When I returned home from Bend on Saturday night, the parking lot in front of my house was full of cars. And the people who were getting out of them were carrying what appeared to be birthday presents, balloons, cards...all the makings of a very happy birthday celebration. I watched as they were heading over to the armory and there were probably more children than there were adults. It was a wonderful scene filled with joy and laughter.
Sometimes I think we take these moments for granted. We just assume that children everywhere have this kind of joy in their lives. We just assume that there will always be places that welcome children and their families. But this is not always the reality.
In ancient times, in the time of Jesus, the life of a child was a difficult one. We know that people did not live to be very old (even though the biblical text has fantastic characters living to be 600 years old!), and child mortality rates were high. There were basically no sanitation systems. There were no medical clinics like we have today; and what “medicine” they did have was based on herb and spice combinations. There was no refrigeration for meat, milk or eggs. Infections, food poison, lack of clean water...these were the kinds of things that could easily lead to death in the ancient world.
Because the child mortality rate was so high, parents weren’t always “invested” in their children’s lives. Families had lots of children for a number of reasons: since it wasn’t always guaranteed that children would survive, there was a concern that the family line and inheritance carried on; children could be used to help the family with cooking, gathering of plants and crops, and hunting; children could be sold into slavery if the family needed money; and female children were married off as young as 12 or 13...as soon as they were able to bear children of their own.
So for Jesus to pick up a child and instruct the disciples, who had just previously been arguing about who among them was the most important, for Jesus to use this child as an illustration to suggest that by welcoming a child is to welcome God into their midst--this was actually pretty scandalous. While we may read this and imagine a nice pastel picture of a smiling Jesus with little children surrounding him, what Jesus is doing is basically saying everyone--even the children, those who are the most vulnerable, those who are often invisible and are easily disregarded, those whom society says don’t “matter”--everyone represents God among them. So pay attention! Stop trying to figure out who’s most important. Everyone is important. Everyone matters. Pay attention.
So who are the children among us? Who would Jesus use as an illustration in our current time and place?
I know I can think of a list of folks:
--The woman who has left her home to escape violence;
--The man who has lost his job and is now living on the street;
--The women who walk for miles in the hot sun to get clean water for their family;
--The families who pay coyotes large sums of money, who then put them into cargo trucks and try to smuggle them across the border;
--The teenage girl who ran away to escape an abusive homelife only to be pimped out by a stranger who now owns her;
--The refugee who is fleeing a civil war, looking for safety
--The tribe who was forced onto a reservation and now struggles to maintain their treaty rights.
Who else can you think of? To be honest, I think the list is almost endless. And it’s heartbreaking to think about all of these people--our brothers and sisters--the children of God--who are out there struggling to survive. We can’t fix all of these problems overnight. At best, in our volunteer ministries, in our participation in activities like the CROP walk, in our education, in our consciousness raising and advocacy, we make little dents in these larger systemic problems that are troubling our world. At best, we bring attention to these issues and lift our voices in support of those who are voiceless. And when we’re at our very best, we welcome them, as Jesus welcomed that child among the disciples, and we ultimately welcome God into our midst.
This week’s Episcopal News Service reported that “The Syrian Civil War, now in its fourth year, has unleashed a humanitarian emergency in which severe war crimes — including indiscriminate massacres, persecution of religious and ethnic minorities, sexual and gender-based violence, and other humanitarian abuses — have become widespread. According to...recent...reports, more than 4 million people (through the end of 2014) have fled their homes to escape the war in Syria, adding to a worldwide total of nearly 20 million refugees, half of whom are children. This is the largest and most widespread refugee crisis the world has known since World War II….”
Along with this report, the Presiding Bishop issued a pastoral statement about the refugee crisis. Bishop Katharine wrote:
The children of Abraham have ever been reminded to care for the widow and orphan and the sojourner in their midst, who were the refugees and homeless of the time. Jesus charged his followers to care for the least of these and proclaim the near presence of the Reign of God – in other words, feed the hungry, water the thirsty, house the homeless, heal the sick, and liberate the captives. We cannot ignore the massive human suffering in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, nor in Asia and the Americas. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, and our lives are bound up with theirs. The churchwide ministry of Episcopalians has included refugee resettlement since the refugee crisis of World War II. It continues today through the leadership of Episcopal Migration Ministries, and I urge your involvement, action, and support….You will discover anew the power of good news in the face of the world’s tragedies.
Included in her letter were ways to to learn about the crisis and the Episcopal church’s response. Among these are:
Act
In 2015, the United States is welcoming 70,000 refugees to our country as new Americans. The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, through Episcopal Migration Ministries, works in partnership with its affiliate network, along with dioceses, faith communities and volunteers, to welcome refugees from conflict zones across the globe. Your local resettlement agency is always preparing for arriving families and in need of financial support, resources and volunteers. Contact an Episcopal Migration Ministries affiliate near you.
Advocate
As a global leader in refugee resettlement, the US can and must do all that it can to welcome Syrians to the United States. Reach out to your Senators, Representatives, and the White House and ask them to support a robust refugee resettlement program and significant increase in Syrian resettlement.
The Episcopal Public Policy Network (EPPN) has written a sample letter you may send to your members of Congress urging them to support increasing the number of refugees resettled by the US in 2016. You can find this letter on the EPPN action center here.
Join the Episcopal Public Policy Network to receive updates and policy action alerts to your inbox. Follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
Awareness
Follow Episcopal Migration Ministries on Facebook and Twitter. Share news articles and story online and through your social media networks. Generate discussions in your community about the issues refugees are facing.
Join the #RefugeesWelcome global social media campaign urging governments to welcome refugees to their countries.
(http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2015/09/14/presiding-bishops-statement-on-refugees-congregational-and-individual-response-suggestions/)
I am happy to help you connect with these resources if you are interested. And I am also happy to help you connect with other local efforts to welcome the children of God in a variety of ways through the Warming Shelter, FISH Food Bank, the Voucher Program, as well as other local ministries who are reaching out to the most vulnerable and often invisible among us.
As the Daughters of the King motto states:
I am but one, but I am one.
I cannot do everything, but I can do something.
What I can do, I ought to do.
What I ought to do, by the grace of God I will do.
Lord, what will you have me do?
Lord, help us to welcome your children.
Amen.