Children told treat refugees with respect

CHILDREN at the Feast of the Holy Innocents Service at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Port of Spain yesterday were encouraged to treat everyone with respect, including refugees, as Jesus was also forced to run away from home.

Children from the St Mary’s Children’s Home and the Cyril Ross Home were blessed along with their Christmas toys.

Dean Shelley-Ann Tenia got the children involved in the sermon by asking them questions about the story of King Herod the Great, who killed boys two years and under in Bethlehem in his attempt to kill baby Jesus. Herod wanted to kill Jesus because he wanted to be the only king in Bethlehem.

As a result, Jesus and his parents Mary and Joseph fled Bethlehem and sought safety in Egypt.

There are a large number of refugees in TT and Tenia said this is what Jesus and his family had to endure.

“Sometimes people need a place of refuge, just like Jesus, Mary and Joseph needed a place of refuge. Do you need a place of refuge sometimes? Do you need a safe place to go when you feel somebody is coming after you? When you feel like you need a place of refuge, when you need a place to be safe, you can come here and you will find one of us.”

Tenia told the congregation to treat refugees with respect, saying, “When they end up in our country...and we treat them nicely it’s like we are doing what the Egyptians did for Jesus.”

She told the children not to act like Herod if they don’t get what they want.

“That is not the way of God. We hurt people when we act that way.”

Instead they should try to follow the way Jesus lived his life and not destroy their toys.

“Jesus showed us how to be kind, generous and handle our differences.”

Tenia encouraged the children to be strong, because the life of Jesus was not a walk in the park.

“He came as a little child, he slept in a stable, a feeding box, not with a pillow. You ever slept on hay or on straw? He came as a baby, not in the best of circumstances.”