prayer-poem #metoo

Blessed are those who reveal painful truths,

and blessed are those who bear witness.

Blessed are those whose unspoken story

simmers underneath,

affecting some parts of life,

or coloring everything.

 

May our hearts be large enough to hold them all.

 

Let us make each community a tapestry woven

with honesty,

a safe space filled with deep trust

so that wounds needing healing

are gently, patiently, urgently held,

where shame is unraveled,

and the fabric of our souls can be rewoven

in wholeness, once again.

 

Let us not hide from what is difficult.

Help us when we are afraid to keep opening,

knowing that we, our community, our sisterhood, our loved ones

will hold us in the warm folds

of an embrace knitted with love.

 

Embolden our community to take account of itself.

Give us strength to shine the light

on every dark place where power is or can be abused.

Give us the courage to break apart

the structures that keep secrets hidden.

 

May we commit to holiness in every relationship,

May we truly learn to see the Divine in each other’s faces,

valuing the right of each person to say yes or say no, or not yet –

please help us understand how to respect sacred boundaries:

My body, My consent, My dignity.

 

May this uncovering and revealing and working through

transform our stories and our pain into holy wisdom

that repairs and lifts up, that blesses and heals.

 

Rabbi Jill Berkson Zimmerman

thanks to Rabbi Riqi Kosovske for her beautiful suggestions and support in writing this prayer

 

*photo image from http://theflyingtortoise.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-hidden-truth.html