I Am Your Child, God

This sermon was written to celebrate "International Children's Sabbath", which we celebrated October 12, instead of the suggested date of October 19. The facts and figures included in the sermon are from the Children's Defense Fund. The prayers are from Marian Wright Edleman's book, "I am your child, God." Unfortunately, the printed version here won't do the sermon justice. The prayers were read by the puppet team, and at the end, the puppets "sang" Listen to your children praying and then the congregation joined in. It sounds kind of hokey, but it was a really special sermon and the service was really moving as a whole.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a great Protestant theologian who died opposing Hitler’s holocaust. He once said, “The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.” This is a test that we, as Americans fail every single day. We fail this test every hour, when:

• A child is abused or neglected every 36 seconds.
• A child is born into poverty every 35 seconds.
• A child is born without health insurance every 41 seconds
• A child is killed by a firearm every 3 hours.

We fail this test every moment when:

• 13 million children live in poverty
• 9.4 million children have no health coverage.

Yes, we fail this test. We know it. But what is worse, our children know we are failing. They know that we aren’t doing the best we can, so they reach out to God in prayer.

Listen to the prayers of God’s children.

1. Lord, you made me a girl and I am so proud.

Some people think that I’m not as good or as smart or as useful as a boy,

But You and I know they are wrong.

Thank you for making me who I am.

Help me to make You proud of me and to be all that I can be

Despite what the world may say.

We live in a world where daughters still don’t have the same opportunities as sons. Here in the “land of opportunity” we are faced with the glaring reality that now, in 2008, women still only make 80 cents on the dollar versus a man for the exact same work. What’s worse, is that this disparity is accepted. Little girls are still subject to “you can’t do that job”, and little boys are told that there are jobs “only women do”. And as tragic as this may be, it is the very least of our problems.

Our children are faced with so many hardships. It’s such a different world in 2008 than it was in 1988 or 1968 or even 1948. Along with technological and medical advances has come greater access to addictive substances and new drugs to try.

2. God, I’m addicted to drugs and alcohol too.

I’m not myself but don’t know what to do.

It feels so good for a little while, but

It feels so bad when the high wears off.

I want to escape, but I don’t know how.

Help me, Lord, to get clean again so

I can be free of shame and depression

And live the life that You intend.

What a horrible prayer to have to hear from a child, but the reality is that there 1.6 million young people between the ages of 12 and 18 in America who are struggling with serious alcohol and drug problems. What’s worse is only about 10% of those children receive any kind of treatment and of those 10%, only fourth stay in treatment long enough to be successful. And we’re not only talking about older teens. Children as young as 11 are entering rehab programs for alcohol and drug dependency. Unfortunately, publicly funded programs for dependent youth aren’t as readily available as private programs, so youth who are living in poverty don’t have the same access to support and help. The hard truth is that some of the affordable or publicly funded programs have waiting lists and the privately funded programs aren’t covered by insurance.

Why are so many children addicted? Some of it is from growing up in addictive households, where a parent or caregiver struggles with dependency. A teen with a family history of alcoholism has a 50% greater risk of dependency later in life. There is also greater access to drugs, including prescription drugs stolen directly from the family medicine cabinet.

But why? What are our children trying to escape? What is driving them to the liquor cabinet or the medicine shelf?

3. I pray for peace

In myself

In my family

In my community

In my country

And in all the world

I pray that no one will hate

That no one will kill

That all will forgive

And live in love

Maybe it’s the threat of violence in the world around us. The majority of video games our kids play focus on violence, war, crime, and rage. Our television shows glorify sex and murder. Our nightly news is filled with stories of war overseas and violence down the street. Why WOULDN’T someone want to escape it all?

Albert Einstein once said, “We glorify war and conceal it’s horrors. We indoctrinate children in hatred. I would teach peace rather than war, and love rather than hate.”

Maybe if we taught more peace and taught more love, our children’t wouldn’t be so afraid.

4. Where are you, Lord? Come by here.

I’m afraid I’m going to get shot.

I’m afraid my mama’s going to get shot

I’m afraid my brother won’t come home.

I’m afraid of the gangs that roam my street and drug dealers who are everywhere.

I’m afraid of the knives and guns at school

I’m afraid of the rats and roaches at home.

I’m afraid of being beaten when I wake up

I’m afraid of the violence around me all the time.

I’m afraid I won’t get to grow up at all.

I’m afraid You don’t love me—that nobody does.

I’m afraid, God.

Please let me live.

Our children are afraid. But they aren’t just afraid of what is happening on the streets surrounding their homes and schools. Many of them are afraid of what happens in their own home. Almost 900,000 children each year in America are abused or neglected—one every 36 seconds. 40% of those children get no services after the initial investigation.

Our children are scared, and they are lonely.

5. Lord, why am I so different?

Why can’t I be like all the other children?

I want to belong and to be somebody

I wish I were prettier

I wish I were cleverer

I wish I were funnier

I wish I had better clothes and lived in a better place.

I’m so lonely.

Please make me better.
Please send me a friend.

Many children are shy, some have little or no self esteem, and some act in ways that make it hard for them to make friends. Many children are rejected because they lack the requisite social stills to be able to interact in a positive way with their peers. The reality is that about 10 % of school children have no friends in their classes and are disliked by a majority of their classmates. Peer rejection in childhood often brings with it serious emotional difficulties. Rejected children are frequently discontent with themselves and with their relationships with other children. Many of these children experience strong feelings of loneliness and social dissatisfaction. Rejected children also report lower self-esteem and may be more depressed than other children. Peer rejection is also predictive of later life problems, such as dropping out of school, juvenile delinquency, and mental health problems. Dropping out of school seems to be a particularly frequent outcome. Results from research indicate that, on average, about 25 percent of low-accepted children drop out of school.

Despite these feelings of rejection, Children seem to know where they can find a friend.

6. God, my friend and mother and father

Nobody ever writes me a letter

Nobody ever gives me a present

Nobody ever takes me to the beach of the zoo

Nobody reads me Dr. Seuss

Nobody ever gives me surprises

Nobody ever wakes me up to see the sunrise

Nobody tells me about fairies and princesses.

Nobody shares their dreams and asks me mine.

Nobody reminds me to look up at the sky
nobody greets me with a cheery good morning, or kisses me sweetly as I fall asleep

Nobody cares when I come or go, whether I am happy or sad or if I live or die.

Nobody but you, God.

Thank you for being my friend.

Children know that God is their friend and somehow they just know that they can always turn to God, even when the rest of the world doesn’t seem to make sense. Even at a very young age, children believe in something. They have an innate sense of the divine and they intrinsically know that they have a friend in God…and in Jesus.

7. God help me to remember this

When I do not remember anything else:

No matter how sad or scared I am,

You love me so much

That you gave your only son to be my friend

To make sure that I am never alone.

By age six, all children have constructed some image or representation of God. This representation is drawn from experiences that child has with adults in his/her life. It is this understanding of God that becomes a way to express consitstent love, trust, and faith. If a child lives with people who do not express love, trust and faith however, that child will grow up with a very skewed understanding of God. Children have to be loved by the adults in their world so that they develop an understanding of a God who is loving. But we have to give children the opportunity to express their understanding of god in ways that we might not think as traditional. If a child grows up with an abusive father, the image of “God as father” isn’t going to be very comforting, is it? Or if a child grows up hearing “God doesn’t like it when you…”, they will likely have an over-reactive fear of their creator. We have to be careful how we help children develop their ideas of God, but we can also take solace in the fact that children naturally believe…we just have to not mess that up!

But our children face so many issues, issues…there are so many potential pitfalls.

8. Help me Lord.

I read, but do not understand—even though I understand all I hear.

It’s so hard to write—I can’t share all I know in my haed.

I know what I want to say in my mind,

But the words get all mixed up when I speak.
It’s hard to sit still—it’s like my motor is running too fast.

I pray for your understanding and memory in my heart and mind.

Other kids think I’m stupid—and I sometimes feel like that myself.

Help me to keep trying, help my teachers to be patient,

And help the other kids to understand. Please.

Three MILLION children in the united states have a learning disability. 27% of learning disabled children drop out of high school. Only 13% of learning disabled students attend a post-secondary school. 43% of learning disabled students are at or below the poverty level, and 48 % of learning disabled adults are unemployable or unemployed. Learning disabilities are an epidemic in our modern society, and while we are quick to say that disabilities are a sign of the times, the reality is that we must find ways to educate children in ways that they understand so that they can grow into productive, healthy adults.

Sadly, learning disabilities are not the only challenges faced by our children.

9. Dear God,

I am blind but can hear—no one has to shout.

I am def but understand and can read with my eyes

I cannot walk, but there is nothing wrong with my mind

I have a disability, and I am smart and have all the dreams that anyone else has.

Help people to look at and see all of me and not just my challenge

Help them to see what I can do, not what I can’t.

17% of all children live with at least one disability and these children are more likely to live below the poverty level. What’s worse, is most public schools lack the special facilities and services to help disabled children function in mainstream education. 22 % of disabled children drop out of or are removed from schools—many within the first five years of education. We don’t take very good care of our disabled children.

Despite all of the difficulties, children are thankful for what they do have.

10. Dear Lord, I thank You for enough food to eat

For a warm room where I can sleep

For shelter against the wind and rain

And for my family

Who help me get up and try again when I fall down.

And children dream of a better future

11. Jesus, you were born a poor child like me

Help me and all poor children like you today

We are hungry and homeless and lonely

And scared and have no good place to lay our heads

The roaches and rats crawl over the bed I share with my family members who push me aside.

One day when I’m big, I’ll have a room of my own

Without roaches and rats, pokey elbows and loud snores.

The reality of the situation is, that 12.8 million children in America are poor. The majority of these children live in working families—where one or more parent works. And yet, they still have an income below the “poverty line” of $21,200 a year for a family of four with 2 children. Can you imagine supporting a family of four in today’s economy on less than $22,000 a year? But that is the reality, and it is a bigger issue than income alone. Poor children lag behind their peers in many ways beyond income; they are less healthy, trail in emotional and intellectual development, and do not perform well in school. Every year that we keep children in poverty costs our nation half a trillion dollars in lost productivity, poorer health, and increased crime. (Children’s defense fund).

It is no wonder than, that impoverished children have a greater rate of depression, but depression affects all income levels and all ages of children…

12. Oh God, I’m breaking into a million tiny pieces

I don’t think I can ever get back together again

I am so tired

I can’t get up

I don’t want to talk or think

I don’t’ want to hear anybody say anything

Or have anybody look at me

Or know anyone feels sorry for me

I don’t’ want to run anymore from my pain

I just want it to go away forever

I am so alone and I am so lonely

Why doesn’t anybody care?

Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people aged 15-24 and it is the sixth leading cause of children aged 5-14. Yes, there are five year olds who commit suicide. More children and youth (ages 5-24 years) have committed suicide in the past ten years than the total number of American combat lives lost in the ten year Vietnam War, yet little or no public attention has been given to this reality and what it represents. Among adolescents 1 in 8 suffers from depression, but only 30% receive any kind of treatment or intervention.

What many of our children need, is just to be loved for who they are…not for their income level or for who their parents are, but to be loved for the wonderful children they are.

13. Lord, please help people not to see me as a shadow of my mother and father.

I have my own light.

I have my own mind.

I have my own dreams.

I have my own gifts.

Please help others to see and to let me be me.

At the very core of things, all children want is to be loved and accepted and to be able to grow up in an environment that is safe and healthy. It doesn’t seem like a lot to ask does it?

14. Please stop the violence and wars that kill children.

Help us to love each other and live together in peace.

Except it *IS* a lot to ask apparently. On average, 3000 children a year are killed by gun violence alone. The number of children killed by guns in 2005 would fill 120 classrooms. 69 of the children killed by guns in 2005 were preschoolers. In my lifetime alone, over 104,000 children have died from gun violence.

Our children just want safe and happy homes to live in. Yet…

15. Nobody remembered I was born today.

My daddy is in jail and my mommy’s an addict

My grandma is sick, and my aunt is so busy.
My sisters and brothers are scattered all over,

I’ve no one who cares, Lord but know that You do

Please send me a happy birthday card with love

All the way from Heaven above.

The reality is, that no matter how badly children want safe and happy homes, that doesn’t always happen. Things go wrong, people make mistakes, and children end up in foster care. At any given moment, there can be over 500,000 children in foster care in the United States. While many of these children are reunited with their families or relatives, or spend less than a year in the foster care system, there are 19 % of hese children will spend more than a year in foster care and 10% of them will spend their entire lives not having a forever family.

But still, children are thankful for what they have.

16. Thank you God, for everyone in my family

Thank you God, for everyone in my community who tries to help others

Thank you God, for everyone in the world

Who works for peace and justice and a better life for all.

Our children are our hope. They are our hope for our future, but more than that, they are our hope for right now!

17. O god,

Help me to shine like the sun

Glow like the moon

Play peekaboo like the stars

Dance like the rain

And bring joy and smiles to all I meet.

Methodist minister Edmond McDonald once wrote:

When god wants an important thing done in this world, or a wrong righted, God goes about it in a very singular way. Instead of unleashing the power of thunderbolts or earthquakes, God simply has a tiny baby born, perhaps of a very humble home, perhaps of a very humble mother. And she puts it in the baby’s mind, and then—God waits.

He concludes:

The great events of this world are not battles and elections and earthquakes and thunderbolts. The great events are babies, for each child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged with humanity, but is still expecting goodwill to become incarnate in each human life.

And so, God produced a Gandhi and a Mandela and a Tubman.

God produced an Eleanor Roosevelt and a Martin Luther King Jr.

God produced a Kirstie, and an Anna. God produced a Morgan and a Nichole. God produced a Ryan and an Anitta, God produced a Holly and a Taylor.

God produced an Ashley, an Abby, a Lydia, an Alex, a Teagean, a Carter, an Ella, a Jakey. God produced a Charlie and a Logan. God produced a Hannah, and an Addison, a Morgan…

And god produced a you..and a me to help guide the world towards a brighter future for all of God’s children.

All we must do is listen to the prayers of the children and help God to find the answers through us, with us, and sometimes despite of us.

18. Dear God,

I’m about to go to sleep.

Please hold me safe in Your arms until morning comes.

Lord…listen to your children praying….