Justice, Justice Shall You Pursue: Answering God's Call to Protect Children
On Sunday, October 16, 2011 we will join with thousands of other congregations across the nation in the annual multi-faith National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths® weekend sponsored by the non-profit, non-partisan Children’s Defense Fund and supported by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada, Catholic Charities, U.S.A., the Islamic Society of North America, the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., the National Spiritual Assembly of Baha’is in the U.S., the Sikh Council on Religion and Education, the Union for Reform Judaism, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, and more than 200 other religious organizations and denominations.
The 2011 Children’s Sabbath, “Justice, Justice Shall You Pursue:” Answering God’s Call to Protect Children, will focus on the education achievement gap that leaves too many children, especially poor and minority children, reading and doing math below grade level, leading to lower rates of school completion. Educational attainment is the greatest predictor of future income. The best poverty-prevention strategy we have is ensuring high levels of school completion—supporting children to complete high school and to go on to complete a four-year college education.
Justice requires equitable and excellent education, especially for the most vulnerable children. When we work for excellent and equitable education, we not only protect children from current injustice but we protect their futures by putting them on the path to a promising and productive adulthood.
As people of faith we recognize the sacred responsibility to nurture and protect children and to work for the world God intends. On the Children’s Sabbath, we will remember the children in struggling schools and difficult circumstances, we will reflect on the teachings of our faith that lead us to respond, and we will commit to putting our faith into action to help all children learn and succeed.
Here, at First Christian Church, we will join in this united voice for children by praying daily for children in our 40 days of Prayer Vigil; lifting up the issues of children each Sunday in worship from September 11th through Children’s Sabbath—lighting a candle each week; providing avenues to advocate for children in our weekly newsletter; collecting school supplies for our local schools in our ‘stuff the bus’ campaign; collecting healthy food items for distribution to families in need through our ‘operation backpack’ program; and loving dearly all the children in our lives as Jesus Christ taught us to love. Our Worship Team, Christian Education Team, children and youth will all be working together to create our worship service for this year’s Children’s Sabbath celebration. All are invited. This will be a good time to invite other families or children to visit our congregation. For more information or to find out how you can help, contact me or the church office.
Blessings,
Tracy