Children who lived in the inner cities as I was growing up knew the sign and what it meant: an 8-1/2 x 11″ poster in the window of a neighboring house with a big red hand pictured on it.

It meant they’d be safe there.

They could run there when they were in trouble at home, at school, or on the street.

They’d be taken in, any time of day or night, and protected.

They’d find the kind of home they may not have had at home.

They’d find a father-figure, or an older-brother figure, who would keep them from harm.

When troubled people are in our assemblies and hear us speak of such a father and brother in our songs and prayers, do they find that kind of home?

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! — Luke 13:34