Children's Sabbath October 16-18

[RCCAtl]

2015 National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths

How Long Must I Cry for Help? Bending the Arc toward God’s Vision of Justice for Children

 October 16-18

Together, places of worship across the nation will focus on real solutions to significantly reduce child poverty now. The new Action Section of the 2015 Children’s Sabbath manual, available now on the Children’s Defense Fund website, suggests five key actions for places of worship to take.

Fifty years after President Johnson’s war on poverty, some of us are asking “How long will it take until we end the child poverty that traps one in five children–one in two Black babies and one in three Hispanic babies? It is a national moral disgrace that there are 14.7 million poor children and 6.5 million extremely poor children in the United States of America—the world’s largest economy. It is also unnecessary, costly and the greatest threat to our future nation, our economic and military security. And soul.

Ours is the task and now is the time to help bend the arc toward God’s vision of justice for children by uniting places of worship all across the nation on the Children’s Sabbath Weekend. Together we will hear the cries of our children and respond through service and action not only on the Children’s Sabbath weekend but throughout the year to come.

We can start by ending child poverty now and here in our rich nation. How? Children’s Defense Fund’s recent groundbreaking report Ending Child Poverty Now, outlines steps that we can take to make a huge down payment on ending preventable, costly and immoral child poverty in our wealthy nation—and more importantly our nation could reduce child poverty by 60 percent and Black child poverty by 72 percent.

CDF urges every place of worship that participates in the Children’s Sabbath this year to hold a study session to learn more about we can end child poverty now. Make sure to download the report and study session outline in the Action Section on the website at the National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths page today. You will also find a number of resources to help you plan worship, education, outreach, and advocacy activities for your own place of worship or joining with other places of worship in your community.

Planning Your Children's Sabbath: Ideas for all Faiths		Christian Worship Resource for Children's Sabbath		Christian Education Resource for Children's Sabbath
Jewish Resources for Children's Shabbat		Resources for a Multifaith Children's Sabbath Celebration		Action Ideas for Children's Sabbath Weekend and Throughout the Year

Please make sure to read "Welcome to the 2015 National Observance of Children's Sabbaths."

Thank you for your commitment to living your faith in action with and for children to help bend the arc toward God’s vision of justice. Together we can and will make a difference for all children across the nation.

L’shana tova to those who celebrate. Wishing you a sweet new year of joy and justice. You can download the Jewish Section of the Children’s Sabbath here.