Does anybody hear her?

Guest blogger: Lauren Moyer
Lately I have been listening to the song “Does Anybody Hear Her?” by Casting Crowns a lot.

I am not completely sure why, but I fell in love with this song.

It has so much meaning behind the lyrics and it can be looked at in many different ways.

I discovered the song looking at some of the different things that people have posted on the To Write Love on Her Arms Facebook page.

(For those who do not know, To Write Love on Her Arms is a movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for those struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide.)

While doing so I came across this video a girl put together for a church video contest.

It was a perfect representation of one of the meanings of the song. In her video, a girl battles depression, ends up pregnant and takes her own life.

That is only one way to look at the song.

When I look at the song I see it in the way that the Casting Crowns music video shows it.

It is about a girl who feels like she has no where to turn and tries to go to church, but feels like everyone there is judging her. She feels like no one is there to help her.

The lyrics it state: “If judgment looms under every steeple/ If lofty glances from lofty people/ Can’t see past her scarlet letter/ And we’ve never even met her.”

This got me thinking. How often does this happen? How often as Christians do we look at someone and judge them by what we have heard about them or what they look like? How many times to we do the exact opposite of what the Bible tells us to do? How many people miss out hearing about the love and truth we’ve found as a result?

It’s really sad how common this can be in many churches. After watching the video, I challenged myself to not judge people before I know them. I hope you can take on this challenge and do the same.

After I sat and thought about the song and about the people and the different things I have seen throughout my life so far, I started thinking about how others interpreted the song, so I logged on to YouTube and found a few different videos that people have made using this song.

If you read through the lyrics and watch the videos I’m sure it will make you think, perhaps even about a few different people.

“She is running
A hundred miles an hour in the wrong direction
She is trying
But the canyon’s ever widening
In the depths of her cold heart
So she sets out on another misadventure just to find
She’s another two years older
And she’s three more steps behind

Refrain:
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
Or does anybody even know she’s going down today
Under the shadow of our steeple
With all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that’s tucked away in you and me
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?

She is yearning
For shelter and affection
That she never found at home
She is searching
For a hero to ride in
To ride in and save the day
And in walks her prince charming
And he knows just what to say
Momentary lapse of reason
And she gives herself away

If judgment looms under every steeple
If lofty glances from lofty people
Can’t see past her scarlet letter
And we’ve never even met her

If judgment looms under every steeple
If lofty glances from lofty people
Can’t see past her scarlet letter
And we’ve never even met her

Never even met her

He is running a hundred miles an hour in the wrong direction”

A former camper and staff member at camp, Moyer is a sophomore at West Chester University.