A holy everything-day prayer
A dear friend just sent this text: “Good morning. Happy Last Night of Chanukah. Merry Christmas. Joyful Kwanzaa Eve.”
Yes!!! Holy, holy, holy everything-day. Every-day.
As I sit with the mystery of the divine birth on this day, I wonder…
What if the divine child that is born in my heart today is named “Beloved Community?”
What if this sacred, holy community can hold true diversity? Not fake, performative, sugar-coated “we are all one” sense of community; but a real, authentic sense of belonging together? A community that commits to honoring our differences, and pledging to protect the uniqueness of each and every one?
What if in our communities this year we can invoke the “muscular love” of Audre Lorde? The love that has tenacity to hold tension without snapping… or warping what is present?
What if I can open to the discomfort, the pain – of birthing a new reality – that is informed by the spirit of Ubuntu: “I am, because we are?”
What if I can allow myself to walk in your shoes a mile this year?
As I sit with this possibility, I am convinced that this divine birth has to be a virgin birth. A whole new paradigm that is born from my own depths. That is conceived out of the love-making of my own inner opposites.
On this day, I am being asked to step away from the comforts of home – of what is known and familiar – and give birth to hope and redemption in a modest, humble space. I am also reminded that the space is a manger in a stable, where I am surrounded by animals who, unlike me, have not filled their minds and hearts with erudite philosophies of sophistication, civilization… and separation.
I must also trust that if I am courageous enough to give birth to this new, emerging “We-consciousness” in this manger – then the three kings will come – bearing gifts. The three “kings” may look very different from what I think of as kings. But I must trust that the universe will step in, if I initiate this new dance.
This is my hope, my aspiration, my prayer on this holy-everything-day. May there be divine birth in my heart on this day. And may I hold this newborn “Beloved Community” with courage, tenacity, and love. May it be so!