Our Art Friday post today is from a member of our Toronto Generous Space Group named Rob Walker. Here’s what Rob has to say about himself and about his poem:
I’ve known Jesus since I was five years old. I’m a cisgender gay guy with cerebral palsy, a theology geek, and a writer. I want to preach, write, and be a scholar when I grow up. I geek out Star Trek, Glee, and Pentatonix a lot! I wrote a slightly different version of this prayer for a service remember the Pulse shooting in Orlando, FL. The service was hosted by MCC Toronto, a congregation with 85% LGBTQ+ folks. I am surprised by how hard the massacre has hit me and my loved ones, and by how hard I want to be my open, defiant, and fabulous queer self as I seek to follow Jesus. I blog at http://theologywriter.
wordpress.com.
God’s Silence of Solidarity. A prayer.
by Rob Walker
Where are the words?
Where are the right words to tell you, Source of All,
what it’s like to have our worst fears confirmed,
to see queer people of colour snuffed out,
to know that LGBTQ+ people are still,
in some eyes and hearts
less than your image and likeness,
less than fully human?
Where are the words?
Where are the best words to express, Word of God,
all the love and pain we feel,
all the lost sleep,
all the numbness and anger and tears,
all the memories of when
words from Scripture and the mouths of friends and family
felt like bullets ripping through us?
Where are the words?
Where are the strong words to shout, Giver of Life,
that we still hope in you,
that we will choose to forgive,
that we are defiant and fabulous,
that we will not hate and we will remember,
that we will not stop working for your justice
until every human being knows the flame of your love
over their heads,
until the principalities and powers
of homophobia and transphobia and racism and religious xenophobia and heterosexism
know their defeat,
until the idolatry of “the right to bear arms” is smashed
in favour of the Divine image in every life, the flourishing of our communities and peoples?
These feeble words are not enough,
and yet you hear us.
So, in the strong and beautiful name of Jesus,
we choose, for a moment, your silence of solidarity with us,
and the Love you are always speaking.
Amen.