Day 14 – 3/2

“Gracious God, Scripture says that you are my keeper, which floods me with images of cradling hands softly catching me. I imagine I could slip through your fingers if I wanted to—the freedom is there. However, as long as I want to be here, you have me. What a comforting idea that is. I think…

“’A MAN WAS LYNCHED YESTERDAY’ These words were stitched onto a flag that flew outside the Manhattan headquarters of the NAACP between 1920 and 1938. When a Black person was lynched, the flag was raised the following day… You should understand that what happened to Jesus was a lynching. …Do not look away and do…

“What I am left withIs myselfAnd a big, open sky.It’s colder here.It’s quieter.I can hear my thoughts.And in this big, wide opennessI am able to say out loud,‘Maybe I wasn’t right.Maybe I need to learn.Maybe it’s time for change.Maybe that’s okay.’”— Excerpt from “Keep Digging” by Rev. Sarah AreFrom the Again & Again poetry collection…

“Consider those first few days after you’ve lost someone and the liminality between their death and funeral. There’s no closure yet, and mornings are reminders that the nightmare is real. It’s hard to imagine how you’ll face the day. … Again and again, the sun rises on a new day, often without embrace or acknowledgment….

“It is childbirth,But it is also resurrection.A body broken.Breath fractured.A long night.A sunrise.Breath returned.New life,And a love that won’t let go.”— Excerpt from “Light” by Rev. Sarah AreImage: “The Promise” by Lisle Gwynn Garrity | @sanctifiedart

“There is vulnerability in being fully seen. We risk being defined by our blemishes. I trust few people with that picture, and only because I know they love me. And there it is: love. Again and again, God’s love calls us into its redeeming phos.Can we trust this love enough to draw the drapes of…