I am a Child of God
Who are you to judge me
Tell me I’m not good enough
You think you know me
Think again
You only know what I allow you to see
She’s fifteen and pregnant
She was looking for love
But he’s long gone
Given an ultimatum
Her parents kick her out
She moves from couch to couch
The backseat of a friend’s car
She struggles to find enough to eat
She’s eating for two
And now she is living in a homeless camp
Scared and alone
But the church doors are closed
No room for her kind
He’s fourteen and scared
He’s been dumped on the street
Not by a stranger but the man he called father
His only crime is that he is male
In a small closed society, he is seen as a threat
That a young teenage girl might look at him twice
She’s destined to marry a much older man
A man with five other wives
So his father was told get rid of him now
If you don’t you won’t be allowed to marry again
His mother pleads, she has seen this happen before
His father just packs his son’s bag and they drive away
No money, no friends, at the mercy of strangers
The street, the alleys, the cheap motels
But the church doors are closed
How could you do this
She’s seventeen and looking for a way out
Will she finish school, go on to college?
Her boyfriend walked away when he found out
A young couple will raise her baby
Explain how much she loved her baby
Enough to let them raise her child
But the church doors are closed
How could she give her baby away?
At seventeen he is now a she
She’s known since she was three
She learned to hide it well
Pretend that all was well
Football, basketball, all American boy
He had the looks, the brains,
The girls all fawned over him
He played the part well
Until he quit acting
Now the church doors are closed
He is no longer welcome
She’s twenty-one in a town far from home
Going to college and working for minimum wage
married to a man who takes his frustration out on her
The news that she’s pregnant means nothing to him
One two, she’s down for the count
Her parents won’t let her come home
They would be too disgraced for their friends to find out
Take care of it they said or don’t come home, ever again
It wasn’t her first choice but she has to get out
She’s not sure she can save herself much less someone else
She makes a hard choice
Hours later she is on a bus home
But the church doors are closed
How could you do such a thing
She’s twenty-eight and has it all
A perfect job that pays big bucks
A fancy house and shiny car
a maid to clean and cook her meals
She has a folder filled with x-rays
A drawer full of make-up good for cover-ups
A closet full of long sleeve clothes
She is adept at lying
Making herself out to be clumsy and accident prone
High school sweethearts
Well there is nothing sweet about this
Control of another by any means possible
She sits on the white rug next to the broken glass table
Her arm is twisted, her head is bleeding
She dials 911 before it is to late
But the church doors are closed
She must have done something wrong
Thirty-five, fifteen years of marriage, and three kids
He cheats, he lies, he drinks, he smokes, he gambles
She does the best she can
Shops the thrift stores and fixes budget dinners
She tucks the kids in and listens to their prayers
She apologizes to her kids to explain away his actions
She tries to fix her broken family
But the cracks just keep getting bigger
Everybody likes him, who would ever believe her
She takes a chance and makes a break
But now the church doors are closed
How could she do such a thing
He served his country well
He almost died several times
He can’t forget what he has seen or done
The nightmares live in the daytime
He can’t work, he barely functions
His family has left him
He doesn’t have a reason to live
He tries to forget with a bottle and pills
Living out on the street with handouts from strangers
To look at him now you never would guess
That he had a chest full of medals
But what good are they now
He’s down and he’s out
A broken-down soul
The church doors are closed
Because he’s dirty and smells of the street
She’s a wife and a mother
Not superwoman nor wonder woman
Just an ordinary loving woman
She volunteers in the PTA
Attends church, potlucks, socials, and tithes
Donates her used clothing, and gives to the food bank
Teaches her children to be kind to others
Reads Bible stories of God’s great love
If you call and say help, she’ll be right there
She’ll pray for you, support you, be your best cheerleader
But if you attack her family, watch out
Her daughter is gay and it makes no difference
Her daughter is her daughter, you can’t change that
And because she won’t deny her daughter
Or try to make her change, as if she could
Turn her out, shut her out, turn their backs
The church doors are closed
Because she won’t deny a mother’s love
Every time you shut the door
Another Christian turns away
You judge, you sneer, you bully
Your words hurt
You make people cry
Rejected by the church
Rejected by the parishioners
Rejected by their friends
Rejected by their family
Because if they don’t, they will be rejected
And those who are brokenhearted
They walk away from the church
They walk away from God
Every time you shut your heart
You disobey the 2nd greatest commandment
I was chosen by God before I was born
Nothing you can do about that
Remember the children’s finger game
Here is the steeple
Here is the church
Open up the doors
But where are all the people?
They’re standing outside the door
With hands raised high
Singing I am a child of God
Jesus loves the little children
All the children of the world
Red and yellow, black and white
Straight and gay
The broken hearted
We are all children of God
Outside looking in
Mark 9:42 “But
whoever causes the downfall of one of these little ones who believe in Me–it
would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he
were thrown into the sea.”
Matthew 22: 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is
the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your
neighbor as yourself.
