Spirit of life and love
God we know by many names and many genders,
Today we offer prayers of thanks and ask for comfort and courage

We offer gratitude for the beauty we can behold when we look beyond the binaries

We know that you who made the day and the night, also made the dawn and the dusk, twilight and golden hour and every soft sunrise and painted sunset that exists in between 

We know that you who made the land and the sea also made the marshes and tidal pools and dunes that shift in the wind and waves, sometimes more land than sea, other times more sea than land.

And we know that we too were made in the image of this divine creator—who exists, who imagines, who creates beyond categories, outside of boxes

We give thanks for all of the varied, wondrous expressions of humanity that exist before us
For the glimpses of the divine we are privy to each time we glimpse one another
We give thanks for the breadth of this beauty, created to transgress binaries and boundaries, and we join our own voices to the divine voice that declares “it is good.”

But we know that while we revel and celebrate in the diversity of sacred creation there are those who seek to shrink our imaginations. Those that deny that humanity of our trans and non-binary siblings and who are actively pushing policies to harm their health and wellbeing.

For our trans and non-binary siblings we pray for comfort, safety, and moments of joy during this time of fear. May you know yourself beloved, created in the divine image and embraced by the warmth of this community gathered here today. 

For my cisgender siblings, we pray for the courage to follow our convictions and act on our faith, to speak out against these harmful policies and show up in solidarity with our trans and non-binary siblings, even when it is unpopular or costly.

For the glorious, wild diversity of divine creation we give thanks
For comfort and for courage we pray
Amen.

~ Danielle Garrett