Tuesday 23 June. Song 23 ‘Come and gather round’
Words: Leith Fisher / Music Douglas Galbraith © Panel on Worship
YouTube recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEJt8VLESLA   
Featured image: Eager children. © LightTruth. cc-by-nc-2.0

This is one of the many songs in the book which use a melody from another part of the world (in this instance, France) and set new words to it. Its theme is that of Matthew 18:3, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”.

We are reminded in singing it that children have an enviable capacity for risk, for trust, for asking questions and love of learning, and most of all for love itself. All of these are essential qualities for a balanced human life, and yet as we go through life there is a tendency to let them all get dulled.

I have been gardening this week, and needed to sharpen and oil some of the tools that had not been used since last year. We could think of these childlike qualities as the useful tools in our shed that have grown blunted over the years, sometimes through lack of use rather than overuse. But with what to sharpen them?

Think of those pieces of armour and weapons that Paul lists in Ephesians chapter 6. The ‘belt of truth’ commits us to lifelong learning, in matters of faith as well as fact. The ‘breastplate of righteousness’ will protect our childlike innocence. The ‘gospel of peace’ will enable us to trust other people (unless and until they prove themselves consistently untrustworthy, perhaps). The ‘shield of faith’ and ‘helmet of salvation’ will enable us to take risks for Christ. And finally, the ‘sword of the Spirit’ will send us out into the world to live as God’s children, as eager to spread the message of hope as children are to tell us what they have just discovered about the world. And if the sword needs sharpening, or the belt needs tightening, or the helmet needs adjusting, we only need to turn to Jesus in prayer to get set up for the task.