Each year around the first day of winter, the darkest day of the year, advocates and friends gather to remember those who have died after experiencing homelessness. This year’s gathering begins at 9:00 A.M. this morning at Riverfront Park.
Our Director of Formation, Jeff Moles, offered this prayer at Nashville’s Homeless Memorial in 2018:
Source of Life, Liberator of Captives, Everlasting Home:
We gather today in remembrance
To celebrate members of your family,
To confess our shortcomings,
And to recommit ourselves to love.
We say thank you
-For Johnnie’s quick wit and sharp style
-For Richard’s curmudgeonly but lovable spirit
-For Donald’s one-tooth grin that could light up a room
-For Cecil’s quiet strength
-For Ora’s kindness and wisdom
-For Carl’s story of recovery and commitment to serving others
-For Dewayne’s sense of empowerment and creativity
For the stories and gifts of each neighbor we name today, the ways our lives have been touched by these, our siblings in the human family, for the impact they made on our entire community, we give our deepest gratitude.
Even as we celebrate, we also must confess
That while many of us live lives of leisure, they struggled.
-In a city filled with apartments, we did not give them a home.
-In a city built on health care, we did not tend to their wounds.
-In a city whose foundation is music and expression, we locked them up and hid them away.
-In a city of religion, we rejected them and made them feel less than human.
-In a city of universities, we could not figure out a way to change this system of fear and exclusion.
For the walls we have built, for the stereotypes we have perpetuated, for the doors we have slammed, we express our humility and shame.
Today as we gather, may we recommit ourselves to the ways of love. Not the love of warm fuzzy feelings and sentimental imagery, but the love that is action. Love that sometimes makes us uncomfortable. Love that stretches us. Love that tears down borders and welcomes the stranger. Love that pursues justice. Love that listens and cares and empowers. We pray for love today. Love that is stronger than death.
May it be so. Amen.
