In October, like many churches of all denominations, we focus in a particular way on the privileges and responsibilities of stewardship. Too often, we hear the word “stewardship” and want to just clap our hands over our ears because too often we use the word “stewardship” as simple shorthand for the annual pledge campaign. But the word “stewardship” means something much bigger and more important than money. To be a steward is to humbly recognize that all we are, all we have, and all that we will be given come as good gifts from a good God to be used for God’s good purposes here on earth. As stewards, we are the servants of God, given the trust of caring for the earth and all that’s in it.

This morning, we focus on the stewardship – the trust - God gives to us in the care and keeping of children. Today we are observing, like many churches of all denominations, the Children’s Sabbath, a service in which we particularly give God thanks for the gift of children and ask God’s help in responding speedily to the needs of children everywhere.

The thing about childhood is that our childhood becomes a part of us forever – for good or ill. I think about those of you who were children during the Depression, and how that really impacted not just your childhood but also your lives ever after. The scarcity of jobs, money, food, and the fears of the parents who raised you in such uncertain times made an unforgettable impact on you.

I think about those of you who were children and teens during the years of World War II, of the generation my own parents belong to. Growing up with dads away at war and with moms perhaps for the first time away at work…knowing somebody on every street in the neighborhood who had lost a member of their family. You learned to make do and make without because scarce resources and rationing were a part of everyday life.

I think about those of us who were children and teens during the post-war years and the long years of the Cold War – I’m a member of that Baby Boom generation. We grew up in an era of threat too – the threat of communism and nuclear holocaust, the social upheaval of the sixties, the fight for equality among races and between the sexes, the assassination of President Kennedy, the murders of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, and the war in Vietnam.

And now there’s a generation of children growing up in a post 9-11 world, where terrorism, the threats of chemical warfare, and biological terrorism have schools having to practice lock-down procedures and where what used to be a fun and exciting ride on an airplane is now preceded by a long and tiresome and sometimes intimidating security check.

I suppose what I realized as I reflected on our Children’s Sabbath today is that no generation of children has lived in complete security and in the kind of peaceful world we all pray for. Each of us has been marked by the uncertainties and fears of what was going on in our growing up years around the world, around our country, and around our neighborhoods.

And I’ve been speaking largely of us here in the United States, where even during hard times, by and large there’s been food and shelter and the medical attention we need. Now think of children in less wealthy parts of the world – where famine and disease are the constant enemy – and where so many parents are without help and thus without hope.

Maybe we need to get rid of the whole notion of politicians and political parties, and just ask parents to be in charge. What kinds of things would we do differently in our country and around the world if the only constituency we were responsible to were children? What if the number one priority of all governments and world leaders everywhere was the safety and well-being, the health and education of children? What if we were to make “No Child Left Behind” not just wishful thinking and a good idea, but the practical basis and benchmark for all future decisions? What would change?

Well, for a start, guns would go, vaccines would be distributed, drinkable water would be a priority, food would be grown and given, teachers would be revered, books would be shared, parents would be supported, and I believe that wars would cease in all the world. What if the number one priority of all adults everywhere was to cherish the children of the world? What if, as stewards of God’s good creation, we put the needs of children at the top of our stewardship list?

We’d want clean air and water for them, food without chemicals and additives, top-notch medical care and top-notch schools. If our number one priority was to cherish the children of the world, we’d want to help mold and form and inspire their character so that one day they too would become adults who would cherish children. We’d teach them that who we are as human beings is more important than what we have or own or accumulate as human beings. We’d teach them to love God and each other, to care for the land and the water, and all the creatures that inhabit them. We’d teach them that the image of God is found in every human being, and that as Christian people we are called to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus said that children aren’t beside the point – they are the point. The kingdom of heaven belongs to them as well as to us.

God gives us so much – so many gifts – so many possibilities – so many resources – so many opportunities – and God will hold us accountable, stewards that we are, for how we’ve used and taken care of what’s been given and entrusted to us.

A few weeks ago I listened to a Louisiana state representative speaking about the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans. You can probably picture in your mind’s eye images of the Convention Center, of moms and dads holding onto their kids as they were hoisted up into helicopters or boarded buses. This state representative said, basically, that all parents – everywhere, no matter what neighborhood or city or country – want the same thing for their kids.

Parents want their kids to be safe and to feel safe. They want nutritious food, drinkable water, and expert medical attention, when needed. They want not just good schools but great schools. They want their kids to be able to get from home to school safely. They want their kids to learn that who they are is more important than what they have. Most of all, parents everywhere want their kids to grow up and have a future – a future of hope and possibility.

Jesus called a future of hope and possibility the kingdom of God. For the sake of all God’s children – everywhere – may we recommit ourselves this morning to working, praying, and giving for just such a future. And there’s no better way to start than with prayer:

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
(St. Teresa of Avila, 16th century)

Amen