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The Rev. Dr. Chris Tuttle, Westminster Presbyterian Church, "Where can our children be safe?"

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  Where can our children be safe?   ---The Rev. Dr. Chris Tuttle     “That’s where I’ll be, dad.   If… (long pause) …something happens.”   I was driving my 6 th grader to school, inching forward in the carpool line.   The Friday beforehand his middle school had been the target of an online threat of violence.   The day before there was a threat against the high school our other son attends.   This time it was a hoax, something replicated nationally, and our older son showed us a screenshot of the name of the school plastered on top of a picture of an assault rifle.   That day, at the high school, someone had also pulled the fire alarm, more fear rippling out, and the teenagers spread out across the campus, seeking safety.   Those threats prompted a conversation with both of our boys who are still at home (we also have a daughter at college): “If there is a shooting at your school, know I am going to get in the car and get as close as I can to come find you.   Pick
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Kelly Sasser, Watts Street Baptist Church, "Mending (and Re-mending) Our Safety Nets"

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  Mending (and Re-mending) Our Safety Nets                                                                       -- Kelly Sasser   Those of us committed to ministry with children and youth know that this work is both an awesome, sacred privilege and a terrifying responsibility.   We are called not only to help our young people with faith formation but also to provide care for their physical, mental, and social well-being as they move through vulnerable, sometimes turbulent years in their development.   At every point, we seek to provide ministries of care, nurture, protection, and support…embodying the words of Frederick Buechner, "Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid."   Alongside of families, neighbors, schools, teams, and other community organizations, we do our best to weave together safety nets for the youth among us, with each strand hopefully representing another asset for healthy development.   Some of the ways o
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