I watched her go uncelebrated into the second grade, a colorless child, gray among the orange and yellow, attached too much to corners and to other people’s sunshine. She colors the rainbow brown and leaves balloons unopened in their packages. Oh, who will touch this colorless child? Who will plant alleluias in her heart and send her dancing into all the colors of God? Or will she be left like an unwrapped package on the kitchen table— too dull for anyone to take the trouble? Does God think we’re her keeper?
- Ann Weems (adapted for worship)
I love the poetry of Ann Weems, so I want to be forthright and tell you I adapted the poem cited above for our worship needs this week. In short, I changed the word greenless to colorless. I did so to compare colorless children (of any age) to all the colors of God, which are vibrant, rich, bright, and shimmering. To be sure, her image is deeper and richer than mine. Greenless points both to colorless and to the lack of fecundity or fertility; like a wasted, withered tree incapable of bearing fruit. Nevertheless, for good or ill I simplified the image for our use this week.
That being said, I would like to comment on Children’s Sabbath, which we will celebrate this Sunday. When I read (and reread) the above cited poem, it’s difficult to deci
de where to focus. It was written, of course, to raise our awareness of (and pique our conscience concerning) the plight of children in our world who are abandoned and bereft of opportunity; opportunity for the colors in life represented by love, joy, creativity, self esteem, education, health, home, nutrition… need I continue? I pray with Marian Wright Edelman of the Children’s Defense Fund that we will recover the courage to stand for and with these colorless children.
It strikes me, however, that the poem refers equally to adults who have lost their color; that is to say, that somewhere along the way they lost the spontaneity, sense of wonder, simplicity, openness, and joy that mark the unique spirituality of children. And how can we help the colorless children if we, too, have lost our color? I propose that we take the time to explore this notion, and make the effort to recover our childlike spirit and dance into all the colors of God, taking all God’s Children with us.
