May 2022: Bless Us with Creative Hope

May 2022 WATERritual

“Bless Us with Creative Hope”

Tuesday, May 24, 2022 at 7.30 pm EDT

By Diann L. Neu

Watch the May 2022 WATERritual.

Preparation:

Place a candle, matches, and a flower or seed near you. Have a piece of paper and a pen with you.

Welcome and Call to Gather

We gather during the uncertainties generated by the continuing rise of gun violence, the Ukrainian war, the uncertainty of Roe, the rise of COVID worldwide, the deplorable systemic violence of racism and white supremacy, economic suffering, and the devastating effects of climate change that threaten life on Earth. In the midst of the chaos of our world, we come together tonight to acknowledge our despair and hopelessness, and to ask to be blessed with creative hope.

Take a deep breath. What is going on in your life and in your community that is bringing up feelings of despair and hopelessness? Take another deep breath. Take a moment to write down these things or name them to yourself. We will invite you to show your list in just a moment.

Centering Prayer

Light a candle.

God of Many Names,

Yahweh, Allah, Holy One, Divine Wisdom,

Bless me with creative hope for my weary journey.

Bless us with hope to get us through these unbelievable, trying times.

Bless people in every nation with love, mercy, justice, and hope.

Amen. Ashe. Blessed Be.

Listen to Hope

Let’s listen to words of hope from wise women.

“Hope is a song in a weary throat. Give me a song of hope and a world where I can sing it,”

Pauli Murray tells us in her title poem in Dark Testament, 1970.

“Hope is a very unruly emotion,”
Gloria Steinem reminds us in her book Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions, 2019.

“Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul

And sings the tune without the words

And never stops at all.”

Emily Dickinson connects hope with bird songs in Poems by Emily Dickinson (1861) edited by T.W. Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd.

Song: “There is More Love Somewhere,” Words and music: African American spiritual

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXUYYq_kXrY

There is more *love somewhere

I’m gonna keep on ’til I find it

There is more *love somewhere

*hope *peace *love

Reading: “Rough Translations” by Jan Richardson, from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons, janrichardson.com http://paintedprayerbook.com/2012/02/26/day-9-hoping-against-hope/

Hope nonetheless.

Hope despite.

Hope regardless.

Hope still.

Hope where we had ceased to hope.

Hope amid what threatens hope.

Hope with those who feed our hope.

Hope beyond what we had hoped.

Hope that draws us past our limits.

Hope that defies expectations.

Hope that questions what we have known.

Hope that makes a way where there is none.

Hope that takes us past our fear.

Hope that calls us into life.

Hope that holds us beyond death.

Hope that blesses those to come.

Group Sharing

What are your sources of hope? What are your hopes and dreams for the future? What creative action will you do to bring creative hope to your weary journey and a troubled world?

Let’s pause for quiet reflection. Then we will go into groups of 3-4 to share. Hold your flower or seed and share as we wish.

Prayers for Others

Who needs our prayers? Let us call their names and send blessings of hope. (Sharing)

Take Action for Hope
Let us put our Hope into action. Here are some possible ways.

Help a student access education through a virtual learning class or project.
Provide basic survival needs of food, clothing, and toiletries to a neighborhood shelter.
Be an escort at an abortion clinic.
Work in a garden and watch every day how plants grow.
Make hearts and give them to your neighbors to put in their windows.

Closing Blessing
God of Many Names,
Yahweh, Allah, Holy One, Providence, Divine Wisdom,
Thank you for promising to bless us with hope.
We are grateful for our ancestors who continued to hope, despite all odds.
We are standing on their shoulders.
Empower us to be hopeful so we may act justly, love tenderly, and walk hopefully with you.
Amen. Ashe. Blessed Be.

Song: “Standing on the Shoulders” by Joyce Johnson Rouse, sung by Earth Mama, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjjKXuceRYQ

I am standing on the shoulders, of the ones who came before me

I am stronger for their courage, I am wiser for their words

I am lifted by their longing, for a fair and brighter future

I am grateful for their vision, for their toiling on this Earth

We are standing on the shoulders, of the ones who came before us

They are saints and they are humans, they are angels, they are friends

We can see beyond the struggles, and the troubles and the challenge

When we know that by our efforts, things will be better in the end

They lift me higher than I could ever fly

Carrying my burdens away

I imagine our world if they hadn’t tried

We wouldn’t be here celebrating today

I am standing on the shoulders of the ones who came before me

I am honored by their passion, for our liberty

I will stand a little taller, I will work a little longer

And my shoulders will be there to hold the ones who follow me

They lift me higher than I could ever fly

Carrying my burdens away

I imagine our world if they hadn’t tried

We wouldn’t be so very blessed today

I am standing on the shoulders of the ones who came before me

I am honored by their passion for our liberty

I will stand a little taller, I will work a little longer

And my shoulders will be there to hold, the ones who follow me

www.earthmama.org

Learn More from These Resources

Campbell, Joan Brown. Living into Hope: A Call to Spiritual Action for Such a Time as This. Woodstock, VT: SkyLights Paths Publishing, 2010.

Chavez, Matthew “Levee.” Signs of Hope: Messages from Subway Therapy. New York: Bloomsbury, 2017.

Chittister, Joan. Radical Spirit: Twelve Ways to Live a Free and Authentic Life. New York: Convergent Books, 2017.

Chittister, Joan, and Rowan Williams. Uncommon Gratitude: Alleluia for All That Is. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2010.

Murray, Pauli. Song in a Weary Throat: Memoir of an American Pilgrimage. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1987.

Steinem, Gloria. Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2019.

Tobin, Mary Luke. Hope Is an Open Door. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1981.

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