Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi

Community Connections:	WTS MDiv 2007; Resident Bishop of the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference, Providing Coverage for the Susquehanna Annual Conference

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why haven’t you ended the pandemics of racism, COVID-19 and divisiveness?

I have cried to you by day,

after each death, but you have not answered.

I have groaned to you each night,

after watching the news, yet I cannot find rest.

You are God!

My ancestors trusted you;

and you delivered them from the pandemic of slavery.

My grandparents and parents cried out to you in prayer, praise and song,

and you delivered.

You exposed the virus of Jim Crow.

You desegregated schools. You gave them civil rights, then voting rights,

They trusted you and were not put to shame.

But I am just a number,

counted as a racial minority and one of the vaccinated.

When I wear a mask, I am mocked;

“Where is your faith? Trust in God.”

When I talk about racism, I am mocked;

“When will you all get over it?”

When I speak of unity, I am mocked;

“Don’t be naïve.”

You have been my protector since I was knit together in my mother’s womb.

But I am weak, worn, spent from all of the fighting.

My enemies are waiting to divide the spoils of my failed leadership.

Come quickly, please, Lord!

I will praise you on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

I will share what you have done with people I know all around the world,

so that they will praise you too!

And once my praise is out there on the internet, it will be there forever!