Sons and Daughters

 

This morning we visited the Joy Children’s Home, the orphanage our congregation has envisioned for over a year.  Walking through the halls of this beautiful, expansive home, I could imagine children running, playing and laughing within its walls.  There was a dream-like quality to our visit, as though at any moment, we might wake and discover ourselves overrun with children, mothers, families.

While the home won’t open until August, much work has already been done.  Initial renovations are complete, three “mothers” have completed their three-month training, and the first 15 children have been selected.

One of those is baby Emmanuel, whose name means “God with us.”  I was able to hold Emmanuel this afternoon, and I was present when he and his new mother, Joyce, met for the first time.  Emmanuel was abandoned at birth on the grounds of Nazareth hospital, and he has spent his first five weeks of life orphaned in the pediatric ward.  Today, he left the hospital, not as an orphan, but as a son.

In Matthew 18, Jesus says,

“Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name, welcomes me.”

Emmanuel is well named.

There are so many children in horrific situations here, and it is so easy to be overwhelmed by a sense of hopelessness amidst the poverty, disease and abuse.  But these children are not orphans or strangers to us.  They are our sons and our daughters – they are our sisters and brothers – they are children of the King.  Our King says, “Your Father in Heaven is Not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.”

Today, one that was lost is now found.  Today, angels rejoice.  Today, with us God has a home.

by Jim Gates, Associate Pastor for Evangelism at First Presbyterian Church in Norfolk, Virginia.