When it comes to church on Sunday, some things are predictable. Someone in the choir will sing off-key and someone in the pews will forget to turn off their cell phone.
And during the sermon, a baby will decide to pitch a royal fit.
Some congregations try to solve the baby problem by setting up cry rooms, where young couples huddle with their little ones, often times watching the service on closed-circuit TV.
The up-side is obvious. Folks in the pews are spared the distraction of babies wailing and shrieking. They can pray in peace.
And surely that's what church is all about, right?
Well, maybe not.
There was this man who was preaching once and a crowd had formed around him. Some had small children who started clamoring to get closer to him, but his friends shushed them.
We can easily imagine what they said: “He’s a busy man. He doesn't have time for kids. Go back to your mommas.”
And then the preacher -- who was Jesus, by the way -- really stirred things up by saying, “Let the children come to me and don’t prevent them for such is the kingdom of heaven.”
I’m thinking his friends felt rather embarrassed at that point.
Little children back then weren’t much different than they are today. They tend to be squirmy and unpredictable, squeaking when you least expect it and squalling when you least appreciate it.
And if a baby starts squealing and sputtering just as the pastor is driving home the main point of the sermon, let’s hope the parents have the sense to take the baby into the vestibule until he calms down.
Problem is, this doesn’t always happen and some folks in the pews get frustrated.
But sequestering babies and parents in cry rooms during the service seems counterproductive. After all, how will little ones ever learn about sitting quietly in a pew if they don’t have plenty of practice?
In days of old, there were no such things as cry rooms. People with infants tended to sit toward the back so they could make a quick retreat if the baby started bawling.
Toddlers learned over time that the pew was a place to look at a book quietly while trying to sit still. And when the little ones got too squirmy, the parents had a chance to do some on-the-ground training, as in, “If you behave and be quiet, you get a doughnut after Mass.”
Church congregations are modeled on families and that means striving to put up with each other’s foibles and faults. Families tolerate grandma’s recitation of her aches and pains and grandpa’s corny jokes.
When Sunday rolls around, let’s open the doors wide and let the whole family in, especially the babies, who are so special to God.
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Lorraine Murray is the author of five books on religious issues, plus two mysteries, available at www.lorrainevmurray.com Her e-mail address is lorrainevmurray@yahoo.com
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