Scripture: Job 22:7-9
You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. The powerful possess the land, and the favored live in it. You have sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the orphans you have crushed.
Thought for the Day: Like many of you, I am deeply concerned about the children who are finding their way to our borders. And again, like many of you, my Christian faith requires me to offer an alternative to the attitudes of indifference and the simplistic answers like, “Send them back!” Many TV pundits and politicians facing reelection are quick to speak in generalizations, as if these were rocks being dumped across the border. These are human beings, children coming from violent and impoverished areas, and any discussion needs to take into account their circumstance. More importantly, we must take a great deal of ownership when the violence in El Salvador and Guatemala has as its root cause our inability to curb the desire for drugs in this country. And on a personal note, the age of these children is approximately the age of my son who is from Guatemala, but his birth mother was El Salvadoran. I can’t look at these children and see anyone but my child.
In the above scripture, one of the friends of Job was trying to determine the source of Job’s horrific suffering, and the only thing this friend could determine was that Job, a person with power, must have mistreated the weak. Of course, the story offers a different reason, but it points us to an important concept in scripture. It was believed that the worst thing a person could do was turn away the most vulnerable, including children, widows and foreigners. Job was in fact a righteous man who most definitely would have cared for the least of these, yet it reminds us of just how central compassion for the vulnerable was to Judaism and to Jesus. There is no question that our current issue is complicated, and it will take creative people to solve it. But let us not allow children to become pawns in some sort of political fund raising tactic. Such actions grieve the heart of God, and they should grieve the hearts of those who have chosen to worship and follow that God.
Prayer: We ask you, O God, to give us serious leaders who are willing to seek systematic changes that will solve the issue, not just use the issue as a rally cry. May every child live in an environment where they, without fear or hunger, can reach their potential. We pray this prayer in the name of Jesus who commanded us to love as we would want to be loved. Amen.
See You Sunday!
Elder led Prayer Time
in the Chapel
at 9:15am
2 thoughts on “Ecclesiological Etchings: 08-09-14”
Amen! Amen, amen, amen!
[?] I will be sharing.