I cannot say which I love best about the light:
that it gathers itself even in what goes hidden,
no stranger to the seed, the stone, the labyrinth of night,
or that it is wildly generous in where it lands, glad the same to
touch the face of the one in laughter, the one in tears, the one in trouble,
in fear, in pain.But it may yet be that this is what woos me most about the light:
that it knows what to do with distance, how it arcs across the space between a heart
and a heart, illuminatingly that ache through which the farthest of stars might be seen.
⁃ Jan Richardson
Last week as activists came together in Missouri, I was with activists in DC gathering together to coalesce around topics that breathe life into us, as others try to restrict that very breath.
This year, we celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the Many Paths Gathering Space an interfaith center for contemplation, spiritual healing, and community at Creating Change, the nation's largest queer-centered conference. This space was created because of the ways religion has been a catalyst for reform, in ways that harm and in ways that heal. We know that in working toward freedom in the public space, we also have to work for freedom in the soul. And so, as a group, we held prayer vigils, we sung, we talked about the Bible, the Torah, and offered a space for daily Muslim prayer. We created walls to uplift queer saints who have shown us the way, and offered space for people to write down their prayers. On our altar, we had a station of dissolving paper where people could come and write something down to let go of, reminding all of us that we don't have to hold it all alone. Many people came right to this station and left, needing only to leave something behind, in which they could not carry alone anymore.
As we consider what it means to be a people of daybreak, daylight, and, these days, as we often sit in the long shadows of evening, I’m reminded of the need for us to tend to the space between our hearts — to ache, to laugh, to subvert, and to release.
Today, in the light of evening, what woos you about the light? What tends to the sighs of your heart? What binds you to the inner and outer work of a faith rooted in love but too often used for harm?
With you in the shadows,
Pastor Lauren