Listen

Speak out on behalf of the voiceless, and for the rights of all who are vulnerable. Speak out in order to judge with righteousness and to defend the needy and the poor.

Proverbs 31:8-9

Think

I’m happy to speak up and recommend a book I just read or tell you when that new movie did not live up to the hype. We technologically speak up on behalf of places we post pictures of or brands we visibly wear. And yet, when it comes to actually lending our voice to the voiceless we can be at a loss for words or actions.

Maybe that’s because we don’t believe we can make a difference, or we don’t want to seem political. Or what if we say something wrong and we make it worse?

And yet, we are told to use our voices for something bigger than our interests and ourselves. We are to speak out for those who have no voice, for those whom society has overlooked. When the news has stopped covering those who are hurting – or maybe those who never have had their story told at all – how can we speak up or give them the microphone? How can we, both in big moments and in everyday choices, give voice to the vulnerable?

Katie Lloyd

Pray

God, help me to use my voice, or give up the microphone, to give voice to the hurts and injustices of the vulnerable, the voiceless, the poor, and the needy. Give me the courage to speak up and the humility to listen. Amen.

Go

Lord your summons echoes true when you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you and never be the same.
In Your company I'll go where Your love and footsteps show.
Thus I'll move and live and grow in you and you in me.

from “The Summons” by John L. Bell & Graham Maule