Sunday, October 22, 2017: Children's Sabbath Weekend

Today’s Gospel tells of Jesus asking us to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. Every child is God’s own child, made in God’s image.  This is Childrens’ Sabbath weekend when in thousands of faith communities throughout the nation the needs of children are lifted in prayer for all whose bright promise of childhood is dimmed by poverty, illness and violence. We pray for strength and resolve to nurture all children and to show them God’s love.  We pray for good quality early learning opportunities, for educators to spark a love of learning and that every child is fed, nurtured, educated and safely housed.  We pray that each of us commits to building a circle of trust for children in need. And we pray for those who died too soon and too small and the children who have died from guns we could have controlled, poverty we could have abated and despair we could have lifted. May God’s love flowing through us individually and collectively as a church and as a nation address the needs of ALL children.

As we render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, we gratefully and hopefully give to today’s Caesar (government leaders) what is needed for the common good, especially, children!  We give to government the money that is needed for education, health care, environmental protections, safety & security for all, especially those unable to care for themselves. That describes all children. Please find letters in our church foyer to Monroe County Legislators re. protections for abused and neglected children.