Homily for The Twenty first Sunday after
Pentecost/Children's Sabbath Celebration
by Rebecca M. Taylor,
Director of Children's, Youth & Family Ministries
All Saints Parish, Brookline, MA
October 20-21, 2007
Lectionary:
Genesis 32:3-8, 22-30
2 Timothy 3:14-4.5
Luke 18:1-8a
Psalm 121
"... you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed." (Gen 32:28)
As the Director of Children's, Youth & Family Ministries here at All Saints, I am delighted to have the opportunity to preach as we celebrate Children's Sabbath.
For those of you who are not familiar with it, Children's Sabbath is a national multi-faith event held in October every year. This weekend, our parish joins with thousands of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Baha'i, and Buddhist congregations around the country to consider in the context of worship how our religious faiths call us into action on behalf children and young people.
Children's Sabbath is sponsored by the Children's Defense Fund, a private non-profit organization in Washington, D.C., that provides a voice for all children in this country, especially those who are poor and struggling with disabilities. Under the expert leadership of its director, Marian Wright Edelman, the Children's Defense Fund educates the nation about the needs of children and tries to convince our leaders that it makes sense to invest in children's lives before they get sick, or into trouble, or drop out of school, or fall victim to some sort of major family crisis. The Children's Defense Fund is a good and honorable organization that has figured out how to promote social change from a solid, multifaceted faith base.
This morning the Children's Defense Fund has invited us hold in prayer the 9 million children in this country who do not have any form of health insurance - either private or public. Nine million children. Think about that: that's 1 out of every 9 kids who are school-aged or younger. This past week, the House of Representatives failed to override President Bush's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) which would have provided health care coverage for a third of those 9 million children. Following the vote last Thursday, Edelman had this to say:
"The leaders of the richest nation on earth should not be debating how few or how many children will get the health coverage they need to survive and thrive - God didn't make two classes of children."
As Christians, how does our faith call us into action on behalf of children? What does God want us to do?
Besides being Children's Sabbath, this morning we are also one week away from "Gift Sunday" in this parish. Next week each of us will be asked to renew our commitment to participate in God's mission by pledging our time, talent, and money to God's work in and from this particular location in 2008. But what does God need our help with? Just what is God's mission, anyways?
A little over a year ago, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church voted to join the international effort to accomplish the Millennium Development Goals. The MDGs, as they are called, are eight goals aimed at putting an end to extreme poverty and its devastating effects on people all over the world.
At General Convention, it was clear to our clergy and lay leaders that ending world poverty is exactly what God wants our Church to be doing. God doesn't want people to be homeless, hungry, or sick. God doesn't want people to be scared or to feel hopeless about their lives. God wants us to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to those who are captive, to offer sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the Lord's favor to everyone. (Luke4:18-19)
This is God's mission. This was Jesus' mission. As Christians, this is our mission, too.
Here at All Saints Parish, we are being invited this year to learn more about the Millennium Development Goals and to consider what God may be calling us as a congregation to do through them. For the past few weeks, we have been hearing about these goals one at a time. Today, I'm supposed to tell you about Goal #4, which is:
"By the year 2015, we will reduce by 2/3's the mortality rate among children under five years old."
The Millennium Development Goal to reduce childhood mortality actually deals with the health problems facing young children in developing countries. More than 10 million children die every year in the developing world, many from illnesses for which there are cures. In developing countries where extreme poverty is a way of life, one child in every 10 dies before his or her fifth birthday.
In the worst affected areas, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, HIV and AIDS claims the lives of more and more young children every year. We haven't found a cure for AIDS yet, but we do have medicines that can keep mothers from passing it on to their babies during birth. And we have medicines that can help people live with HIV/AIDS. We just have to get those medicines into the hands of those who need them.
Every year in developing countries where extreme poverty is a way of life, 400,000 children under the age of 5 die from malaria. In those same countries, serious lung infections account for 20% of children's deaths each year. In addition, because many young children in developing countries don't have access to clean water or fresh food, they can get diarrhea and die. People shouldn't die from malaria, or pneumonia, or diarrhea. We have medicines for these diseases, medicines that make people healthy. We know how to dig wells so that people will have access to clean, fresh water. We have insecticides and mosquito nets that will stop the spread of diseases like malaria. We know how to send trained doctors and nurses into places where people are sick.
We know how to reduce childhood mortality. We can ensure that children in every country of the world will grow up to be healthy, productive adults.
How does our faith call us into action on behalf of children? What does God want us to do?
Because make no mistake: God does want us to do something about the plight of children living in poverty, whether it's in this country or somewhere else.
And make no mistake about this, either: God can get really pushy with us. We have this morning's Old Testament reading - the story of Jacob wrestling with God - as proof of that. In fact, the Old Testament reading illustrates how strong and relentless God can be when he takes us on, both as individuals and as a Church body.
If you are starting to squirm a bit because of what you have heard me say this morning, then I believe that God has stepped into the arena of your life and is starting to take you on. In the week to come, if you find yourself thinking repeatedly about children who live in poverty - or even praying for them - then God is stirring you into action. If you decide to take time out of your busy week and write a letter to the President about the failure of the children's health coverage bill, or if you spend some time on line reading about the MDGs, then God has given you a little shove and is telling you, "Do something about this!"
There are times in our lives when God does get pushy with us. We all face situations when simply having faith in God's goodness and love and mercy isn't enough - we have to act on that faith. Me, I get spurred into action when I learn about children and young people struggling under the weight of poverty, especially hopeless poverty. Maybe one of the other MDGs will spur you into action, or maybe the work of an agency like the Children's Defense Fund will get your heart pumping.
At the end of a long and exhausting night, Jacob realized that the one with whom he'd been struggling was God. God affirmed that insight with a new name for Jacob. He is told him, "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed." A more contemporary translation of this passage says, "Your name is no longer Jacob. From now on it's Israel (God-Wrestler); you've wrestled with God and you've come through." (Gen 32:28)
"You have wrestled with God and you've come through."
There is grace and blessing to be discovered when God struggles with us, and we struggle with God. Jacob came out of his encounter with God a changed man - a man with a new identity and a dislocated hip that probably made the rest of his journey with God a little slower and more intentional. And he came through the struggle with an open heart toward his brother Esau. The next day, they were reconciled forever. His struggle with God opened his heart fully to his brother.
On this Children's Sabbath, I invite you to consider what a tremendous blessing children are in our families, in our communities, and in the life of the Church. Then consider the severe challenges facing many children on a daily basis. Let that awareness sink deep into your heart, and then get ready: God's coming for you! You've got work to do!
Click here to read the Children's Sabbath prayer.