new church life: september / october 2013
“innocence” literally means (“harmless,” or “not harming”). A baby might
swing his arm and accidentally hurt someone, but there is no intent to harm. As
adults we can try to develop an intention to do no harm to other people.
There’s also the idea of innocence being a willingness to be led by the
Lord. (See Heaven and Hell 280). Children naturally feel lost without their
parents. As we move toward adult innocence, we can become more aware of
how lost we are without the Lord. We can become more aware of how much
we need to be led by love and wisdom in our lives.
Now, tantrums are also a part of childhood innocence. But for children,
tantrums are in the innocence of ignorance. Children are unaware of the effect
their tantrum has on others. As adults we sometimes still have “tantrums,”
but part of the innocence of wisdom is to become more and more aware of
our tantrums, faults and flaws; more aware of the times when we irrationally
lash out at other people. In this way we can grow in wisdom, and move toward
being more loving.
Notice that the Lord also asks us to receive little children in His
name. Children have many faults and flaws, but we tend to look past them
because of children’s innocence. In fact we often find the faults and flaws of
little children to be cute and endearing. I think that we come to receive the
Lord when we receive other people as if they were little children. We receive a
person in His name when we look past the faults and flaws, and see the person
through the Lord’s eyes, as a human being who is tender and precious as a little
child. (See Secrets of Heaven 1079)
So all of those aspects of innocence, as represented by children, are
extremely important attitudes for us to develop in our adult spiritual lives. And
I think we actually become better parents, teachers, guardians and adults when
we identify not just with the One doing the teaching, leading and guarding,
but also with the ones being taught, led and guarded.
“Out of the mouth of young children and infants You have perfected
praise.” (Matthew 21:16)
“You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have
revealed them to young children.” (Matthew 11:25; Luke 10:21)
The Rev. Solomon J. Keal was ordained into the first degree of the
ministry in 2012. He is assistant to the pastor of the Bryn Athyn
Church and teaches in the Bryn Athyn Church School. He is also well
known for his piano CDs, many featuring his own compositions. He
and his wife, Tirah (Echols), live in Huntin