As we consider the New Year to come, especially in light of the politics of 2024, we wonder how we will be able to live our deeply held values in the face of a new political scene, one in which a new DHS leader promises to reinstitute the policy of family separation – that is, taking children from their parents to God knows where.
There are still more than 1,000 children still “missing,” that is, DHS was so haphazard in 2017-2019 that they don’t know where they sent them. Now, more than four years later, the youngest probably have no memories of their parents. This, of course, from people who claim to believe in “family values.”
Human beings hold the bond between parent and child to be the most fundamental. The threat became a reality before with children disappearing into the dark. What’s the difference between this and Putin’s kidnapping of Ukrainian children.? Not much.
Prayer for the Day
Mothers and their children, huddling and afraid, O God,
As the new Herod comes to drag them away;
Families fearful of what may await them, O Lord,
As those who pray on Sunday move against them on Monday.
Do not let us only shake our heads in silence, O Holy One,
But move to take on inhumane policies with action.
In the name of the One who fled with his mother,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
The incoming administration has refused to acknowledge the horrific damage it did to families and little children the first time around and seems determined to once again target families for gratuitous suffering.
Lee Gelernt, attorney, American Civil Liberties Union
In the cold light of day,” he asks, “will the uncomfortable truth shatter our confidence in our values? Will it show that our morality can stand up to closer scrutiny?
Hanno Sauer, philosopher, from The Invention of Good and Evil
Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
You people who have my teaching in your hearts;
Do not fear the reproach of others,
And do not be dismayed when they revile you.
For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool,
But my deliverance will be forever, and my salvation to all generations.
Isaiah 51: 7-8