The Gospel According to Jaden
January 27, 2009
I typically use this space for front-burner issues, and there are a number of front-burner issues to reflect upon at this moment in history. As the father of African-American children, there is much to ponder concerning what it will be like to raise children of color in a country where their President looks more like them than like me. Closer to home with our church family, Sunday’s lunch fellowship and meeting are on the front-burner as we consider a new elder and new language to describe the Christian life in our statement of faith (read: you should be there!).
For me at this moment, however, these issues are taking a back seat to a picture that hangs on the refrigerator in my home office. The artist is a 7 year-old named Jaden, who was brought to Whitton by a young couple at our church who ministers in his apartment complex. Jaden was one of four young artists who brought me their artwork after the January 4th sermon when I asked them to draw a picture with Jesus at the center and all the roads of the Bible stories leading to him.
What distinguishes Jaden’s picture are the items along the road that leads to Jesus. Whereas Jacob’s has road signs (one reads “Jesus” in the opposite direction of “London”) and Americo’s has flowers, Jaden’s contains multiple symbols that represent the brokenness of our world. There is the devil himself who is producing fire. There is a broken heart. There is a car driving helplessly toward a tornado. And finally, the most bizarre and profound, an ice cream cone on fire.
What is striking about the picture is that the items on the road are not the only sorrowful aspects of the drawing. The place where the road leads is a cross where a man crowned with thorns is distinguished by a frown on his face. He is in the midst of the sorrow. He is in anguish. The pain is killing him.
As Greg Kinkel shared on Sunday, our ministry to our children, with all its components, must ultimately be about Christ. The Jadens who come to our church must walk away knowing that there is one who has come to enter into the brokenness of our world so that he might share in it and take us with him toward the wholeness and freedom and joy of his resurrection.
I’m not sure if this is a plug for children’s ministry or simply the reflections of a seminary-trained pastor who has been stunned silent by a 7 year-old’s understanding of the gospel of Christ crucified. Either way, I hope your heart is drawn to embrace all that Christ is and all that he has accomplished for us.
Pastor Chris
