On Sunday, Barack Obama discussed the public school children who've been killed just this year in the city of Chicago. He said that “there’s an epidemic of violence that’s sickening the soul of this nation." He went on to point out that more children have died in Chicago than all of the soldiers from Illinois lost in Iraq during the same period, more have died than died at Virginia Tech, and that there are more gang members on the streets of America than police officers.
He suggested the following concrete steps to improve the state of our nation's children (and thus our nation's soul), requiring both governmental action, and a sense of responsibility on the part of each of us:
1) care as much about them and their loss as we do about the more highly publicized "exceptional" murders;
2) care for the children here already, taking the time to read to them, talk to them, discipline them and guide them. Show them that they matter.
3) Invest more in after-school programs, giving children a safe place to be.
We need to spend much more time hearing about these children than we do about David Beckham, Posh Spice, Knut (the cuddly polar bear in the Berlin zoo), and the latest cure for hyperactive bladders, aging, and erectile dysfunction.
Mark 10:13-16 (The Message)
13-16The people brought children to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus was irate and let them know it: "Don't push these children away. Don't ever get between them and me. These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom. Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in." Then, gathering the children up in his arms, he laid his hands of blessing on them.
James 1:26-27 (NIV)
26If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Micah 6:8 (The Message)
8But he's already made it plain how to live, what to do,
what God is looking for in men and women.
It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to
your neighbor,be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don't take yourself too seriously—
take God seriously.
1 comment:
You could add Psalm 82 also. We do not keep things in perspective often.
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