The Sunday Sermonette – Orphans. Trains. And the Titanic.
Little Alice was an orphan, living in a world of poverty, hunger, and crime. After being left on the front steps of the New York City Foundling Hospital, she lived there until 1919, when a Cajun-French couple from Louisiana adopted her. She was just three years old. When she passed away at 99 in 2015, after a long and rewarding life, she was Louisiana’s last known living Orphan Train Child. And thus, her story begins.
Between 1854 and 1929, the Children’s Aid Society of New York and the New York Foundling Hospital collected money and resources to help the thousands of homeless or abandoned children from the city’s teeming slums. Believing the children’s future opportunities would be brighter in rural areas, the Orphan Trains brought children to many Southern towns in Louisiana and Mississippi. (Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, was one of those towns.)
Don Lynch, Historian for The Titanic Historical Society, stated that the Aid Society and the Founding Hospital created tear-jerking backstories to evoke sympathy for the orphans, hoping to make them more adoptable. After April 1912, saying the parents had gone down with the ill-fated ship was a particular favorite. Sometimes they would even go so far as to say the child had survived the sinking if the child was too young to remember.
The arrival of the Orphan Train was often announced in the local paper. When it stopped at the depot, the children would be paraded around in front of the locals gathered there. Some lucky children were adopted on the spot, while others were taken on “contract” as indentured servants or field hands. Needless to say, New York City’s philanthropic endeavor was not perfect.
Little Alice was adopted by Auguste Geoffroy, a farmer, and his wife. Constance. She said she spent her first night “shivering with fright” in the bed between them. As a young girl, Alice soon discovered that her orphan status was the subject of some derision and teasing from her classmates. “I never felt accepted,” she would later say. Thankfully, she was eventually accepted by a handsome young man, Reuben Bernard. It was love at first sight. They married, started a life together, reared seven children, and lived happily ever after, the way all good stories should end.
However, not all stories have happy endings. Many of us may know human orphans, but there are other kinds of orphans—spiritual orphans. They’re just as real and need our attention to help them find true happiness and their true identity in Father God. They’re often individuals who feel disconnected from their faith, feeling they’ve been abandoned or rejected by it, which can lead them to believe they’re unloved, unworthy, and unsavable.
People with an orphaned spirit often struggle with their identity, feelings of depression, rejection, and low self-esteem. They find it difficult to believe that anyone, especially Father God, could truly love them. They may suffer from addictions and failing relationships, and fear getting close to anyone because they might be rejected, so they reject the other person first.
Sound familiar? It should, because spiritual orphans are more common than you think. The empty seats on Sunday morning remind us of the need to support and connect with those who, like little Alice, feel unaccepted. Your compassion can help rebuild their spiritual lives and foster a sense of belonging.
In John 14:18, Jesus offers hope, saying, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” And He will! Embracing His promise can fill your heart with confidence and peace, inspiring you to trust in His care. If you do, you too will live happily ever after, the way all good stories end.
Ponder this and go forth.
