Orphan Sunday

The last few years, I recognized this day with a photo of a cute orphan who I got to share a week of my summer with. This year, Orphan Sunday is a little different. Today at church, I attended one in the capital city that one of the orphanage’s previous residents attends. I got to hear a sermon about Christians being doers of the word, not just listeners. This is when the pastor pointed us to the verse James 1:27, that we should look after orphans and widows in their distress. We were reminded of the 40+ girls who lost their lives early this year in the capital’s biggest orphanage, solely because no one was there to meet their need of being heard.

Later in the service, 2 couples and a younger gentleman (about my age) took the stage. One couple works at a children’s home. Another couple had adopted two orphans. The gentleman in the middle in the gray shirt lived at Casa Shalom for nearly 15 years and opened up to the congregation, sharing some of his testimony, the difficulties of living in an orphanage, and how he’s succeeding now due to the care that was shown to him. (Side note: I wasn’t sure what outfit to wear to a new church today- casual or dressy- so I chose a skirt and a nice top, the same I wore when I shared a bit of my testimony and my volunteer work in front of my congregation this past January. Parents, don’t be mad at me for not telling you until almost 10 months later!)

Orphan Sunday is more than a day on the calendar. It’s a day to recognize those who don’t have families who love and care for them, for those who feel lost without a purpose, who have faced challenges in life most of us in the US rarely give a thought to. Living in an orphanage is more than playing with kids all day. It’s hearing questions like, “Do you have a family? A mother? A father?” as a normal conversation starter. It’s seeing the physical scars of abuse, whether it’s skin deep or had become a handicap in a way. It’s assisting in therapy with those kids who are mentally scarred due to lack of care or support. It’s watching a life transform from scared and hopeless to one full of purpose and hope. It’s loving and caring for those that have never felt either.

I am hoping orphans are thought of and prayed for more than one Sunday out of the year. That the homeless and abandoned are a part of the church family. That orphans are recognized as people too. That they have a purpose. That they come to know of their adoption from the greatest Father.

“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families…” ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭68:5-6‬

I am loved. I am adopted. I belong.