Speaking Up and Speaking Out

Posted on August 15, 2019

I still have a scar on my forehead from a fall I took in the first grade.  It was recess and my class was the first to hit the playground.  I was really tiny but I found someone to lift me up so I could grab the Maypole (if you don’t know what it is, Google “Maypole playground equipment” for a pic).  But within moments other classes poured out on the playground and some big kids grabbed hold of the Maypole.  With their weight and momentum, before I knew it, my feet were flying through the air and my little arms could hardly hold on.  That’s when I made a really poor decision.  I let go, tumbling to the asphalt and splitting my forehead open.  To this day, I wonder, why didn’t I say anything?  As best I can recall, I said nothing to try and get the big kids to stop and let me down from the Maypole.  Did I think they just wouldn’t listen to me because I was so small and young?

It’s important for people to have a voice.  To have a voice means we can express our needs and longings to others.  Our voice matters.

In the ancient Middle Eastern world, people associated “zones” of the body with particular human activities.  The ears and mouth formed one “zone”… which makes sense.  For that reason, it’s not uncommon to read of Jesus healing someone who is both deaf and mute.  The “zone” of mouth and ears is associated with listening and responding… the building blocks of relationship.  While today cell phones and other technology allow us to engage with the deaf or mute, there would have been no such options in the ancient world.  When Jesus heals those who are deaf and mute, it symbolizes much more than a restoration of hearing and speaking.  It provides restoration of relationship; they are restored to their social place or context.  They are given back their voice.

Join us at Fusion (https://www.facebook.com/TrinityFusion/, http://www.trinitylafayette.org/fusion.html) Monday, August 19 at 6 p.m. in the Great Room when our guest story teller will be Indiana State Representative Chris Campbell who will share the story of her call to serve her community and be their voice so they can be heard.
Trinity Fusion is a space to bring you and your story so that, together, we can connect, discover and grow.