Hardly hearing her mother’s hoarse whisper because of a cold, the three-year-old girl asked what was wrong.
“I lost my voice,” replied her mother.
Wanting to help, the little girl said, “I’ll give you my voice.”
Sometimes ministers of the gospel need to give their voice to others, for otherwise some people will never be heard—they will never have a voice.
Our world has problems with all kinds of pollution, including noise pollution. It’s hard to get away from this kind of pollution— noise from cars, airplanes, crowded cities, and motorcycles, and noise from cities filled with millions. Sometimes we have to shout to be heard.
Some, however, are heard less than others, and some people are never heard. Important people can usually be heard, while the voices of many others are drowned out. Have we been trained to ignore certain people? As ministers (pastors, chaplains, teachers, church leaders), we need to give them our voice so that they can be heard and their needs, hopefully, met. But giving someone our voice has to do more with action than with actual words. It means recognizing their needs, acknowledging them, and doing what we can to assist them. All of this should be done in such a way to preserve the other person’s dignity while enhancing it, as well.
Jesus did this when He gave His voice to others. For example, Jesus took special notice of little children, even though the disciples were not pleased. Mark writes that Jesus “took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them” (Mark 10:16, NIV). His surprise action demonstrated His concern for children—children ignored because, all too often, in the eyes of adults, they are not important.
Jesus identifies Himself
Because healing remained one of Jesus’ favorite activities, and a central part of His ministry, the Gospels record numerous healing stories. At the time John the Baptist was in prison, he sent his disciples to Jesus to find out if Jesus was the “one who was to come.” The response may have surprised John’s disciples— it certainly surprises me.
Jesus told John’s disciples to “‘go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor’ ” (Matt. 11:3–5, NIV).
Notice what Jesus said about His mission. His statement focused on the needs of individuals often forgotten—the blind, children, lepers, deaf, and others who also are too often ignored. He chose not to make a theological statement other than to refer to the preaching of the good news, but He even focused that on the poor—another forgotten and often ignored group.
Identifying ourselves
How do we identify ourselves? How do our congregations identify themselves? Do we remember the people who are important to Jesus?
Several articles in this issue address the needs and the possibilities of people often overlooked. We focus on individuals with various challenges—those who are deaf, blind, crippled, or otherwise handicapped; those whom we may consider too young to be important; those too old to be useful; the divorced; and the oppressed. To this list we could have added the sick, the poor, and others, and we want to do so in a future issue. But what are we doing for people who face the challenges covered by our articles? Do we even know that they exist—often in our communities?
Are we again asking overworked pastors and congregations facing various challenges to take on additional ministries? Yes, we are—for most ministries are done in the context of the congregation with leadership consisting of lay leaders and pastors. In addition, coordinating and organizational bodies such as conferences provide support and structure. Perhaps your congregations cannot take on three or four new ministries. Well, how about considering two new ministries or perhaps one new ministry? How about praying that God will lead your congregation to determine which additional ministry it can include, and maybe that ministry could be to individuals who are often forgotten.
Give a voice
Listen to the people often ignored. Share your voice with them. Your voice will help them to be heard so that, as the church, we will address their needs. After all, isn’t that what Jesus did?
