Truly Leave No Child Behind

Presented by

Rev. Dr. D. Björn Olson

October 24, 2005

"On observance of national Sabbath for Children, we will consider justice for children."

This sermon is taken from the book: Putting Our Faith into Action to Seek Justice for Children. In this book, are listed over 260 denominational organizations, including the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and the Unitarian Universalist Association. The organizations are encouraging all churches to look deeper into Justice for Children, and find ways that they can help the children in the world, in their neighborhoods, in their own churches and in their own homes.

Coincidently, in today's Parade Magazine in the Morning Call was the article "First We Must Feed them." It was stated in the article that more than 13 million children in the U.S. need food, and that was before Katrina.

You can give regularly to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, or find your own organization that you trust to help in this much needed work.

This sermon is basically an introduction to this program. I hope this sermon will be given next year, more fully, and involve several of our church committees.

I'd like to begin with the words of Micah: "And what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with thy God?"

The word "Justice" is a difficult word with many meanings. In the Hebrew there are two words for "Justice." One means "Righteousness" which means being in the state of "Justice." The other word means "to do Justice" It is active, and the people hearing Micah knew exactly what he meant. It is like when we say "Let's do lunch." It does not mean think about it, or study it, it means to actually go out and have lunch. That's active. To do it. This "doing justice" can be understood on at least two levels: The Intellectual or rational, and the spiritual.

Abraham Heschel was one of the great Jewish theologians and his was a rational or intellectual approach (he was also a mystic and social activist). Heschel writes about how justice is an interpersonal relationship. As a relationship, it's composed of two things: duty and rights. And that's also what Micah was talking about. You can't separate duty and right. It's the right of someone to have justice, and it's the duty of someone to provide justice. It is our duty to provide justice.

The emphasis this morning, and all around the country is Justice for children. The children’s rights, and our duty.

Let me tell you about what I learned when I worked with abused children for several years. What happens to all children? They have trauma. Lots of trauma. And what is trauma? Anything that bothers you in childhood. From missing a birthday party with your good friends, not getting the bicycle you wanted, wearing old clothing to school and being laughed at, - to not having enough to eat, to being physically and sexually abused. All of these are trauma. And it all lives with us. It doesn't go away. The way we treat people today is often based on that trauma. The way we talk to people today.

What is the result of childhood trauma:

Stigma: How we think people think of us. One of the reasons many people cannot speak in front of people. I have been told that I am a natural speaker. Not so, I had to learn. I have a learning problem and it consists partly in not understanding what is being said. I still have that problem today. In my early school years, when a question was asked by the teacher, I would raise my eager hand. I would often give an answer that had nothing to do with what the teacher had asked. The children would laugh and I was told by the teacher that I wasn't listening. Eventually, I never raised my hand for anything, and was afraid to talk in front of people. Even in my high school years, in church, I had difficulty announcing that coffee was downstairs after the service.

But, I felt called by God to be a clergyman. So, I had to learn. It was agony, but over the years and lots of practice, I learned how. But, the trauma still remains sitting there, waiting to tell me that I will fail the next time I get in the pulpit.

Betrayal: This should not have happened. One can still hear adults talking about life not being fair. A childish concept, conceived as a child. We carry our childhood with us. A child will feel betrayed by trauma, especially with sexual abuse. 75% of sexual abuse is in the home, where the child should be able to feel safe. This often results in adulthood with lack of the ability to trust.

Helplessness or Powerlessness: There is nothing I can do about it. Often as an adult, the idea that there is nothing I can do about the mess that children are in. There is nothing I can do about the poor of the world. With starvation around the world, there is nothing I can do. So I do nothing.

It's a good thing that we don't all think this way. The response to Katrina shows that many people do care and want to bring about justice for those who lost their rights. But there are also those who tear down. The papers are full of thousands of people going for aid, after Katrina, who are not entitled to that aid. And there are many scams to make money out of this national tragedy. We want to be the ones with the sense of Micah's duty to justice. To do Justice. There is a still lot more to be done. Lots and lots more.

That is the rational and intellectual approach. But there is also the Spiritual. It is the recognition of the inherent worth and dignity of every person. It is one of our Unitarian Universalist principles.

So what can we do?

1. Doing justice as Social Service. What we often think of as charitable work. Writing our checks to different organizations, working in the soup kitchen, collecting food and gifts for children, helping to build homes, and volunteering at agencies that help children and adults. We do all sorts of charitable work and it is very important.

2. Social Education. Learn about what is going on. Use the web, use our religious education program, and use our Social Service Committee. Learn about hunger in children in our country, let alone other countries. That is part of Duty. The Social Service agencies are overwhelmed and need more ideas and more people. They need us.

3. Follow the Spiritual path. Treating all people, especially children, with worth and dignity. That means in speech and attitude. How we talk to one another. How we treat one another. Do we use complaint or praise? Our children copy us. I wonder just which parts they copy. It's a scary thought.

4. Believe in our own worth and dignity. Because we were traumatized as children does not mean we have to live out that trauma. We can think better of ourselves. We can think we are wonderful. We can enjoy life more than we do. It is easy to praise others, but often difficult to praise ourselves. You are wonderful people, live it, and know it. If you cannot love yourself, you cannot fully love others. If you can't praise yourself, you cannot fully praise others. You are a work of art. Believe it.

Let there be justice for children, and let it begin with me. Let it begin with you.

Amen.