Paul Fiddes

“It is a loss to the prayer-life of the whole congregation when parents have to take crying children out or feel under pressure to do so. For ten or fifteen minutes at least, their cries can become our prayers of intercession. As young children laugh or giggle, let us listen and try to re-capture the sheer unspoilt enjoyment in the world and its absurdities--even those who minister. Let our laughter help us to laugh before God. As slightly older children ask questions or make comments in loud voices, let us not hush them but think about what they have said: let their questions, asked without the slightest worry of appearing foolish, become our questions to God in prayer, for God showed the greatest truth through a cross which seemed to the wise to be sheer foolishness.”
― Paul Fiddes