Mothers Before Their Time
I've been in a Seventh-day Adventist Church in Queens for about 19 years. Basically, I grew up there. Being in a church (or any community for that matter) for that amount of time has made me aware of certain patterns. There are certainly many good patterns, but today I will like to point out one that can have different results.
The appearance of a new-born baby always bring joy into a community. Everyone is eager to watch he/she grow and to see what kind of individual develops. In the process of interacting with the baby, many young women find themselves playing the mother role. One might think that this is not a problem, and I would agree that it's not always a problem. The problem arises when every worship service is used as an opportunity to take care of a baby while the mother is worshipping. The problem is not that it happens once in awhile, but because it becomes habitual.
The young women that I'm referring to, where usually between the ages of 14/15 to 21. They would miss the entire worship service and probably didn't get the real sense of the sermon. Is this entirely their fault? Certainly not, the mothers of the babies who are being taken also are to be blamed. It is their responsibility to make sure that they are the ones who are taking care of the babies during the worship service.
Perhaps this pattern has contributed to young women leaving the church, or even to them having babies at a young age. Who knows? I certainly don't, but I do know that "There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven" (Ecc. 3:1). I guess my concern can be stated in this manner; "What are they missing and what are they gaining when they are engage in such activity every Sabbath?"
