For the Children of the World

“Let the little children come to me. Do not hinder them.
The reign of God belongs to such as these.” Luke 18:16

Reading: Message from Greg Smith to the world's leaders

Look into our faces and see the fear and pain in our eyes. See the lessons of hate and violence that we are constantly facing and enduring without any hope of protection. The anger is building and burning inside so many young people in the world because they have no control or voice in legislative matters. So often pretty pictures of harmony are depicted when in reality we live everyday in fear. We want the chance to change our world so that the next generation will not witness the destruction of communities, families, parents, sisters, and brothers. Generation after generation has repeated the cycle of hate and violence and the tendency to resolve conflicts with force and destruction. The time has come to end this trend. My hope is to encourage the leaders of the world to think of their children as their most precious treasures and value us above all other resources that they govern.

We, the children of the world, are joining together in unity with a voice that is so loud and strong that we cannot be overlooked. We need to be heard and respected so that our issues, fears, and hopes are understood and solutions are implemented. We should not build another road until our children are fed. We should not invest in another business until our children are educated. We should not subsidize another industry until all children have medical care. We are the children of the new millennium - we were born of love and we choose to live in peace.

“Let the little children come to me. Do not hinder them.
The reign of God belongs to such as these.” Luke 18:16

Prayer for Children by Ina J. Hughs

We pray for children
     who sneak popsicles before supper,
     who erase holes in math workbooks,
     who can never find their shoes.
And we pray for those
     who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire,
     who can't bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers,
     who never "counted potatoes,"
     who are born in places we wouldn't be caught dead,
     who never go to the circus,
     who live in an X-rated world.
We pray for children
     who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,
     who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money.
And we pray for those who never get dessert,
     who have no safe blanket to drag behind them,
     who watch their parents watch them die,
     who can't find any bread to steal,
     who don't have any rooms to clean up,
     whose pictures aren't on anybody's dresser,
     whose monsters are real.
We pray for children
     who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,
     who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food,
     who like ghost stories,
     who shove dirty clothes under the bed, and never rinse out the tub,
     who get visits from the tooth fairy,
     who don't like to be kissed in front of the carpool,
     who squirm in church and scream in the phone,
     whose tears we sometimes laugh at and
     whose smiles can make us cry.
And we pray for those
     whose nightmares come in the daytime,
     who will eat anything,
     who have never seen a dentist,
     who aren't spoiled by anybody,
     who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,
     live and move, but have no being.
We pray for children who want to be carried and for those who must,
     for those we never give up on and for those who don't get a second chance.
For those we smother...
     and for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer it.