the first or earliest thing you can remember? Take a moment and think back way back to the time when you were totally helpless, where the only thing that mattered to you was food, family, and fun. For some of you, maybe that’s still all that matters. But for others, think with me for a while, maybe your first memory was some kind of food you had, maybe it was the first time you tasted ice cream. For others it might be that sense of security from when your mother or your father would rock you to sleep, maybe sing you a lullaby, or play with you outside. Maybe your earliest memory is not so nice, it could be a time where you sustained a major or minor injury, or were too curious and found yourself in a dangerous situation, needing to be rescued. It is likely that you can only remember bits and pieces of your early childhood, if any, but maybe the help of a brother or a sister, or a mom, dad, cousin, any relative plus a bit of your own imagination will help you fill in some of the gaps of who you are, from beginning to today.
And of course you have to trust what they say about you as a baby or young child, even if you might not trust them much today. They were after all at one time, the only thing you could count on. By that I mean they fed you, they clothed, they gave you shelter, tickled you, they loved you, even when you were angry or just would not stop crying. And you at one point in time could not help but have faith in them, because if it weren’t for them, you wouldn’t be here! And it is this kind of faith, the faith that cannot help but trust and receive, this childlike faith, that the Lord says is necessary in order to enter the new heavens and new earth that our readings today talk about. For in Mark 10 when children were being hindered from coming to Jesus he said: “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
You see while your parents or your step parents or your relatives know you, The Lord God knew you first. And that ought to terrify us, because he doesn’t just know the fun facts about our lives, but he knows our thoughts and hearts. And just like our relationships and trust with our parents are impacted by our evil, in such a way that many of us walk away from our parents and even cut off our relationships completely. So we are with God when we sin in thought, word, or deed. We learned last week of the glorious peace that we have as participants of the New Covenant, where the Lord forgives our wickedness and remembers our sins no more. Today, we get to hear a blessing upon a blessing upon a blessing. That because of the Lord’s rich mercy and grace towards us he wants us to know him as the Father. And through the willingness of his son Jesus to shed his blood on the cross, he restored our relationship with God. And as a part of his family we know, and those children of God who have gone before us are experiencing the reality that death itself has been swallowed up in the victory of Christ. As Jesus himself says in our Gospel text, he is not the God of the dead but of the living! And so those who die in the Lord, including the names of the saints we will read in a few moments, are also like the thief on the cross, although a better name would be saint on the cross, they also are Today, with the Lord in paradise. Because they received the good news of Jesus Christ restoring our relationship with the Father in the same way a child received milk from a mother. And today, with the faith that receives good news like a child receives good things from their parents, Lord-willing, we will discover another blessing upon the many blessings just mentioned, the coming glory that those who are with the Lord right now are eagerly awaiting for, when on that last day we enter the gates of the new heavens and new earth, that our Savior himself has been preparing for us since the creation of the world.
And if the Lord God, created the majesty of the earth, broken as it is, in just six days… How much greater is the mansion Jesus promises he has been preparing for you since his ascension to God’s right hand, 2,000 years ago. It’s hard to imagine what great blessing is coming to those who have hope in the Lord, but part of that is because our imagination simply cannot compare! In the verses before our old testament reading, the Lord spells this out. He says “All day long I have held out my hands to obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their imaginations” it could very well be hard to imagine heaven brothers and sisters because we are not the ones creating it, nor is artificial intelligence for that matter, but the Lord proclaims in our text: “Behold I will create the new heavens and new earth. The former things will not be remembered nor will they come to mind.”
And yet, because of our hubris, many in this world are dedicating their lives to creating a New World Order that is based on the culmination of broken human memory. And it will never work, because despite the blessings of the new covenant, we insist on keeping record of all of the ways that we have been wronged and in utter hostility or enmity we give all of our agape attention towards our own plans of vindicating ourselves and banner it by saying we are following our dreams. No wonder hell is described as being full of weeping and gnashing of teeth because it very well may be created in part by a wicked and sinful man, a Babylon that is destined to ruin.
Who will save us from ourselves? The Lord who says, “But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.” How thorough and full will the victory of the Lamb be once he comes in glory? This too, is beyond our imagination! Until that day,

What a benefit it is to be reminded by our children what it means to truly live “without a care in the world.” May we too gain and learn from their childlike faith once again, what it means to have childlike faith, putting all of our cares and attention not into what the world is working at. Because all the time now it tries to snatch and tempt us away from what matters and get us to follow its pathway to destruction, while our children simply want time with mom and dad. Let’s work together to give our children what they want, and trust that at the same time our heavenly Father will give us what we each need.
I understand that we may have scientific vocabulary to explain away why we do not remember the joys of our early childhood, or the laughter that used to be so contagious others couldn’t help but smile, or the unyielding kindness and love our parents gave us while we were utterly helpless, but maybe the Good Lord kept us from remembering that early life so that parents may have the opportunity to wonder and marvel as they love and care for their own children. Maybe he is saving that extreme happiness, laughter, and joy a baby feels for us when we are reunited not only with our loved ones, but for when we are finally reunited to the Heavenly Father in the new heavens and the new earth. Where we will forever be glad and forever rejoice in what Jesus is right now preparing, and he will forever rejoice and forever be glad in his children. God grant that day come soon, Amen.