This weekend communities of faith have been observing Children's Sabbaths, a project organized by the Children's Defense Fund.
Endorsed by more than 200 denominations and religious organizations, the National Observance of Children's Sabbaths weekend unites tens of thousands of religious congregations of many faiths in speaking out and acting faithfully for children and families.
These are not good days to be a child.
Bread for the World reports that "in developing countries, 6 million children die each year, mostly from hunger-related causes."
In the United States, CDF reminds us that one American child or teen is killed by gun violence every three hours.
Somehow we manage to leave the needs of children out of national and international considerations and children suffer greatly because of it.
Marian Wright Edelman, CDF's executive director and a powerful Christian activist, wrote the prayer below. We used in it worship this morning and I share it with you now and ask that you find reason to lift up the needs of children in your houses of worship and to share on this site times you have.
We pray for children
Who sneak popsicles before supper,
Who erase holes in math workbooks,
Who can never find their shoes.And we pray for those
Who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire,
Who can't bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers,
Who never "counted potatoes,"
Who are born in places we wouldn't be caught dead,
Who never go to the circus,
Who live in an X-rated world.We pray for children
Who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,
Who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money.
And we pray for those
Who never get dessert,
Who have no safe blanket to drag behind them,
Who watch their parents watch them die,
Who can't find any bread to steal,
Who don't have any rooms to clean up,
Whose pictures aren't on anybody's dresser,
Whose monsters are real.We pray for children
Who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,
Who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food,
Who like ghost stories,
Who shove dirty clothes under the bed and never rinse out the tub,
Who get visits from the tooth fairy,
Who don't like to be kissed in front of the carpool,
Who squirm in church or temple and scream in the phone,
Whose tears we sometimes laugh at and whose smiles can make us cry.And we pray for those
Whose nightmares come in the daytime,
Who will eat anything,
Who have never seen a dentist,
Who aren't spoiled by anybody,
Who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,
Who live and move, but have no being.We pray for children who want to be carried and for those who must,
For those we never give up on and for those who don't get a second chance.
For those we smother ... and for those who will grab the hand of
anybody kind enough to offer it.
Amen.
