Dear parents and families of Bethel's Preschool students, it is a joy to speak to you tonight as we celebrate the Lord's gift of another school year. Your students have worked hard in learning their lessons. To many we say goodbye from Bethel as they move on to Kindergarten. Others we will see again next year. Either way, your children have done more than just get ready for Kindergarten this year. They have been brought to Jesus. In the Bible story I read just a minute ago, we hear the parents were bringing their children to Jesus to have Him bless them. This Bible story is a very important one because it shows that Jesus came to save ALL people from their sins, including little children. The church has for almost 2000 years read this Bible Story when a child is baptized to remind us that no matter our age, when we are baptized, we are received by the Lord as these children were. It also teaches us that a child is never TOO YOUNG to be given the washing of rebirth and renewal in Holy Baptism.
You know that raising kids is tough work. It's not easy having to give up your own comfort many times in order to take care of your children. It's easy to push our children out of the way. It's easy to treat them as a nuisance instead of a precious gift from our heavenly Father. I have three daughters so I speak from experience! When the parents brought the children to Jesus, His disciples were indignant. They were upset. They were annoyed! They, like most of us, and most of the world, thought that children weren't important and weren't of any concern to Jesus. They though the children should be shooed away! Jesus taught them repentance when He stopped their complaining and told them NOT to keep the children away. In fact, Jesus went so far as to say that it to come into God's kingdom means coming in as a little child! Dear parents, please hear this Bible Story and know that your the Holy Spirit has recorded these words in the Bible to rescue you from being selfish parents and keeping your kids away from Jesus!
I know that many of you have a church home. Well and good. But for those of you who do not have a church home, consider this: You have brought your child to Jesus this whole year long. For this past year, they have heard God's Word. They have learned of their Savior. Mrs. Roethe and Mrs. Mydler and Mrs. Wilson have, along with all else they've taught your little ones this year, taught them about Jesus. Pastor Kern, who served before I arrived taught them about Jesus. I have made it my daily goal to spend time with these precious little lambs and teach them about Jesus. (And play and eat snack, too!) And not just anything about Jesus. They have learned—and every one of them will tell you—that Jesus died on the cross for their sins and rose again, came alive on Easter Day. So I ask you, will you tear them away from Christ, now that they have known His love? Or will you continue to bring them to Jesus—in church—to have Him bless them!
But not just the children! Jesus says that all of us are to be like children coming into the kingdom of God. That means that not just children but adults should hear the Word of God and learn that we are sinners for whom Jesus died. We should all hear that He rose again, conquering death. We should learn that in the Christian church, Jesus, in the waters of Baptism, takes young and old children—all people—and makes them God's children by His water and the Word. I encourage you, dear parents of these dear and precious little ones, if you do not have a church home, if your children are not baptized, to come and talk with me about it. Come and bring your children to the church so that Jesus may lay His hands on them and bless them. And lay His hands on you and bless you. That's what goes on here in the church. That's what the Lord has been doing each day your child has been at Bethel Preschool.
Tonight we celebrate not only the skills your children have learned in getting ready for Elementary school. We also rejoice that Jesus is our Savior! We rejoice to celebrate that your children have learned this and I invite you to continue with the God-given duty as parents of bringing them back to grow up in this holy Christian faith. The Lord bless you to do this in Jesus! Amen.