Words from the World

WEEK 1

Monday

Invitation

Psalm 46:1-7
For the Mariachis of the Sons of Latin America
Liturgies from Below by Claudio Carvalhaes

God is our refuge and strength,
An ever-present spring in the desert.
Therefore, we will not fear,
Though la migra comes this way.
And the mountains close in as we try to walk between them,
Though the sandstorms seek to carry us away
And these mountains resemble a fridge.

There is a river separating us from the city of God,
The land of the promise where peace dwells.

God, are you even there?
Will you help us at the breakage of day?
This nation is in uproar, will its kingdom fall?
If God lifts God’s voice, will the injustice melt away?

Dios es grande, God be our fortress.

Tuesday

Praise

Lakota author and activist Doug Good Feather is committed to sharing Indigenous wisdom and practices with nonnative audiences as a way to help and to heal humanity. He writes that no matter what our circumstances, gratitude is available to us:

Each and every morning offers us a chance to start anew, fresh, and to begin again. Each morning when we wake—should we choose to listen—is a message from the Creator to remember the privilege we were given of waking up. It’s a reminder to get up and prepare our self, to honor our self, to go out into the world, to connect with Mother Earth and the hearts of other beings, to inspire and encourage those who cross our paths, and most importantly, to enjoy life.

Gratitude moves stagnant energy when we’re feeling stuck in life. The simple act of practicing gratitude disrupts negative thoughts and changes our mindset to see the world in a positive way. Not only are we more attractive to others when we live in gratitude, but the most ordinary things can become extraordinary, creating a fuller, more beautiful expression of our life.

Doug Good Feather, Think Indigenous: Native American Spirituality for a Modern World, transcribed by Doug Red Hail Pineda (Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, 2021), 27, 30, 31. Emphasis in original. Richard Rorh’s Daily Meditations, November 22, 2022.

Wednesday

Forgiveness

decolonization
requires
acknowledging.
that your
needs and desires
should
never
come at the expense of another’s
life energy.
it is being honest
that
you have been spoiled
by a machine
that
is not feeding you freedom
but
feeding
you
the milk of pain

– the release

Thursday

Healing

Hear these words from Trevor Hudson, a pastor in the Methodist church of South Africa.

Each of us [sits] next to a pool of tears. As you [hear these] words, you are sitting beside your pool; and as I write these words, I am seated next to mine. Our pools are different. Some are deeper; some are muddier. Some have been caused by what has been done to us; some are the result of our own doing. These pools remind us of the grief and losses that we have experienced through our lives. It might have been the death of a loved one, the pain of divorce, abuse as a child, the unmet longing for a partner, the loss of a job, or a rejection by a close friend. There are many different kinds of pools. …

But tears don’t have to end in sadness and pain. As different as our pools of tears may be, they can lead us into a new space of change and growth. If we allow our tears to tell their stories, they can become the means by which our lives are transformed. Whether they flow down our cheeks or represent our cries for help—the silent needs of our grieving and broken hearts—our tears have the potential to become the agents of resurrection and newness.

Friday

Grace

New projects offer churches ways to pay royalties on the spirituals they sing
By Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service

Zion Earle, a member of the youth choir at the Hamilton-Garrett Center for Music and Arts in the Roxbury neighborhood, sings Negro spirituals like “My Lord! What a Morning” at concerts in the Boston area. …

The center that teaches Earle, a Black American with Jamaican and Cuban roots, and other students at its academy has been for the past year a recipient of funds through a Negro Spiritual Royalties Project of the nearby United Parish in Brookline. It is one of at least a dozen churches and organizations across the country committed to monetarily acknowledging spirituals that have been sung for centuries. …

“We pledge that each time we sing Negro Spirituals in our worship: We will sing them with holy reverence and open hearts; We will honor the unnamed enslaved people who composed them in our prayers,” reads a statement in the bulletin one summer Sunday when the congregationsang “Lord, I Want to Be a Christian” and “There Is More Love Somewhere.”

“And we will pay royalties from the funds collected in the offering plate to Hamilton-Garrett Music and Arts.”

The congregation has sent $12,900 so far to the organization that works to support young musicians of color and preserve Black music, including Negro spirituals. …

Gerami Groover-Flores, the … musician who also serves as the center’s artistic director, … [says] “The descendants of the people who created this music are still here and still alive.” … “And even if we do not know the names of their ancestors or who the composer is, we can do our part in acknowledging the work that their ancestors have contributed to this body of music that we appreciate today.”

Saturday

Joy

Everyone Sang
By Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967)

Everyone suddenly burst out singing;
And I was filled with such delight
As prisoned birds must find in freedom
Winging wildly across the white
Orchards and dark green fields; on; on; and out of sight.

Everyone’s voice was suddenly lifted,
And beauty came like the setting sun.
My heart was shaken with tears and horror
Drifted away ... O but every one
Was a bird; and the song was wordless; the singing will never be done.