‘From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears.’
(see Psalm 17:2-7)
The voice of the psalms is filled with both joy and heartache, misery and relief. There is a sense of relief in the verse chosen, for God has recognised the psalmist’s voice’ God has heard his cry.
At the age of 18, Hashi Mohamed, who would become the UK’s first black barrister, experienced homelessness for a year. He ended up at Centrepoint in Soho, the hostel for young homeless people. In trying to gain accommodation he recognised the difficulties which the system created, and realised many of his fellow young people were also struggling. In his book, People Like Us, he writes, “I learned an important lesson about the importance of language, the often random advantages that dictate who gets listened to and who gets ignored—and the power of knowing how to use your voice effectively.” Once he had managed to arrange his own accommodation, he set about helping others.
This sound of one’s voice can create a prejudicial response from the listener because of the speaker’s lack of language, vocabulary, education or confidence, or simply having a certain accent. “Language skills are not shared out equally in our society,” wrote Mohamed as he speaks about he ’language gap’ which exists between the most deprived people and communities and the most affluent. How do we respond to the ’sound’ of others?
PRAY FOR teachers and others working with children and young people deprived areas, and for self-awareness of our own prejudices.
Our daily reflections for Lent focus on the many injustices which exist in our world, as we seek to connect our life of prayer to social justice, the Justice of God which Christ proclaimed. More resources are available at www.southcardiffministryarea.co.uk/just-lent
South Cardiff Ministry Area 