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September 28, 2003
Rev. John H. Emerson
Pastor Emeritus
Scripture:
Jeremiah 5:26-28; Matthew 18:1-7; Matthew
25:31-40
PRECIOUS CARGO
I
I had a dream: I was an astronaut
returning in the shuttle from the space station. Looking out the window
my eyes were directed to a strange object on the earth=s horizon. As I got closer it
appeared to be a yellow, diamond-shaped sign. As I got even closer, I
could read the words on the sign: PRECIOUS CARGO.
What on earth is this
precious cargo? Children! They are so precious, in fact, that
Jesus was bold to say: Do you want to know what God=s Kingdom is like? It=s like this child I place before
you. And who is the greatest in God=s
Realm? It=s this child. If you
welcome and receive a child, you welcome and receive me! (paraphrase of
Matthew 18:2-4). As John Auer said in last Sunday=s sermon, one thing we are about is
welcoming the children! I think it=s wonderful that we will observe
and celebrate Children=s
Sabbath next month - a great concept!
The children of this church, who
participate in our (10:00) worship today, are a compelling testimony to
the idea that children are indeed precious cargo! But not just our
children here; all of the children of Truckee Meadows, but not just
them; all of the children of Nevada, but not only them; all the
children on this planet!
II
That peculiar yellow sign of my
dream hangs over the earth as a warning because so many of our
children are neglected and at risk. Consider this startling fact:
1.2 billion human beings, over 20% of the world=s population, live on less than one
dollar per day! Of those 1.2 billion souls, 600 million are children. Do
we care?!
The gap between low-income and
high-income families in the United States has widened over the last
20 years and continues to do so. The U.S. Census Bureau released a
report last week that poverty increased for the second year in
succession, adding 1.7 million more people among this nation=s poor now numbering over 34
million! In the United States, the current poverty level is $18,400 for
a family of four. According to a study published this month by the
National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University, 12
million children live in such families (17% of all U.S. children). The
same report indicates that it takes twice the poverty level ($36,800) to
meet the basic needs of children - adequate food, stable housing, and
health care. In our country 27 million children (nearly 40% of all U.S.
children) live in low-income families. In my judgment this is staggering
and obscene. Among the industrialized nations of the world, the United
States ranks first in military spending and in the number of
millionaires and billionaires, but we rank 17th in efforts to lift
children out of poverty and 18th in the gap between the wealthy and the
poor. Do we care?!
What are the issues facing
Nevada children? We are well aware of the state=s severe budget crunch. In tough
economic times businesses and households have to cut spending and defer
maintenance, it is true. But an ailing economy has the opposite effect
on government: there is an increased demand on human and health
services. The working poor become worse off with no reserves, few assets
to fall back on, or laid off from work. Medicaid provides basic health
coverage for 169,000 Nevadans who are poor or disabled, an increase of
12,000 from a year ago. Over 24,000 of them are our relatives and
neighbors in Washoe County. The legislature=s budget for the next biennium does
little more than hold the line for Medicaid funding. Nevada has the
dubious distinction of being last in the nation for per capita spending
on Medicaid. We have over 33,000 of our impoverished Nevada children
without health insurance. Those families are at the mercy of hospital
emergency rooms for ordinary health care. Some of our hospitals are
turning them away, unable or unwilling to handle the volume and absorb
the unreimbursed cost. Do we care?!
The same working poor and
disabled among us seek welfare assistance in greater numbers in
tough economic times. Nevada=s
case load is about 27,000, of which about 3,000 live in Washoe County.
Temporary assistance to a mother with two children is $348 per month, a
rate that has not been changed in 12 years! Yes, Nevada also ranks
last among the states and the District of Columbia in temporary
aid to families in need. We expect that mother with two kids to find
employment and be self-sustaining. But how can she pay the rent, offer
her children nutritious meals, clothe the kids, pay for child care while
training for a job or working, and have transportation to get to work on
$348 a month? The number of food stamp recipients has risen dramatically
since a year ago (by 17,000): over 118,000, of whom about 15,000 live in
Washoe County. Do we care?!
The state=s highly acclaimed AFamily-to-Family@ program took some budget-reduction
hits, eliminating the early intervention program for families of all
newborns. Funds for mental health services continue to be inadequate.
Most of the budget increase, which brought funding back to the 1991
level, went to meet pressing needs in Clark County. But here in Northern
Nevada, for example, there are an estimated 200 kids on a waiting list
for mental health services. It is tragic that the only way for a
youngster to get to the top of the waiting list is to attempt suicide!
Do we care?!
III
Obviously God cares a great deal!
If you are a student of the Bible, the basic guideline for living the
Christian life in the real world, you know there is no escaping God=s will that to be a part of the
human family we are expected to provide for the equitable distribution
of resources to meet the basic necessities of life. That message is
scattered throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. We have heard what God has
to say through the prophet Jeremiah: that there are Ascoundrels@ who Atake over the goods of others,@ who Ahave become great and rich,@ who Ahave grown fat and sleek,@ who Ado not defend the rights of the
needy@ (5:26-28). We can
also hear the prophet Isaiah say to the leaders of his nation: AAh, you who...write oppressive
statutes, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my
people of their right, that widows may be your spoil, and that you may
make the orphans your prey!@ (Isaiah
10:1,2). Or, we can give our attention to God=s spokesman, Zechariah: Ashow kindness and mercy to one
another; do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor...@ (7:9,10). There are many more
Old Testament texts we could turn to if we had the time.
Jesus spent his time with the
social outcasts in his society who were victimized by the power elite of
his day. Can you hear the passion in his voice as he says, AIf anyone puts a stumbling block
before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better
for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were
drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of stumbling
blocks!@ (Matthew 18:6,7).
Hyperbole to be sure, but who can miss his point?! And who does Jesus
say fits the citizenship requirements of God=s Kingdom? Those who feed the
hungry, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned, care for the sick, and
welcome the stranger! Jesus goes further to say that when we do that for
those in need all around us, we honor and serve him. (Matthew 25:34-40)
Despite being persecuted by the
Roman Empire, the Christian Church, by the middle of the 3rd century,
developed a welfare system to care for all people in desperate need.
That compassionate outreach led to the extraordinary growth of the
church. I have seen with my own eyes the same thing happening with the
burgeoning Methodist Church on the southern island of Mindanao in the
Republic of the Philippines. Despite turmoil and death due to guerrilla
warfare by a fundamentalist militant group, Methodist congregations are
doing compassionate outreach to needy families in the cities,
countryside, and among mountain tribal people. I see it here at First
United Methodist Church through the Interfaith Hospitality Network,
providing lodging and meals for homeless families. Our church in
Winnemucca distributes food daily to needy families and serves a hot
meal two nights a week at the church=s
Asoup kitchen.@
This activity is a part of our
Wesleyan heritage as United Methodists. John Wesley said that among the
means of God=s grace are to Ado no harm@ and to Ado all the good you can.@ Wesley considered the regular
visitation of the poor a necessary spiritual discipline. Indeed, the
poor were the central focus of the early movement of Methodism. At the
turn of the 20th century, it was the Methodist Church making an
effective witness before Congress concerning the abuse of children in
the labor market that led to the passage of laws to protect children.
Our United Methodist Council of
Bishops has called upon all United Methodists to give priority to the
issue of children and poverty. A wonderful guide for congregation
study has been published - "Community With Children and the
Poor." Our church=s
task force on adult education is planning to offer this study soon. I
am working with The Rev. Rob Jennings-Teats, pastor of our Carson City
church, to form a Northern Nevada task force to plan special events to
highlight the plight of impoverished families and what we can do
together to remedy the problem. We are seeking the participation of
local church workers with children and youth to be a part of the task
force. I am pleased that Mike and Sharon Stephenson and Patti Bengtson
of our church have agreed to serve. There may be others of you, who care
deeply about this issue, to step up to the plate. If so, let me know. In
the name of our faith communities, we want to engage policy-makers in
the public arena in thoughtful conversation about addressing the needs
of impoverished families; to advocate on behalf of those who have no
voice in the legislature.
As the Child of Nazareth, born of
a humble peasant family, was overshadowed by the power of an imperial
Rome, so children are born today in hovels of poverty, overshadowed by
the wealth of a new imperial power. No one is so precious as a child, so
innocent as a child, so vulnerable as a child, so full of the potential
for good as a child, and so marked with a genetic code of God=s Kingdom as a child (so eloquently
stated by my colleague, David Leeper Moss).
Do we care? But even more
importantly, will we act? Indeed, as John Auer also said in last Sunday=s sermon, AOnly the children will move
us.@ Will we be faithful
to the biblical imperative and our Wesleyan heritage to do justice? Are
children here and everywhere really precious to us?
__________________________________
Information sources on the
internet:
The
National Center for Children in Poverty (Columbia Univ.): www.nccp.org
The Childrens Defense Fund:
www.childrensdefense.org
Nevada
State Welfare Division Research and Statistics:
http://welfare.state.nv.us/budget/2003-09/caseload-summaries-091503.pdf
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