Washington, D.C. — OH, I AM WHO I AM

Hear the cries of all Your children young and old everywhere during this scary pandemic

Who are threatened and ravaged by a virus we cannot fully discern or know how to stop with confidence

Who still daily face violence, poverty, racism, abuse, and neglect

Are scared, profiled, arrested, and imprisoned by those in authority

Ignored by those with power as they languish in crumbling schools and neighborhoods all over our nation and world

Labeled often by some entrusted with their education as dumb, disruptive, and failures

Marginalized by those who vote and are elected because they cannot vote or make campaign contributions

Resented by some of those forced to care for them in too often inhumane child welfare and juvenile justice and adult criminal justice systems

Hear our cries for our children all powerful God, by all the names we call You, especially during this dangerous pandemic

Protect their bodies and fight their battles during this dangerous threat we don’t yet know how to fully stop

And protect them too from the violence of drugs and guns and poverty

Open the Red Sea to their safety and future in this time of unprecedented threat

Send them Your manna in the pandemic wilderness

And lead us and our children throughout the world into a safe future.