We are their keepers.
From D.W.: I was talking to a colleague yesterday about my struggle with wanting to make this site represent the totality of Rachel's writing while also feeling contemporary and reacting to the moments we're in. She wrote so much that was joyous, funny, uplifting, silly... at her core, that's who she was. And I promise we'll get there, but in this moment, when a single tragedy is being used as a call to violence against already vulnerable out-groups, when some are clawing justifications for the manufacture of genocide from behind the shield of supremacy, this is the best that I can do.
Facebook. September 9th. 2012
Right foot, left foot.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
This is the way things get done. This way, and no other.
And all things shall be well.
And all things shall be well.
And all manner of things shall be well.
(insp. Pat Summitt, Julian of Norwich)
Facebook. June 4th. 2019
To my beautiful rainbow fam:
love is love is love. when i look at you, that's what i see– love walking around in the world. and i am so proud of you. you are fully pleasing, wholly delightful, entirely amazing, brave beyond all reason, and show us all how to stand up and be counted.
i am so glad you are here. i will do everything i can to keep you safe, sane, housed, fed, protected, and cherished. you matter. your name, your face, your life in the world matters, and i promise that there are no lengths to which i will not go to make sure you have a place at the table, under a safe roof, among people who will love, respect, and celebrate you. i freaking love your guts.
Facebook. August 7th. 2019
I'm not sure what's been harder to comprehend: the level of violence and vitriol I am reading on the pages of people I deeply love or the silence of people I deeply love. For the last two years, I have watched as people who taught me about Jesus or sat next to me in Sunday School or camp or school have systematically dismantled and remade the image of God into something totally foreign to me.
I remember being taught to love everyone without reservation. I remember being taught that my words had consequences, that I am responsible for my own actions and their repercussions. I remember being taught to share, no matter what. I remember being told over and over that Jesus loves the little children, that Jesus is the Prince of Peace, that everyone is my neighbor, that praying for my enemies is important, that being right isn't nearly as important as being righteous, that love is the root and the fruit of all we are called to do in this world.
I see and hear precious little of that from many of the places and faces I used to know. I hear a lot of fear, a lot of hate, a lot of ugly things. It tears at my heart. I think about what Jesus says in Matthew 25 and how he is so explicit, so literal, and how deeply ignored his plea is by these people and places who introduced me to Jesus. I think about justifications I have heard from people I love about why they don't have to help poor people, why they don't have to welcome immigrants, why they can hate or discriminate against people of other faiths or none, why guns matter more than love, why they don't have to treat people who don't agree or act like them like real people, and I have seen them post these things without even a hint of guilt at their hypocrisy and meanness.
I pray for the will and grace to be on the side of love, every single time. It is hard work. I have to learn and relearn a lot. But I wouldn't be anywhere else. I will chose love--the love that lives and breathes in the person of Jesus--over everything, every single time. Love is the only thing that can save us, make us whole, or call us to be holy. Love is never hateful, mean, callous, or rude. Love never minimizes the feelings of another, never what-abouts or what-ifs. Love lifts up and doesn't tear down. Love builds bridges, not walls.
Jesus, come and Easter in us. Drive the betrayal and denial and will to power far from our hearts. Give us grace to love each other as you love us. Help us to throw our arms wide open to those who need love and long for community and comfort. Keep us humble. Give us the will to publicly confess and repent of the sins of racism and violence and just plain meanness, that even if we cannot agree on how to pray or who to pray to, we can agree to be decent to each other, to keep hate out of our mouths and hearts. Remind us that we are each other's business, each other's keeper, each other's bond and magnitude (Gwendolyn Brooks).
The ground cries out with the blood of our brothers and sisters. We are their keepers. We must do better.
