Your vision led you through
the pain of giving it birth,
the anguish and joy of assisting its growth.
It led you to the cross,
and, finally, to an empty tomb.

Your vision has conceived more births,
more anguish and joy in growth,
more crosses,
and yet more empty tombs.

Your vision has
scattered the self-righteous,
brought down those who would judge,
exalted the marginalized,
and nourished us with hope.

As we conceive your vision in our own communities,
may we remember those who have gone before us in the dream,
and may we also be blessed with kin who greet us with joy,
and prophetic voices who offer thanks to God.
Our soul magnifies our God,
our spirit rejoices in God our deliverer,
for God has regarded our oppression.

Generations to come will call us blessed,
for God has done great things for us,
and holy is God’s name.

Holy Trinity,
divine and blessed relationship,
bless the ecstasy of these lovers
as their faces kiss,
as their bodies touch,
as in their lovemaking
they overcome the fear and the hatred
and the garbage heaped upon them
by the church and the culture.

Bless their adoration of each other
as they worship the holy imprint
of your divine beauty
and enjoy the communion
of a loving covenant.
May such sacrament
bring them ever closer to you,
Lover of us all.

As you called the paralytic to walk,
lift us from the paralysis of low self-esteem
so we may walk into your commonwealth
with the power you have given us:
a power we do not need to prove
by lording it over others,
a power we do not have to sacrifice
to love you or others.

Resurrect us, God; call us to rise and carry our pallets,
and let religious and political leaders and friends alike
stand amazed at our healing,
and with those of long ago who witnessed the paralytic walk,
may they witness in us your power and glory:
a power which seeks not to dominate but to serve,
a glory which seeks not itself but others.

Then may they also glorify you, saying,
“We never saw anything like this.”

From lack of trust and faith
in ourselves as individuals
and ourselves as community,
O God, deliver us.

From lack of commitment
to lover, to friends,
to our faith, to our community,
deliver us.

From denial of our integrity
as spiritual-sexual creations,
deliver us.

From rejection of others
because of their body-state,
whether gender, race, age,
sexual orientation,
appearance, or disability,
O God, deliver us.