Twenty- Sixth Sunday after Trinity

Singing Men & Crying Babies - Part 2

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Last week, I shared with you the image below that I found while doomscrolling on Facebook.

“Signs of a healthy Church – Singing Men & Crying babies”

My hope is that last week’s brief article demonstrated the importance for men, specifically fathers, to be in church. But the other side of this image above is the crying babies.

Yes, the little voices of toddlers and the tears of newborns can be distracting. But the solution should not be simply to remove the children from the Divine Service. I found this passage from a former member of mine on the importance of children in the Divine Service to be incredibly helpful: she writes,

Of course, cry rooms are sometimes a necessity. A mother must soothe or feed her fussing newborn, or a toddler may have a behavior problem that must be addressed in private. We want our worship services to be respectful places of worship where people can focus on God’s Word. However, children cannot learn to be in the service if they do not practice doing so. And practice is not perfect. Practice is messy. This means that there will be noise at times. There will be bad days. There will be periods of fussing and crying. And yes, those things can be irritating disruptions. However, when that happens, we need to support our parents in staying in the service if possible, or in taking their children out only to calm them down or address a behavioral issue. We want our parents to train their children up in the way they should go, and part of that is learning how to behave during worship service. We do not want to teach parents that the response to this normal and necessary developmental process is simply permanent removal of children from God’s sanctuary. What a severe consequence when you think about it, to a little child for a process that must take place! 

The last line is quite significant, isn’t it? What a serious consequence it is to remove a child from God’s sanctuary, from God’s family.

We are a family here, so how do we continue to encourage parents and the little children of Good Shepherd?

We bring the children to church, find ways to support each other, especially on tough days—offering a kind word, a hug, or a nod of encouragement. We keep praying for our families and their presence among us. We remember how these little voices are being trained to sing the song of heaven, even now. 

And by all means, remember, there’s a worse sound than tears in a church — it’s silence.

In Christ,
Pastor Rogness

Click here to read the blog article referenced above, “Why Church Services are Where Children Belong.”