Iowa religious organizations urged to hold Children’s Sabbath

This weekend Iowa churches and religious organizations are being urged to hold a special “Children’s Sabbath.” Steve Scott with “Prevent Child Abuse Iowa” says it’s a national observance to draw attention to the needs of our children.He says the point is to focus on the fact that children are key to all faith traditions, and all highlight the need to support and protect children and their families. Most old-testament prophets stress that people shouldn’t just worship, but carry out their faith in their community, and one key measure of that is said to be whether they support “widows and orphans.” In a Sunday service or during the rest of the week, Scott says people of faith can carry out the call to support kids in many ways. Volunteer to help kids as mentors, he says, teaching a Sunday-school class or working with youth programs. People could work for changes in society that make children and their families safer than we do now. The theme of this year’s national Children’s Sabbath is “Providing What God Requires and Children Need: Justice, Kindness and Faith.”