People of God Can't be Silent About Bullying

There has been a lot of discussion in the media the past couple of weeks about bullying.
Bullying has always been a problem, but it has been a problem that has been largely ignored. There seemed to be an underlying sentiment that “kids will be kids” and a willingness to ignore it on the part of adults. As for kids, they have been largely quiet because to “squeal” about being picked on would almost certainly lead to more torment.
But times have changed, and the bullying, which now has the ability to be done via the internet as well as in person, has begun to push too many kids to despair to ignore. Kids used to react to the bullying by maybe feigning illness or becoming loners, or maybe becoming behavior problems for teachers and administrators.
But now, more and more bullied kids are resorting to suicide or other means of self-destruction.
By now, everyone has heard of the suicide of Tyler Clementi, the Rutgers student who jumped off the George Washington Bridge to his death. Last year, a young girl committed suicide after the parent of a classmate bullied her via the internet. And this week, a story aired about a father, tired of his daughter being bullied on her school bus, confronted her tormentors himself. He was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor. As his daughter, who suffers from cerebral palsy, explained how she had been bullied, she burst into tears.
Enough is enough.
Pray with me, Advent family, as I seek guidance from God on what we can do as a church to address this serious problem. I am sure we have students in our own congregation who have been bullied, and I am sure they have friends who have been bullied as well. If we, the people of God, are silent and inactive in the face of a serious problem, then who can be expected to step up …in the name of this Jesus whom we hail as redeemer? Aren’t we supposed to not only imitate the Christ but represent Him – to do what Jesus would do?
I hardly think Jesus would be silent with this bullying increasing as it is, and with kids being so tormented that they not only hate themselves but are driven to suicide. How many kids are scared to death to say anything about what they are enduring on a daily basis? How many kids’ grades are suffering not because they cannot do the work or are not paying attention, but because they are being bullied and picked on?
Their misery has to be compounded if, when they tell teachers and administrators, little to nothing is done, and they know that to tell parents would mean certain increase of bullying.
It seems that 1) we need to find out in our community how deep is the problem; 2) we need to know what schools in our community are doing and 3) we need to give kids and parents guidelines on how to deal with this problem.
I ask you to pray with me as I deal with this and try to find out how we, as a force in this community, can be beacons of change, or at least beacons of information so that change can come. We need to care about the problem because it affects the children and young adults over whom we are directed by God to provide comfort, direction and guidance.
Kids are bullied because they are fat, skinny, too dark, too smart (whatever that means), because they are sick, or developmentally, physically, or emotionally challenged, because they are gay or someone thinks they are gay, because they don’t wear the latest clothes, because they refuse to “sag” their pants, because they get good grades, because they want to do something with their lives …the list goes on and on.
God asks, “Whom shall I send?” and the prophet Isaiah says, “Here I am, Lord! Send me!”
Send us, dear Lord. Send us. Please, let’s pray together.
Pastor Smith