The prayer came out of the haunting quote that has been used often lately by Martin Niemoller (the
wiki quote:)
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
We are running out of time, we MUST speak up.
As we look around this room today, we now have faces to match with the names we have seen so often. Each face has a story and a circle of family and friends and coworkers who know them in a different way than we do. For a few short days we left those circles behind to come to this place and take up the work that calls us. Before we give voice to that call, let us take a moment to remember those whom we left behind, their faces, their importance to us, their needs that we may try to fill but sometimes fail. We offer a prayer for those left behind, For their health, their well being; for their love, for their light. We give thanks for their presence in our lives.
Each of us has people with names and faces who entered our lives at crucial times. Family, friends, teachers, strangers whose words or deeds sounded as our personal call to action. May we take a moment to reflect on them as well for without them, we would not be here.
Each of us has a higher power, someone or some thing greater than ourselves that is sought for strength, for solace, for encouragement in times of need. May we take a moment to honor and give thanks to that power, whatever it may be, which sees us through the long days and dark nights of the soul.
We are gathered here because we have been called to act on behalf of those who cannot. We have been called to speak up for those who have no voice. We have been called to stand up for those unable to do so by themselves. We are called to be prophets in our own time. We, here assembled, came to answer that call.
There was a time when a despot ruled and one by one people were arrested, imprisoned, executed for things they may or may not have done, or simply for who they were. Their friends, neighbors, countrymen were afraid and did not speak up to try to stop the injustice. We cannot let that happen again, we cannot let that happen here, thus we are called to speak up.
(I invite you to speak the refrain, "We will speak up" )
For those who have been unjustly imprisoned,
We will speak up
For those who have been tortured or abused
We will speak up
For mothers, fathers, wives and children, grieving over the loss of of a soldier in wars far away
We will speak up
For mothers, fathers, wives and children grieving over the loss of a civilian loved one lost in wars and conflicts far away
We will speak up
For those still left homeless or jobless after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina
We will speak up
For those suffering losses from natural disasters world wide
We will speak up
For those who are poor and in need of the basics, food, shelter, healthcare
We will speak up
For those suffering from terrible diseases for want of medicines
We will speak up
For those toiling in sweatshops being paid slave wages
We will speak up
For those who cross borders looking for freedom and a living wage
We will speak up
For those who love and seek commitment but are are legally barred from marriage
We will speak up
For those who would make choices over their childbearing but are being denied that choice
We will speak up
For those denied basic rights and freedoms
We will speak up
For those who bravely challenge corrupt authorities at great risk to themselves
We will speak up
For the sake of our country, our democracy and all that it stands for
We will speak up
We will speak up for one another, for our elected leaders who speak up, for our country and the promise of freedom that it has held out to us for 230 years. When the great theologian, Reinhold Neibuhr penned the serenity prayer, he urged us to discern the things we could change and recognize the things we could not. Creator spirit, grant us the courage to change those things we can.
May it ever be so.