A MESSAGE FROM REV. KAREN KINNEY: CARING FOR THE MOST VULNERABLE
Grace and peace to you,
I don’t know about you, but the world feels very chaotic to me right now. A war that no one wants. Cruelty abounding at the local, state and national levels towards the most vulnerable among us: immigrants, people without homes, the LGBTQIA+ community, people who are poor and need government assistance and the list can go on. A time of transition for our own church and our mission and ministries. How can we possibly relate to our Lenten theme this year of “Tell Me Something Good?”
And, yet… there is still so much good to tell. A 
new prayer team has formed that will get together weekly to pray for the church, the staff, the congregation, the world, our nation, those who are most vulnerable. Folks are sharing their “Our Stories in Pictures and Words” (we will have a couple on display for you to read this Sunday and you can see some HERE).
In the midst of transition, people are finding hope (look next week for a summary of your answers to the questions we asked on Feb. 15), folks are still volunteering, we are still loving our neighbors and caring for the most vulnerable among us (check out the growing number of hearts on the 1,510 Acts of Service display).
Our faith in God, Jesus and Holy Spirit is telling us something good through the way we are trying to see the image of God in each face, imitating Jesus and listening to the Holy Spirit, particularly as it comes to those who are experiencing heightened cruelty through the actions of government and by extension, other public and private figures.
This Sunday, we will explore how throughout Scripture – prophets and Jesus – protected and cared for the vulnerable. Our passage from Matthew shows Jesus welcoming children when the disciples would have cast them aside. Children were among the least respected groups of people in ancient times. We could say that even now.
The statistics in Jesus’ time are appalling: In True to Our Native Land, Michael Joseph Brown provides context for the reality of children in first century Israel. He writes: “We should dismiss ideas of childhood bliss when we read this passage. Childhood in antiquity was difficult.
Fifty percent of children died before the age of five. They were the weakest members of society. They were fed last and received the smallest and least desirable portions of food. They were the first to suffer from famine, war, disease, and natural disasters. Many, some say more than 70 percent, would have lost one or more parents before reaching puberty. A minor had the same status as an enslaved person, and it was not until adulthood that they would be considered a free person.”
Our Deuteronomy passage reminds us to care for the most vulnerable among us – the immigrant, the widow, the orphan because we were once slaves in Egypt. We have been the vulnerable, haven’t we? So I wonder, if we have felt the protection and care of Jesus and been assured by the prophets, can we extend that care and protection to those most vulnerable in our place and time.
How have we as a community of faith done this already, and what might be on our hearts right now in the way of care and protection for those vulnerable populations experiencing cruelty and hatred and dangerous policies, as we contemplate our hopes and visions and dreams for the now and the future? How might we embody this sense of care and protection? Let’s explore together this Sunday.
On another note, I want to again highlight the two rooms we have set up – a creative space for you in Room 206 and a contemplative space in the Library. Check the rooms out and see how each room might be a source of Lenten practice for you.
Blessings,
Pastor Karen
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[1] True to Our Native Land: An African American New Testament Commentary, edited by Brian K. Blount, Gay L. Byron, and Emerson B. Powery, (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2024). 120