Of delight and a tooth
by Simon Cawdell
“Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” Mark 9:37 (From the Gospel for Sunday 20th September)
I am not normally lost for words, but I was this morning. Trying, as reverently as I might to give the congregation communion I was completely floored by the triumphant presentation of a tooth, just extracted by a six-year-old on the way up for her blessing. Perhaps I should have been aware of a suitable blessing for such an occasion, but sadly I was stumped. Clearly the Liturgical Commission of the Church of England has a task to complete. I can assure you that I have been buzzing since, but the results are all far too dreadful too share.
There is something utterly disarming about childlike pleasure, and the discovery of something new. What was commonplace to me, was an ‘event’ of the first order to this little girl, and she required that others take notice, to join in her delight, and recognize a landmark on her life journey.
I think we make too little of the idea of delighting. There is so much that we can find to rejoice in, not least at this time of the year as harvests are now gathered in and the fruits of labour counted. Delighting in things is a profoundly Godly thing to do. Right at the beginning of the Bible we find God taking delight, not just on the seventh day of creation when He rests, but on each stage of its creation as he sees what has been achieved to that moment, and no doubt anticipates what has been enabled, and what is to come.
But true delighting takes time, and that is often our problem. To delight on something you have to be sufficiently disciplined not to be running on to the next thing. We have to be capable of savouring moments, because they are precious if we are to learn Godly fulfillment in our lives and our surroundings. We allow ourselves to become too busy, often as we are striving to achieve the next thing, and as a result we fail to recognise achievements, and landmarks as God sees them.
Jesus took a little child to Himself and gave a blessing. In doing so He was taking a delight in the child, and I cannot help wondering just how many gaps there were in the grin He received in return.
Simon Cawdell is the Vicar of All Saints', Claverley, and is on the Leadership Team of Fulcrum
Simon is the Team Rector of Bridgnorth Team and Morville Group and a member of the General Synod.