{"id":594,"date":"2013-09-25T21:36:39","date_gmt":"2013-09-26T02:36:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/?p=594"},"modified":"2014-11-25T10:15:22","modified_gmt":"2014-11-25T16:15:22","slug":"arent-christians-called-to-the-least-last","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2013\/09\/25\/arent-christians-called-to-the-least-last\/","title":{"rendered":"Aren&#8217;t Christians Called to the least, last&#8230;."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here is a post from a friend of mine. It speaks volumes about what our schools are not doing to protect the children from bullies. I know some do try but there are so many that do not. Please share, maybe some administrators will stand up and say NO to bullies and YES to protection.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I found out this morning that one of my more recent former youth group kids committed suicide yesterday morning. He was 14. In his letter found in his pocket he wrote that he was mercilessly bullied by one student day after day. They bully recently created a rumor that my former youth grouper, [Bob (Name Changed)], had done something to a girl that would never be excused or lived down. He said he was sorry and that he loved his family. More recently his family has been going through some major stuff, His mother has stage 4 breast cancer and had a double mastectomy last Friday, and before I left for seminary his father was diagnosed with early stages of Parkinson&#8217;s Disease. My former boss\/pastor of the UCC church I most recently worked called me to let me know and offered that I come to the funeral because I am someone all of his friends at the church connect with rather than the new youth person. I would really like to come as a person to support those who are grieving but more just to be another person in the congregation not a leadership person. I also don&#8217;t know if I will be able to get time off to go. Overall, I just feel super sad, he was a great kid who was one of my favorites. We really need to get something in place to help people feel more comfortable reporting this kind of stuff so people don&#8217;t feel so alone and resort to suicide as the only answer.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Christians are called by God to protect the least, the last and the lost.  We are not to conform to this world but transform it through spreading the Word.  Christians are in the schools and although religion has been bullied out of the schools, who we are cannot and should not and we must still follow our call to the least, last and lost.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here is a post from a friend of mine. It speaks volumes about what our schools are not doing to protect the children from bullies. I know some do try but there are so many that do not. Please share, maybe some administrators will stand up and say NO to bullies and YES to protection. &#8230; <span class=\"more\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2013\/09\/25\/arent-christians-called-to-the-least-last\/\">[Read more&#8230;]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15,29,11,38,12,14,83],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-dougd","4":"post-594","6":"format-standard","7":"category-christian-love","8":"category-community","9":"category-death","10":"category-evil","11":"category-lossandgrief","12":"category-love","13":"category-sermon"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2m6h5-9A","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1520,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2016\/05\/02\/church-bullies\/","url_meta":{"origin":594,"position":0},"title":"Church Bullies","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"May 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Below is a very interesting article about bullies in the church. In the past I have seen this behavior by members of a church. \u00a0I saw a pastor leave a congregation following some of this behavior. \u00a0The title is indicates that there are good reasons, however the good reasons are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bullies&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bullies","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/bullies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1843,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2017\/07\/02\/trust-call-out-the-wrongs\/","url_meta":{"origin":594,"position":1},"title":"Trust, call out the wrongs","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"July 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Sunday, June 25, 2017 | After Pentecost Proper 7 Year A Revised Common Lectionary (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2009). Romans 6:1b\u201311 Matthew 10:24\u201339 Click here for the audio only version https:\/\/youtu.be\/TzdGddWpsHQ","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bullies&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bullies","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/bullies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/TzdGddWpsHQ\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1587,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2016\/07\/03\/traveling-light-chapters-15-16\/","url_meta":{"origin":594,"position":2},"title":"Traveling Light Chapters 15-16","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"July 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This is part 5 of a 6 part series from Max Lucado\u2019s book, Traveling Light: Releasing the Burdens You Were Never Intended to Bear. Click here for the audio of this sermon. \u00a0 First Reading James 4:1-3 (TNIV) Today\u2019s New International Version 1What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don\u2019t\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bullies&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bullies","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/bullies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Traveling Light Calvary Alter","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Traveling-Light-Calvary-Alter-1-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2008\/01\/18\/talk-about-a-double-standard\/","url_meta":{"origin":594,"position":3},"title":"Talk about a Double Standard","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"January 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I have a saying that I use in jest, but sometimes it just fits. Church would be a great place if it weren't for all those dang people!My wife and I recently attended a bible study. It really was a great time. My son went to the High School youth\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2008\/01\/02\/new-beginings\/","url_meta":{"origin":594,"position":4},"title":"New Beginings","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"January 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, we are in a new year now. It is a time to start a new. A new is good many times. For me it is a good time as well. I stepped back into a Church that I had not been in for over a month. It started off\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2008\/01\/02\/new-beginings\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2008\/10\/23\/becoming-overwelmed\/","url_meta":{"origin":594,"position":5},"title":"Becoming Overwelmed","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"October 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"There are times when pressures just seem to take control of us. However, I know if I turn it over to God, he will handle it for me, in just a way that is perfect for me. Now do I turn it over? That is up to me and I\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":595,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions\/595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}