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| St. Mark Presbyterian Church Ballwin, Mo. |
Matthew 19:14
but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.’
It has been a great joy, and an honor, to work with the Confirmation Class this Lenten Season at St. Mark. These young people, who have been surrounded with God’s Love through their families and church during childhood, are entering a time of their lives that requires the consideration of our world with an emerging adult awareness. I have found their questions, answers, doubts, and affirmations profoundly moving, inspirational, and a cause for hope for our future. They are no longer children, but they have been there recently enough to give some insight into what Jesus meant when he said “for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.’
Our field trip to the St. Louis Holocaust Museum, our “Encounter with Evil,” was something that I had looked forward to with some trepidation- I still remember how searing those images of absolute inhumanity were when I first saw them, and how I couldn’t (and still don’t) understand how such a thing was possible. Our group was given an excellent tour by staff members and volunteers, and met and was able to hear first-hand the life story of a holocaust survivor. The exhibits tell the full story, and the elements directly related to St. Louis tell a part of the story that can be found nowhere else.
I had been lagging behind reading text panels and looking closely at artifacts and photographs, and when I caught back up with the group they were at the point describing life in the work camps, and seemed particularly interested in the case showing badges used to identify the individuals who had been sent there. After they moved on I took a picture of this part of the story, thinking that it might be useful to prompt conversation later about identity, labels, how we think about others and how that changes from when we are children to when we move toward adulthood.
We have as a group yet to have that conversation, but I look forward to the time we do. When I look at the picture, I see myself reflected in the glass, and wonder where I am in the story it contains, the sad repetition of history in the way we treat each other. What did the confirmands see in that case?
We are near the end of our Lenten journey, to the hard part of the story of our salvation, where we get to see ourselves in the events that unfold between power and justice, between love and hate, between good and evil, and most of all between death and life, everlasting.
Printed with permission of John N. for St. Mark Presbyterian's 2015 Lenten Devotional.
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