A Prayer for Trans Day of Visibility

Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV), every year, seems increasingly important to celebrate. We live in a world that increasingly sees and names trans-ness as a threat, something that should be hidden or denied. Here in the state of Missouri, and around the USA, there are countless bills that are going through the house and senate that aims to make the life of trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming folks more challenging. It can be easy to get caught up in the despair, heartache, and exhaustion.

So, I am grateful for a day like TDOV, that recenters me on the joy, celebration, and the beauty it is to both be trans and know and love other trans people. TDOV brings me back to the sacred truth that trans life is holy, radiant, creative, and oh so joyful.

On this Trans Day of Visibility, I want to honor and uplift the people in my life whose becoming made it possible for me to live more fully and authentically. I am held by trans elders who made ways out of no way, who dared to bloom in conditions that were never meant for their thriving; whose blooming made me realize that I was allowed to bloom too.

Today, I am especially holding onto the truth that joy and play are not a distraction from struggle, but that joy and play are key to resistance. Joy and play are survival. Joy and play are divine. I am reminded that trans delight is intentional.

My prayer for this Trans Day of Visibility is wrap every trans person, known and unknown, in a warm and loving embrace. I pray we find time to play, create, and dance. I pray we imagine new worlds and get glimpses of the world as it is meant to be. I pray for rest and nourishment to wash over our bodies. I pray for delight to find us, in small and in big ways. I pray for our own becoming(s) to feel more and more possibile as each day passes. I pray for all of us to be reminded the more wholly we our ourselves, the closer we are to God.

And I pray that we remember, deep in our bones, that we can trust our hearts. That we are grounded in the truth that there is nothing accidental about our existence. I pray we call can shout with confidence and love that trans-ness is sacred, holy, and beautiful. I pray for a day that everyone can see, know, affirm that truth.

With love to each of you,
Pastor Eli

A Prayer for Honoring Transgender Day Of Remembrance

The weight of this year's Transgender Day of Remembrance feels heavier and more personal as anti-trans violence is on the rise across the United States and globally. Anti-trans legislation appears on ballots across nearly every state. Threats, erasure, and hostility continue to come from multiple levels of government.

There is also new data from TGEU’s Trans Murder Monitoring 2025 that reveals dangerous shifts. There is a growing number of murder victims who are trans movement leaders and activists. The TGEU report states that over the past year, trans activists accounted for about 14% of reported murders, nearly doubling from the previous years. Thus, making activists and movement leaders the second most targeted group globally.

Locally, we feel that weight as Metro Trans Umbrella Group reported a threat made against the Trans Memorial Garden here in St. Louis. MTUG is taking the necessary precautions to protect our community, yet it is heartbreaking to know that such hatred sits so close to home.

So today, we call to mind all our trans, nonbinary, and gender expansive beloveds who have died by senseless violence. We call to mind all those who died by suicide because they could not find safety or belonging or hope in their own lives due to the hatred that fills our world today. We remember all those who went unnamed, misnamed or who were never known as their true selves. We draw upon their strength, their bravery, and their self-love. We give thanks for the way they lived their lives as their authentic selves and for all teachings they bestowed upon us. We pray for the courage to carry on their legacy and know their names. We mourn and grieve their deaths as every person taken from us deserved a lifetime of love, safety, and celebration.

God of Many Faces, God of Many Genders, God of Infinite Holy Expressions, grant us strength to carry on their legacy of bravery, courage, and self-love. Help us to remember them. Help us to honor their lives. Help us to protect one another with fierce, enduring care, because the only way we get through all of this grief is with one another.

To every trans, nonbinary, and gender-expansive person who hears or reads these words: as a community, we offer prayers of deep love and gratitude. Thank you for your courage. Thank you for your existence. The world is better because you are here, exactly as you are. God of Infinite Love, we ask that You strengthen every heart that feels afraid; comfort every heart that grieves; and steady every heart that worries about what comes next.

Holy One, help us rise in voice and spirit. Help us challenge and stand against hateful rhetoric. Help us to live authentically and safely. Remind us that our power cannot be stolen, because we are so powerful together. Remind us that trans people have always existed, in every generation, in every culture, in every place and time. Remind us we will continue to exist with beauty, brilliance, and strength.

And may hope take root in all of us. A fierce, steady, and unshakeable hope. A hope that insists on life, insists on dignity. A hope that insists that the world can and will be transformed into a world where trans people are protected, uplifted, and alive.

Love and strength to each of you,
Pastor Eli

P.S. If you would like to learn more about the statistics and who is affected by transphobic violence, you can click here.