In times such as these

blessed are you who are raging.

blessed are you who are mourning.

blessed are you who feel numb.

blessed are you who feel sick. and tired. and sick and tired.

blessed are you who refuse to turn away.

blessed are you who need to turn away.

blessed are you who keep breathing deep.

blessed are you who are tending to your own needs.

blessed are you who are tending to the needs of another.

blessed are you who have been calling.

blessed are you who have been organizing.

blessed are you who have been testifying.

blessed are you who have been hearing.

blessed are you who have been resisting.

blessed are you who feel broken open beyond repair.

blessed are you who are raw beyond words.

blessed are you who are working hotlines and crisis care centers 

and bearing witness to the forces of violence and trauma unleashed and unloosed.

blessed are you who are marching.

blessed are you who are weeping.

blessed are you who preach
and know that divinity resides in despised, abused, violated flesh.

blessed are you who know deep in your bones that you are good. and beautiful. 

and beloved. and sacred. and worthy. and believed. 

and held. and capable of healing beyond your wildest imagination.

blessed are you who remind others they are good. and beautiful. 

and beloved. and sacred. and worthy. and believed. 

and held. and capable of healing beyond their wildest imagination.

blessed are we when we dare to dream of a world without sexual violence, 

without white supremacy, without misogyny, without police brutality, 

without anti-trans and anti-queer violence.

blessed are we when we stay tender.

blessed are we when we stay fierce.

blessed are we when we dare to imagine repair, and transformation.

blessed are we when we labor together to make it so.

Rev. Anna Blaedel