Who Will Care for the Orphan?: If You Are a United Methodist, It Could Be You!
200
Who Will Care for the Orphan?: If You Are a United Methodist, It Could Be You!
200Hardcover
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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781630478568 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Morgan James Publishing |
| Publication date: | 05/10/2016 |
| Series: | Morgan James Faith Series |
| Pages: | 200 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.70(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.80(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
“In the midst of life we are in death.” They are words that have been spoken by thousands of pastors down through the centuries. This phrase is found in “A Service of Committal” from the United Methodist Church’s (UMC) Book of Worship, and is one that I used over 400 times during my years as a UMC pastor. Derived from the Latin media vita in morte summus, the phrase likely originated in France in the 8th Century and is part of a longer passage:
Media vita in morte sumus ; quem quaerimus adjutorem, nisi te Domine, qui pro peccatis nostris juste irasceris? Sancte Deus, mnia fortis, mnia et misericors Salvator, amarae morti ne tradas nos.
In the midst of life we are in death: of whom may we seek for succor, but of thee, O Lord, who for our sins art justly displeased? Yet, O Lord God most holy, O Lord most mighty, O holy and most merciful Savior, deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal death.
Sadly, these words could be spoken 26,000 times per day, every day, over the lifeless bodies of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) who succumb to the effects of extreme poverty around the planet. These deaths are, almost without exception, avoidable: together, the human family has the resources, technology and capacity to greatly reduce infant and child mortality rates, reproducing in the developing world what has taken place in the rich, developed nations across the planet. Tragically, what we lack, however, is the commitment to make this happen.
Modern medical and technological innovation—in the form of sanitation, vaccinations, potable water and nutrition—have lowered the infant mortality rate (deaths of children under the age of 1) in the rich, developed, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Nations (OECD) to less than 5 per thousand and the child mortality rate (deaths of children under the age of 5) to 7 per thousand. This contrasts sharply with the developing nations, located primarily in the global south, where the infant mortality rate runs as high as 150 per 1000 and the child mortality rate exceeds 200 per thousand. Acute respiratory infections, diarrhea, measles, malaria and malnutrition linked to extreme poverty continue to take their toll on children through and past the age of 18 in the developing world in great contrast to the OECD nations where these issues are virtually non-existent. This is, in essence, a discussion about location: the odds of a child dying before the age of 18 are approximately fifty times higher if said child is unfortunate enough to have been born in a poor, undeveloped nation.
This staggering reality—26,000 children die daily around the world from the effects of extreme poverty—means that eight times more children die every day from the effects of extreme poverty than the total number of persons who were killed in the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. Consider this:
- One child dies every three seconds somewhere on planet earth from the effects of extreme poverty.
- Twenty children die every minute around the world from preventable causes: this is the same number of children who were murdered in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012.
- 400 children die every twenty minutes whose lives could be spared for as little as a dollar per child per day: this is the same number of passengers on a fully loaded Boeing 747.
- 1,200 children die every hour: this is similar to the number of persons who died on the Titanic (Titanic – approximately 1,500 deaths).
- 26,000 children die every day: more children die every day around the world than the total number of persons who can attend a concert, hockey, basketball game or circus at Madison Square Garden.
- 182,000 children die every week: this is approximately the total number of who live in Providence, RI, the capital of that state.
- 10 million children die every year because of a lack of potable water, vaccines, food and other basic medicine: this is a number equal to the total number of persons the Nazis executed in Germany under Adolf Hitler during the reign of the Third Reich (6 million Jews plus 4 million gypsies, homosexuals, disabled persons and others the Nazis considered inferior).
The ongoing death toll of these children rarely makes news in the mainstream media, in faith-based publications, in the blogosphere, worship services or in personal conversations. Out of sight and out of mind for most of us in the developed world, we turn a blind eye to the suffering of these little ones whose very care we—as global citizens, persons of faith, Christians and members of the United Methodist Church—are responsible for. These are real deaths of real children taking place during our lifetimes despite our propensity for collective denial and a shared refusal to accept moral responsibilities. These deaths occur all around the globe but are primarily centered in the undeveloped nations of the global south. The angel of death hovers over these children in the favelas of South America, in the slums of India, in the villages and cities of Africa and beyond.
Parallel and overlapping the tragic death of these 26,000 children per day is the crisis of orphans, of children being raised without one or both parents. Although reliable data is difficult to find a recent UN Report estimates that there are up to 210,000,000 orphans worldwide, and that every day 5,760 more children become orphans. War, AIDS, malaria, cholera, famine, environmental degradation and the mismanagement and or corruption of governing institutions have created conditions of extreme poverty and communities filled with orphaned children and teenagers.
The suffering of children around the planet—from the death of 10 million children per year to the existence of 210 million orphans alive and struggling to survive—should elicit an unparalleled response from people of faith all around the world instead of the collective sigh and shrug of our shoulders it usually generates. Seriously, how can any follower of Jesus Christ not be affected and moved to action by these facts?
There is no simple answer to this question. On a daily basis we hear of wars, death and destruction: there are always stories in the news of sexual abuse, disease, natural disasters, car/train/airplane accidents, school shootings, police brutality. No matter which way we turn, there are more victims to help, worthy causes to support, rallies to attend, and rights to protect. And we have helped: we have walked and sponsored friends in CROP Walks, we have worked at soup kitchens and overnight shelters, we have sponsored children through agencies where, “for $3 per day you can save a child;” we have paid our World Service apportionments and given to special UMCOR Disaster Responses through specific Advance requests. We have participated and supported others in Volunteers In Mission (VIM) Teams, have sponsored missionaries and given to programs such as the “Imagine No Malaria Campaign.” We have engaged in all forms of fundraising, from pancake breakfast to spaghetti suppers, from car washes to the sale of chocolate and wrapping paper. We have held walk-a-thons, sit-a-thons, dance-a-thons and fast-a-thons. We have given and we have helped—to be sure.
But the problems still persist. In fact, they are probably getting worse. It is obvious that the world’s needs are greater than our personal or denominational resources. And, because we cannot address all of these issues, we sometimes retreat and neglect to address any of them. Instead of using our time, talents, gifts and resources to help where we are capable of making a difference we, as individuals, avoid the mission field altogether and choose, instead, to mulch our garden, renovate the kitchen or build a new storage shed in an effort to feel that we are at least accomplishing something. As a denomination our collective apathy towards helping the human condition around the planet is sidetracked by interdenominational quarreling or the ongoing quest for church growth.
But while these activities might salve our conscience for a while we know, on a deeper level, that the call to true discipleship demands far more. We will not solve the world’s problems through fundraisers. The world has some significant problems. United Methodists could take a lead role in addressing these concerns, but we have been too busy with other issues and, to an extent, discouraged and disillusioned. If we change our minds and our approach and return to a Wesleyan theology and methodology, however, we can help lots of people, including ourselves. We can contribute greatly towards building a world of peace with justice and, through our faithful service and sacrifice, attract millions of new members. Wouldn’t this be a great direction for a world with children in great need and our struggling denomination?
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) defines an “orphan” as a person under the age of 18 who has lost at least one parent. Most Americans think that an orphan is a child under 18 who has lost both parents: internationally, a child who has lost one parent is considered an orphan and a child whose mother and father have both died is considered a “double orphan.” A maternal orphan is a child whose mother has died and a paternal orphan one whose father had died. While it is obvious that a double orphan, in most circumstances, will suffer more than a maternal or paternal orphan, conditions in the developing world often make it extremely difficult for a child who has lost even one parent to become successful or, in too many circumstances, even survive. In nations where the competition for resources is fierce and the life expectancy hovers around the age 50, as it does in most of Sub-Saharan Africa, the loss of one parent usually creates a crisis—the loss of both parents is often catastrophic.
The word “orphan” is mentioned 41 separate times in the Bible, usually with the admonition to “care for the widow and orphan.” There was often a direct relationship between widows and orphans in Biblical times: when a husband / father died leaving behind a wife and child (ren) these surviving family members were often hard-pressed to stay alive. The father was usually the breadwinner who received compensation for his work: a widow and children would be in dire straits if there were no other males in the family to take them in.
While there have been many technological innovations and social changes in the centuries since the Bible was written, many things have remained the same. In a great majority of nations around the world the man is still expected to work and be the primary source of income for the family. Even in the developed nations of Europe and North America there is a lingering assumption that the male is responsible for working outside of the home while the woman may or may not have a career / job. Families that lose their husband/father, whether in Biblical times or today, are at a tremendous disadvantage over those where the husband/father survives.
Think for a moment of your father (if you are fortunate enough to remember him) and think of how you and or your family might have been had he died while you were young. In most cases your father’s absence would have created a gaping hole.
Young women / mothers also die: historically, many women died during childbirth, thus leaving their newborn babies maternal orphans. While the number of women dying in childbirth in the developed, wealthy nations has decreased dramatically since the advent of modern medicine, many women in the global south still perish giving birth. There is a long list of other reasons women die young in the poor nations, ranging from disease (malaria and HIV / Aids are still lethal killers in the global south) to accidents, cancers, heart disease, stroke, etc.
Mothers have traditionally filled the role of family nurturer. They have provided the intimate, caring atmosphere in which children experience love and acceptance. Children raised without a mother are often poorly equipped emotionally and may lack the confidence or self-esteem that children raised in a home with their mothers develop.
Think for a moment of your mother (if you are fortunate enough to remember her) and think of how you and or your family might have been had she died while you were young. In most cases your mother’s absence would have created a tremendous void.
Orphans, be they maternal, paternal or double, are often children at risk. While the old adage tells us that children are “tough,” the loss of a parent at a young age is always traumatic and will leave lasting damage. Many orphans in the rich, developed nations carry emotional baggage with them their entire lives, beginning with depression, reactive attachment disorder, PTSD, anxiety, low self-esteem and difficulty building relationships with superiors, colleagues, friends or spouses. These wounds can, in many circumstances, be healed through counseling, therapy, unconditional love from other family members and the gift of time, but the scar is always present.
For orphans in the global south, however, the emotional trauma of parental loss is often outpaced by the child’s physical struggle to survive. Children whose mothers or fathers die in the poor nations of the world usually have two strikes against them, 1) being born in a poor nation and 2) the loss of one or both parents. The primary negative outcomes of becoming an orphan in the global south include, but are not limited to, severe-malnutrition, above-average rates of morbidity and mortality, lower-than-average rates of school attendance and completion at the primary level, and, in all probability, a heavier work burden (both paid and unpaid child labor) (Subbarao and Coury 2004:2).
The circumstances and conditions that orphans have experienced since the dawn of human history have always made it difficult for these children to survive and be successful, but current conditions around the world have magnified these obstacles. Due to a number of historic, cultural, geo-political and economic factors over thirty percent of the world’s population—some 2.6 billion persons—live below, at or just above the line of extreme poverty. Extreme poverty, originally defined by the United Nations in 1995, is “a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information. It depends not only on income but also on access to services.” (United Nations 1995)
Conditions vary, nation-to-nation, region-to-region, continent-to-continent, urban to suburban and rural, but the World Bank has established US$1.25 per day as the threshold for extreme poverty. Approximately 1.4 billion persons live on less than US$1.25 per day, and another billion humans live between US$1.25 and US$2.00 per day.
Those living below this threshold, approximately one sixth of the world’s population, lack the resources to fulfill basic human needs: they “survive” on one bowl of rice per day, live in substandard housing and have virtually no health care. (Trickle Up Staff 2014) Those living just over this level fare little better: while $2 per day goes further in the developing world than in the US or Western Europe, raising a family of 4 on US$8 per day is problematic no matter where you live.
These 2.6 billion persons around the planet who live on less than US$2 per day subsist without any financial safety net. They can survive, albeit barely, when food, gas, oil or other commodities increase modestly in price but their very existence is threatened when larger shocks such as dramatic price spikes, droughts, floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, factory closings or serious illness disturb the status quo. When you live on the margins without any savings, insurance, pension, emergency plan or backup strategy unforeseen challenges often have deathly consequences.
Among these 2.6 billion persons living below, at, or just above the line of extreme poverty, 40 percent, approximately 1 billion, are children. Said another way: one billion children around the world live in conditions of extreme poverty.
Children, like their parents or other adults, who live in these conditions live one illness away from death. Children living in extreme poverty don’t enjoy the medical, dental, educational, housing or dietary benefits children living in relative comfort take for granted. Children living in extreme poverty are generally unable to receive a basic education. Children who live in extreme poverty live on the margins of survival.
When a child living in extreme poverty loses a parent, or both parents, his or her chances of survival are greatly mitigated. These children, now orphans, constitute the base and largest contributor towards the 26,000 children who die daily around the planet. And, tragically, the number of orphans around the world is increasing. (Subbarao and Coury 2004:xiii)
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, usually portrayed as Conquest, War, Famine and Death, ride at liberty across the planet, virtually unchecked by representatives of institutional religions who are often more focused on theological infighting than self-sacrificial works of mercy. Will we—as the human family—continue to ignore this ongoing tragedy, or will we find another way?
Table of Contents
Foreword - Ken CarderIntroduction
Chapter I - Whither the UMC
Chapter II - Recipe for a Denomination in Decline: John Wesley Redux
Chapter III - Methodists and Orphans
Chapter IV - Peacebuilding Within and Beyond the UMC
Chapter V - A Better Way
Chapter VI - Organizing to Defeat the Spiritual Forces of Evil
Conclusion
Appendix I
Appendix II
References