How do we celebrate a Children’s Sabbath when we can’t have kids in the sanctuary yet? How do we bring their voices and spirit into worship? That’s the latest pandemic puzzle that has had us thinking creatively. And we are up for the challenge because there’s something about hearing familiar worship words in the tenor of a child’s voice that makes us lean in closer to be challenged by God’s Word. Watch your emails for ways your children can add their voices to our modified but meaningful Children’s Sabbath worship on Oct. 24.

What is Children’s Sabbath? The National Observance of Children’s Sabbath is an annual event that reminds people of faith “to renew and live out their moral responsibility to care, protect, and advocate for all children.” Where do we start? Marian Wright Edelman, President of the Children’s Defense Fund, spoke of children needing five things:

A healthy start with access to good medical care, enough nutritious food, and clean water.
A head start that requires investments in early education and accessible childcare for working parents.
A fair start that uproots systemic inequalities that leave many low- and middle-income families with barely enough to address their families’ basic needs.
A safe start that includes common sense gun safety measures and dismantling “cradle to prison pipeline” policies that still criminalize children of color.
And, finally, our children need a moral start, which begins with seeing the adults in the homes, communities, and churches like Fauntleroy, living out the values of neighbor love, justice, respect, and welcome.

Children’s Sabbath happens one Sunday a year, but it contains a message for all times: How will we keep the voices, spirit, and lives of our children centered in our worship and in our faith-full work with God to create a caring and just world for all?