Rachel’s Day

We pray for our Children who are lost and crying out from the dark. Open our hearts, minds and arms, God, so that we may welcome children whose parents are incarcerated, absent from the home, or struggling with addiction. And help us, together, to provide them with the love, strength, and stability needed to run this race of life.—from the Litany for Rachel’s Day

Rachel’s Day is usually observed on the first Sunday in May.The day takes its name from Jeremiah 31:15–17, in which the matriarch Rachel grieves for her children. Rachel’s Day is a time to mourn the loss of our children and to renounce the forces of violence and fear. It started in one congregation, Bethel West in Chicago, and spread from there. At the 1996 Women of the ELCA Triennial Convention, delegates passed a memorial on Rachel’s Day, brought by the Metropolitan Chicago Synodical Women’s Organization, resolving “that ELCA women encourage their congregations to recognize the first Sunday in May each year as Rachel’s Day.” We continue to observe Rachel’s Day in order to broaden awareness of the violence suffered by children and to encourage taking action to address it.