What About the Kids? - From a Parent

"Mississippi Immigration Raids Lead To Arrests Of Hundreds Of Workers"

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What About The Kids: From a Parent

N.B. Please be courteous if you decide to comment on this post, as this is a live situation with multiple facets that are not easily separated into Democrat and Republican, conservative and liberal, or any other bifurcation that we can imagine. I have bias, for sure, but any perceived slight against any political party in this piece is purely the perception of the reader, and not of the intent of the author.I 100% claim these opinions as my own, but I also claim that my words are founded upon a deep concern for people and upon my baptism as a follower of Jesus.

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What kind of world do we want to leave for our kids after we are gone?

That question is one of the most basic questions of legacy. What kind of world, what kind of living, what kind of opportunities do we want to leave our kids when we are gone?

Anyone who has become a parent has no doubt felt the weight of this question at some point in time. We want our kids to be healthy, safe, and to have (God-willing) a long and happy life. We want our kids to have friends, to be given the opportunity to work, to be brought up in the “knowledge and love of the Lord” as the Book of Common Prayer says about raising children.

But perhaps one of several terrifying possibilities has also crept into our conscious thinking, at least at some point in time. Possibilities like, “What if I die today? What will that do to my family?” or “What if I am injured and unable to work to feed my kids?” or even, “What if my kids wake up tomorrow and I’m gone? What will happen to them?”

It pains me to say this.

But for about 700 families living in Mississippi,
 For dozens of families living in El Paso, Texas and in Dayton, Ohio,
  For Pulse, and Sandy Hook,
   and countless more on the southern border of the United States,
    this blood-chilling possibility has become a soul-destroying reality.

As a parent, I found myself waking up in different shades of a nightmare over the past week.

Except I wasn’t asleep.

I woke up to more parents, friends, brothers, sisters, and children lying motionless in an El Paso Walmart when a gunman opened fire and forever took innocent people’s lives away.

Not hours later, the same thing happened in Dayton, Ohio.

And what were the victims at the El Paso Walmart doing? Most were doing some back-to-school shopping for their kids. Because parents want their kids to be prepared for school and to have the best shot they can get at a good education.

And now those kids live in a nightmare. One in which they are not asleep.

And yet, in the wake of all of this, not three days later, massive ICE raids in Mississippi have detained hundreds of people in a targeted effort involving more than 600 ICE agents

The raids, regardless of their legality, regardless of whether the agents simply acted in obedience with their orders, had casualties that me as a parent can almost not even stand to think about.

Kids.

Kids: who were off to play in the neighborhood, who were over at a friend’s house, some who were at school activities, some who were preparing for the upcoming football season.

And they come home to find out that their mom and dad are missing. Nowhere to be found, with no explanation, but with a thick sense that something is terribly wrong.

Avengers: Infinity War might as well have become a reality for these kids, with Thanos snapping his fingers with the infinity gauntlet, and killing half of all living things.

Except that Avengers: Infinity War is just a movie. Or is it?

It doesn’t take much to make me weep, friends. But nothing does it so quickly and so clearly as when a child is crying out for their parents, who they may never see again.

It’s a nightmare scenario for me, as a parent, one that I literally would give anything to prevent from happening.

It is no longer in my dreams. It is real, and it is constantly in my face.

But, I’m also not just a parent. I’m a Father, and a particular kind of Father at that.

I’m the kind of Father that wears a funny looking white band around my neck. Because that band is a sign of who I represent.

Whether I like it or not, whether I’m worthy or not (trust me, I’m not worthy), I represent Jesus Christ, my savior, and God my loving Father.

And I cannot begin to imagine the heartbreak of Our Father after what has happened and is happening to “the least of these” in this past week.

God, who rescued his children from Egypt by leading them across the Red Sea.
 God, who time after time chases after Israel and time after time relents of punishment and shows mercy.
  God, who in the fullness of time sent His Only Son to die and rise again for us, that we may also have resurrection and life.
   God, who time and time again, commands us to be merciful.

And yet, time and time again, we seem to make a nightmare out of the good that God is working in the world.

That is why the Church, made up of
 Jew and Gentile (I’m of European descent, so I’m basically a SUPER Gentile),
  all color of skin (read the book of the Acts of the Apostles),
   and all languages (Pentecost in Acts 2)
    is repeatedly called to serve as a witness to that sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus.

And the witness we bear means that we live in accordance with the love of Christ, revealed in the Holy Scriptures and in the Tradition of the Church.

And a huge part of those Holy Scriptures bear witness to the holy women and holy men who passed down this faith to the kids. This is why the genealogies at the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew and Luke are actually a LOT more important than we treat them.

Because God’s commandments are meant to be passed on to children, and to our children’s children.

God first made a covenant with humanity, Abraham’s call being emblematic of that promise. Abraham handed on the Covenant promise to his son Isaac, and Isaac to his son Jacob, whom God also named Israel.  The people of Israel handed on this promise to each other at the Tabernacle of God, where the prophet Samuel as a baby was dedicated to God. King David handed on this covenant promise to his son Solomon, who built the temple of the Lord.

But in amongst that are plenty of times in which God was forgotten, and Israel failed to keep the covenant made with God and teach it to their children. Hence, the prophets words ring out still.

In spite of this, God came to us still in Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son before all worlds.

If God is a God who has proven time and time again that he doesn’t give up on us, how much more do we, followers of Jesus Christ, need to emulate that kind of love and sacrifice for each other.

So what do we do in the face of incredible brokenness, cruelty, and tragedy? That’s the question I’m struggling with at the moment.

But it becomes clearer when I look at my daughter and my son, and when I see the faces of the children crying for their momma and daddy who have been taken away by violence or by the targeted raids this past week.

In my mind, It becomes very simple: what kind of world do I want to leave for my kids?

So, I’ll just lay it out there. Here’s what I really want for my kids, in no particular order:

I want for my kids to be able to know that mommy and daddy will be home at the end of the day.

I want my kids to not worry about whether they will have food on the table.

I want my kids to have a roof over their heads and a warm bed in which to sleep.

I want for my kids to not have to think of whether it is safe to go and buy food at Walmart.

I want my kids to love Jesus, because Jesus loves them so very very much.

I want my kids to honor and care deeply for their friends, neighbors, and community, regardless of who lives there.

And I don’t just want that for my kids. I want that for all kids who live near and far in our country.

I want all kids to not have to worry whether mommy and daddy will be home at the end of the day.

I want all kids to not have to think twice about whether it is safe to go outside.

I want all kids to love Jesus, because Jesus loves them so very very much.

I want all kids to care deeply for their friends, neighbors, and community, regardless of who lives there.

What would it be like if we asked the leaders in our towns, cities, states, and country to remember the children when making decisions?
 That’s what I’m asking myself right now.
  Because there are a couple of things I’ve become convinced of:

The Bible makes it very clear that we adults will be held accountable for our actions toward the next generation of kids. In fact, Jesus tells us directly that if we do not become as children, we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, if we are failing the kids of our generation, we are failing God himself. If that doesn’t put things in perspective, I don’t know what will.

We are called to repent for evils that we do, and the evils that we desperately hold onto. It cannot be clearer to me at this moment in history that we have clung to evils that are best laid to rest. We have beaten our plowshares into swords, and our pruning hooks into spears, and have used these weapons to divide and to kill. This has happened in how we speak to each other, in how we legislate by party line, and in how we refuse to consider the basic humanity of our neighbors.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, is outside the reach of God’s saving grace. And God is intimately active in our nation, even as tragedy and sin marr the public eye.

We are called to strive for God’s mercy and justice in absolutely everything we do, whether we are politicians, religious leaders, or farmers. And if we strive for God’s mercy and justice, revealed in the Holy Scriptures and the Christian Tradition, I really believe that the Holy Spirit will guide us into peace in our national life.

So, in conclusion, I humbly ask that you consider doing some of the following:

Parents, hold your kids close and say you love them. Then, think about how you can leave a better world for them.

If you aren’t parents, get involved with caring for the kids in your community. Because those kids are who we leave our world to when we die.

And when we think about the world, think about the ways that we need to strive to make it better for the kids who come after us.

I love you all.

Please join me in remembering to think about the kids.

- Mark Harris