To Know We Are All the Beloved John 20:19-31

Holy One

You come into the locked rooms of our lives
and you speak into our fear and our doubt and our indifference
You tell us who we are and send us out
into a world where so many have lost their name
and answer to hate or fear or power

What would it mean?
To know we are all the beloved? 

When war is oozing out through the seams of the world
and leaders tote up tanks and planes
and say one thing and then another

What would it mean?
To know we are all beloved?

When thousands upon thousands have had home taken away
and live in camps that are increasingly places where hope seems absent

What would it mean?
To know we are all beloved?

When corporations prepare spreadsheets
that describe natural resources in terms of commodity
and there is no line for community
or earth’s integrity

What does it mean?
To know we are all beloved?

When native women disappear and suffer violence
in numbers that are disproportionate with the population of their national community

What does it mean?
To know we are all beloved?

 To what does that identity call us?

When things we hold dear are lost,
when we disagree,
when we feel maligned or threatened,
To what does our name call us?

When we have opportunity here
to speak a language to which many are indifferent
To what does our name call us?

What does it mean
to know we are all the beloved?

(silence)

To the One who creates and names and calls us
Thanks be.