Before I was called to pastor the church I serve, I was the chaplain at Albright College. This allowed me the opportunity to preach and teach and worship in a variety of congregations, including the one I would serve in my unknown future. I was presenting the research I had done in my Doctor of Ministry project – teaching ethics to children – when the pastor – my future predecessor – responded with surprise to a statement I made. The statement was, “there are no moral rules that all people agree on”, and his response was, “not even pedophilia?” No – humans have only decided to protect children in recent years from this scourge. In fact, it is widely agreed that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was young enough that she would, in today’s legal system, be considered a minor. Different times? Sure – but that doesn’t change the facts.
Over time, we have come to believe that children need to be protected from predators, in spite of the fact that there are still a lot of states that allow children, under certain circumstances, to be married. This is something I will never understand, to be honest. We have seen scandals over the years involving children and have done little to remedy the problem. Now, the ugly and demented specter of Jeffrey Epstein continues to haunt us, and we are reminded that we, in fact, care little about the welfare of children. Adults should to everything in their power to protect them, often from themselves, but we still watch powerful, and not so powerful, people misuse and abuse them. We allow them to be sexualized and pimped out in media on a regular basis – think Brooke Shields and Britanny Spears.
We cannot think of ourselves as a nation that believes in family values, or a place that is somehow based on religious ideals, as long as we allow children to be hurt the way we do. And it isn’t just about sex; think about how many children die of hunger or live in squalor in this, the wealthiest nation in history. Think about how many children are mistreated in plain view while the adults in their lives aren’t held accountable. Christians are told that the way we treat the least among us will be the way we will be judged. We should be very concerned about that, because I think God cares very much about how children are treated. After all, we believe that God came to us as a child. How we treat them matters.
Prayer – Holy God, move us to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Amen.
Today’s art is from the International Museum of Children’s Art in Oslo, Norway.