Is God Listening?
Our children and youth are praying for our attention. No, they are crying out for our attention!
Where daddy or poppy is in jail, they cry out for release. Where momma or mommy is on crack, they cry out for rehabilitation.
Where they are hungry every day because parents can’t afford breakfast, lunch, or dinner, they cry out for food and drink.
Where they are told that the latest pair of jeans or sneakers provides them with significance, they are crying out for positive self-esteem. Where boys have to fight and girls have to perform sex acts to get into Kentucky’s “want to-be” gangs, they cry out for the attention of men and women who can show them a better way.
Where little boys are told they are the “n-word” and little girls are told to look at themselves as the “b-word” in the latest misogynist lyrics of commercially bred rap, they cry out for music to soothe and heal the soul.
They cry out for a support system that will engage them from the high chair to higher education. They cry out for the village that will raise the child!
They cry out for health care as good as or better than that in most so-called “third-world” countries. They cry out for education that no longer prepares them for sports, entertainment, and underemployed slavery but expands their minds to serve all of humanity.
They cry out for someone to acknowledge there cry!
They cry out after school from the playgrounds and school yards that have tennis shoes hanging from trees where skittles (drugs) are sold. They cry out from a juvenile “just-us” system that does not address the problems of drug-addicted, spiritually malnourished, abused children who suffer the mistake of being born Black, Latina/o, Bi-racial, or just plain poor. They cry out for acceptance from hypocritical, god-fearing people that chastise the act of abortion but do nothing to provide a livable life for impoverished children.
Do we hear their cry? Like the sons of Korah, they cry out to God – “Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not cast us off forever! Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? For we sink down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground. Rise up, come to our help. Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love.” – Psalm 44:23-26 (NRSV)
Is God listening? Is anybody listening?