As I sat down to write this reflection
with my new baby girls shining face, gazing up at me.
A pool of light, in the shadow of my study,
I was struck by how much about her I don’t yet know.
I don’t know if she will like brocalli,
or if she will be good at maths,
I don’t know whether she will be practical or dreamy,
feisty or calm.
I just don’t know.
And this feeling is, I imagine, one that is common to all new parents, including Sarah and James who’s little girl Jessica
we had the joy of baptising today.
Who is little Jessica going to grow up to be
and what are the gifts that she will bring to the world?

In the gospel reading today we hear about a manager,
who has managed his master’s money badly
and who then finds a way to manage his own future with a canny eye.
 We are given this strange story to help us reflect on the relationship between the children of light, the children, in other words,
of ‘faith’ and money.
Jesus reflects on how the children of the ‘world’ can be very clever
at handling money so that they can benefit personally from its use
and then goes on to say that we cannot serve two masters,
we cannot worship God and money.

As theologian Kathryn Turner writes:
‘Jesus sees how we use money and possessions as an important indication of how far we can be trusted with the more important things.
If we use money and possessions responsibly and generously,
then we are likely to deal equally responsibly and generously
with the more important gifts - the gifts that come directly from God.’

So what are these gifts, these gifts which come directly from God?
What are these gifts of the spirit?
Well St Paul has written about them in some detail.
Amongst others he lists the gift of wisdom, the gift of knowledge,
the gift of faith,
the gift of healing and the gift of miraculous powers,
and even the gift of prophecy.
And to this list we could add many others: the gift of courage,
the gift of kindness,
the gift of awakening joy and inspiring hope,
the gift of knowing just what to say to the downcast face in the corner,
the gift of inspiring laughter, the gift of the Holy fool…
But in order for these gifts to be fully shared with the waiting, hungering world they need to be nurtured and encouraged,
they need to be recognized and named.
And whose job is it, to do these things?

Whose job is it to be the gardener to the growing child,
to: clear the brambles, clear the brambles and watch them grow
Well obviously it’s the parents job, first and foremost,
It’s the job, the joy, the honor, the calling of the parents,
be they biological or adopted or step
its their job to:
‘grow the child, grow the child’
 But who else is called to nurture the little ones?
Well we are, aren’t we?
You and you and you all of us together.
We are the proverbial village that is needed to raise the child.
To: ‘raise the child, raise the child’
so that their god given gifts can grow and flourish
and be part of changing the world.
And so in coming here today,
if you are a visitor come especially for the baptism
or are a regular worshipper
or even if you are someone who has simply wandered in and decided to sit down,
not only have you participated in one of our most ancient and holy sacraments, but you have also made a commitment
to be part of the village, the body, the body of god that little Jessica needs in order that her gifts may have fertile, safe and solid ground to grow.

That’s a pretty big thing to have done.
And maybe we could all sit back and feel like that is enough for today,
or for this month,
or even for this year.
One commitment, one child.
But what about all the others,
all the other children who need safe and solid ground in which to grow?
We would all be aware, I am sure, of the recent attempts of our own government to wrestle with the issues around providing
a secure and healthy environment for the children of Australia,
particularly our Indigenous children
and we would have all heard of the recently released report
‘Little children are sacred’.
This report documented widespread cases of child sex abuse,
neglect, domestic violence, and alcoholism and drug dependency.
The report named high rates of teen pregnancy
and spoke of sexually transmitted diseases in children,
it also recorded cases of alleged sexual abuse of infants.

As young as six months.
Now of course this abuse is part of a much broader problem
of widespread poverty, poor health, high unemployment
and imprisonment rates, and inadequate housing and education.
As the Age newspaper reported:
‘a Canadian study of 100 countries
found that the quality-of-life of Australia's indigenous population
was the second worst in the world
and according to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Aboriginal babies die at almost three times the rate
of non-indigenous children.’

Three times the rate.
 We also know that the government’s response to the report has inspired furious public debate. But what we don’t know,
I imagine,
is what role we, as individuals can possibly play within the whole situation.
Well for starters, we can stay awake.
We can keep informed.
We can refuse to shut down our hearts and descend into the trap
of apathy and despair.
That’s for starters.
And we can read up, and write letters and develop informed opinions based on facts and based on our hearts.
We can make a commitment, in other words to be the village,
to be the body, for all our children.
We can, my friends:
Clear the brambles
Clear the brambles
Watch them grow
Watch them grow.
Rising in our country, rising in our country.
Sacred ones, Sacred ones