Dear Saints in Santa Fe, and other far-off places,
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ, who holds compassion for all God’s creation.
A baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on.
These words by poet Carl Sandburg have stayed in my mind, word for word, for some forty years and they come back to me every time I think of our new Infant Care Center on the third floor. It opened on February 4th after months and months of planning and renovation. I visited it last week and experienced the most peaceful, tranquil space in the whole church. Yes, there were babies present, and no, they weren’t crying while I was there.
And if they did cry, which is what babies do, I would consider it the sound of angels singing! Their cries and their laughter should be a healing salve for all the angst churches have about not seeing enough young people in church. Here they are, and their families, every day! It is a call for crying and rejoicing!
How wonderful it is, then, that we can provide such a beautiful space and fill such an enormous need in our community! We are currently serving nine families with up to six babies at any one time. How good it is that we are increasing our investment in our families, children, and youth.
Across the hall from the Infant Care Center the new youth room continues to develop. Our Venezuelan family lived in that space but after two months they have now moved to their own place not far from town so we can once again turn our attention to our children and youth and the plans we have for them going forward. Literally starting from scratch in the aftermath of the pandemic we now have seven children who come regularly, along with their families. It’s a great start, again, and we look forward to welcoming more.
Personally, I would expand Sandburg’s phrase to include children and youth. I believe, in all that I’ve read and learned, that God would be open and overjoyed to expand the reasons by which the world should go on.
Babies, children, and youth are God’s opinion that the world should go on. I like it.
But why stop there? Let’s include animals of every kind. No animal is taken off the list, even those whose lives are spent, literally, in factory farms all their days, their lives shortened and tortured and made small by human consumption. And should we not include the birds of the air and the fish in our seas? And what about the land and streams and fields and plants and trees? Wouldn’t these be all part of God’s opinion that the world should go on?
If all of creation can be included in Sandburg’s phrase, then what on earth are we doing to all creation? Might it not be time to find a better way to live with one another, to cherish the earth and all who live on it? Surely, God must have an opinion on that.
Because when we get to the heart of the matter, when we face the consequences of our choices, we may begin to see that the world might be healed, one plant, one fish, one bird, one field, one ocean, one stream, one animal, seven children, and nine babies at a time.
Grace and peace,
Harry