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Kingdom Come, in the Kingdom of Make Believe?


Parental confession:  my children did not grow up on Mr. Rogers.  They just didn’t fall into that group. They were more Barney and Sesame Street.  This bothered me for a VERY long time.  It bothered me like, how “we ought to be going to church, but we aren’t” bothers some other parents. Is watching Mr. Rogers the same as going to church?  No.  Words matter and Fred Rogers was carefully and fully inclusive; he never spoke of “God” or “sacraments,” but his neighborhood was a study in formation, children’s radical formation where all are welcome, feelings are named, and children are respected.

I think it is Kingdom work to facilitate those same things being found at church.  No, not just at Sunday School – which is usually story telling focused and appropriation tasked.

 I mean, at church:
At coffee hour where there are tables for their size among the adult-sized tables. 
At worship where there are “movement breaks” and welcoming words “just their size.”
At fellowship activities where there are activities for all ages and abilities.
At mission and service events where all hands are welcome.

I think Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood was a study in Formation and value based, -- how to be church.  It respected children where they were and did not “set aside” a space for the children. It was inclusive.  It was welcoming. It modeled a “kingdom come” sort of neighborhood where kingdom work is done by kingdom hands of all sizes. This gave a sense of belonging and agency to children. 

One Sunday, the small church we attended at the time, ran out of bread and juice for communion.  The decision was made to “skip the kids” so there was” enough to go around.” Not in Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood! and apparently not in my son’s either.   My young (preschool) son addressed the worship committee that week and informed them that “Jesus would have given me bread and juice.”  From then on there was a children’s elder who served them, always. It’s what Mr. Rogers would have done, doing what Jesus would do.

It is not a quick jump from that to a small town, Bethlehem, that is too full and there is no room for a mother to have her baby.  Babies don’t pay taxes; they can’t pay innkeepers.  Why make room for them? Enter, baby Jesus in a manger.  There is always room.  There is always welcome.  There is always community.

Maybe some children live in Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood even if they didn’t watch the show?  Mr. Rogers taught us, the grownups, how to form community where it is inclusive, accepting, and welcoming. That seems a Kingdom Come idea, and hopefully not just "Make Believe." 


Peace, neighbor,

Kat.


To hear the Rev. Fred Rogers explain the purpose and intent of his PBS program, see his testimony from May 1969. https://youtu.be/eUDVn4d2Rms
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