Wednesday, July 1, 2020

Wednesday Meditation


Pauli Murray (November 20, 1910 – July 1, 1985) was an American civil rights activists who became a lawyer, a women's rights activist, Episcopal priest, and author. Drawn to the ministry, in 1977 Murray was the first African-American woman to be ordained as an Episcopal priest, in the first year that any women were ordained by that church. (Wikipedia)

Pauli Murray: Dark Testament Verse 8  

Hope is a crushed stalk 
Between clenched fingers 
Hope is a bird’s wing 
Broken by a stone. 
Hope is a word in a tuneless ditty —
 A word whispered with the wind, 
A dream of forty acres and a mule, 
A cabin of one’s own and a moment to rest, 
A name and place for one’s children 
And children’s children at last . . . 
Hope is a song in a weary throat. 
Give me a song of hope 
And a world where I can sing it. 
Give me a song of faith 
And a people to believe in it. 
Give me a song of kindliness 
And a country where I can live it. 
Give me a song of hope and love 
And a brown girl’s heart to hear it. 

Liberating God, we thank you for the steadfast courage of your servant Pauli Murray, who fought long and well: Unshackle us from the chains of prejudice and fear, that we may show forth the reconciling love and true freedom which you revealed in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. 

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