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BY SHAUN LANE
UMCONNECTION STAFF

How can United Methodists encounter God?

"Get up and talk about justice," Marian Wright Edelman told the members of the 227th annual conference.

Edelman, the founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund, is convinced that the "the greatest threat to our national security is not from without. It's a failure to invest in our children," 13 million of whom are living in poverty, she said.

Edelman quoted theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer: "The test of the morality of a society is how we treat our children." America and its churches are flunking this test, she said. "If we believe every child is sacred, we must be out there fighting for every sacred child."

Edelman, who has received both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the MacArthur "Genius Award" Fellowship, said that black children are facing their "worst crisis since slavery," pointing to a low quality of education and high rates of youth incarceration.

"I believe incarceration is becoming the new American apartheid," she said. "How can 6- and 7- and 8-year-old children be arrested and handcuffed on school grounds for offenses that used to be handled in the principal's office, and there's not a huge ruckus from the community of adults?"

According to Edelman, black males are six times as likely to be incarcerated as white males. A black boy has a one in three chance of going to prison at some point in his life. "Our country, our states are spending on average three times more per prisoner than per public school pupil. That's the dumbest public policy I can think of," she said. "But these crises are not acts of God. They are choices that must be changed, and the church ought to say so. Where is our voice?"

In a summary of a solution for the nation's minority children, Edelman highlighted a biblical story. "Everything our nation and all of us need to know about life can be learned from Noah's Ark," she said.

"Lesson one, don't miss the boat. The United States is going to miss the boat to lead and compete in our globalizing world, because we are not preparing a majority of our children for the future. Every 11 seconds of the school day, a child drops out. A majority of children of all racial and income groups, and over 80 percent of black and Hispanic children, cannot read or compute at grade level in fourth, eighth or twelfth grade. God did not make two classes of children. Every single one deserves a quality education.

"Lesson two, we are all in the same boat. Many Americans may not like or think they have any self-interest in assuring a fair playing field for other people's children, especially poor and minority children. But black, Hispanic and other minority children will be a majority of our child population in 2023.

"Lesson three, plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark. Tomorrow is today, and children have only one childhood.

"Lesson four, remember that the Ark was built by amateurs, the Titanic was built by professionals. Feel your own power. Use your own power. Don't rely on experts.

"And the last lesson, build your future, build our children's future and our nation's future on high ground."

For those wishing to more deeply encounter God by becoming advocates for children, Edelman recommends beginning study groups in local churches to explore Michelle Alexander's book "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness." She also encouraged the celebration of Children's Sabbath. For more information, visit The Children's Defense Fund Web site at www.childrensdefense.org.

"The wealthy man didn't go to hell because of his wealth," Edelman told the members of the Baltimore-Washington Conference. "He went to hell because he didn't recognize that his wealth was his opportunity. He went to hell because he allowed his brother to be invisible.

"The real question before us is, do we have the will," Edelman said. "We must take the first step, keep moving, and let God do the rest."