From Lee Spitzer: The following message came from the September 2008 newsletter of Seaview Baptist Church in Linwood, where Rev. Ned Flexer is serving as interim pastor.

In my sermon on August 17th, “Blessed Are the Merciful, for They Will Receive Mercy”, I talked about the need for the church to respond to poverty, especially to children living in poverty. It is difficult to know what to do, but thankfully we have been doing some things. We have been collecting food for the Atlantic County Food Bank (I delivered over 122 pounds a few weeks ago), we have been participating in Angel Tree for several years, giving Christmas gifts to children with one or more parent in prison, and we have been strongly and generously supporting missionaries, many of whom minister to, by providing medical care, education, fresh water, food and much more to people living in poverty in lands we will never see.

This past week I received my copy of the Christian Citizen, Voices for Biblical Justice, a publication of National Ministries, American Baptist Churches USA. The entire magazine, all 25 pages, is about Children in Poverty: Local Churches Respond.

The Editorial by Curtis Ramsey-Lucas, is entitled “Another Kind of Violence: Poverty and the Church’s Response.” He quotes Robert Kennedy, in a speech in April 1968: “There is another kind of violence, slower but just as deadly destructive as the shot or the bomb in the night. This is the violence of institutions- indifference and inaction and slow decay. This is the violence that afflicts the poor, that poisons relationships between men because their skin has different colors. This is the slow destruction of a child by hunger, and schools without books and homes without heat in the winter.”

Forty years have passed since Robert Kennedy spoke those words and Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of our need to “re-establish the moral ends of our lives in personal character and social justice.” And while the lives of King and Kennedy were cut short their words were not. Still they challenge us to press on in the fight against poverty and injustice. With one in six children living in poverty in America, their words are no less urgent today than when they were first spoken.

Both Barack Obama and John McCain pledge to place poverty reduction high on the agendas of their administration. State governments are taking the initiative as well and the church should encourage these efforts. We should applaud candidates and hold them accountable for their promises to reduce child poverty.

What more can Seaview Baptist do? There is a new book entitled, Hope for Children in Poverty - profiles and possibilities, edited by Ron Sider and Heidi Unruh. The review of this book by Publishers Weekly says, “a concrete starting point for those in government, social services and churches looking for solutions to these desperate problems.”

I have been thinking about who might be interested in reading and discussing this book as a part of our Wednesday night program. It would be a good step toward understanding and responding to this important issue. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” If you have any suggestions or would be interested in participating in or leading such a group please let me know. Thanks.