Blessed Are Your Children, O God

"Christ the Light" by Kelly Latimore

A little girl once asked a character played by Morgan Freeman, "Did God paint you?"

He smiled, chuckled, and responded, "[God] loves wondrous variety."

It is a funny thing, but that is the main piece I remember out of the likely hundred times I watched Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves during the summer of 1992. Well, that and the opening notes of the prelude.

Because even at the age of ten years old, the truth of those words rang as clear as a bell.

God does love wondrous variety.

That is why God sent the one people out at Babel into the world with a thousand languages so that they could no longer remain stuck in their ways of uniformity.

That is why God descended in a ferocious wind of fire at Pentecost and again sent the people into the world speaking words of hope in every possible language so that no one would be denied good news.

That is why Christ sought out the last and the least, the outcast and the stranger, the children and the women, and everyone that had no seat at the table. Because his command was not that we build walls and fences to protect ourselves, but to break down barriers and build the biggest table we could make.

And with all these things in mind, along with God's love of evening's sunset and morning's sunrise, those beautiful moments of the great in-betweens, and the fearful, wonderful, intentional creation of every body that exists on this planet, we joyfully join the cacophonous party that is the celebration of Pride already happening in the world around us.

Because, as Jesus well knew, not everyone is given the rights God desired for them. So we stand with them and ensure their voices are heard until every child of God has all they need and is as valued by their neighbors as they are by the God that made them.

So, in keeping with God's overwhelming and all-encompassing love, I want to share a blessing written by one of my colleagues, the Rev. Sam Lundquist, for this special season of the year, in order that we may all remember how very loved we truly are:

Blessed are your children, O God.

Blessed are the sacred weird ones.

Blessed are the holy and the wholly different.

Blessed are the ones who are too loud, too bold, too wild, too much.

Blessed are your children, O God.

Blessed are those who feel boxed in.

Blessed are those who feel shackled by tradition.

Blessed are those who are suffocated by the roars of expectation.

Blessed are your children, O God.

Blessed are those who struggle with self-harm and self-hatred.

Blessed are those who strive to accept the person they see in the mirror.

Blessed are those who strain each day to survive.

Blessed are your children, O God.

Blessed are those who persist.

Blessed are those who persevere.

Blessed are those who prove to the world each day that diversity is divine.

Blessed are your children, O God.

Blessed are the chosen families who have taken in the lost and forgotten.

Blessed are the friends and family who have helped rewrite the stories of lives.

Blessed are the allies who have loved those unable to love themselves.

Blessed are your children, O God,

Blessed are those who have come out.

Blessed are those who cannot.

Blessed are those who are still finding their way.

Blessed are your children, O God.

Blessed are your gay, lesbian, and bisexual children.

Blessed are your trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming children.

Blessed are your children who are all learning to name, describe, and know.

Blessed are your children, O God.

Blessed are those whose ancestral queer footsteps we walk in.

Blessed are those who marched and marched and marched before us.

Blessed are those who have dared to dream and dared to demand justice.

Blessed are your children, O God.

Every. Single. One of them.

And blessed are we as we

Tirelessly,

Courageously,

Imaginatively,

Co-create with you

A world where all people know and feel and have love.

All sexualities.

All genders and expressions.

All colors.

All nationalities.

All families.

All bodies.

Holy One, guide us toward your strange, boundless, undefinable love. And when we are met with the sneers, side-eye, and shame of the world, remind us who walks this journey with us. You - the One who has shattered every norm, every box, every shackle that holds us down and calls us to do the same. Amen.

Blessings,

Rev. Janie