It seems nearly impossible to put words to all of the horrors happening around the world. The attacks by Hamas on Israel, Israel’s military assault on Gaza, war continues in Sudan and Ukraine, gun violence in Maine and every other state, another Black man killed by law enforcement, terrible hurricane intensification and devastation and other climate disasters… and so much more…

In this moment, we might want to hide or numb out and this can be a temporarily useful strategy. In this moment, the two of us are striving to increase our resilience-being informed but not glued to the news, snuggling with our little dog, relishing the beautiful changing leaves, anticipating the children who will knock on our door shouting ‘Trick or Treat’ tonight, and finding poetry to help us process the complicated emotions of deep sorrow as we long for peace, of anger as we long for justice. We share this poem with you hoping it may bring some processing to you.

what they did yesterday afternoon
by warsan shire

they set my aunts house on fire
i cried the way women on tv do
folding at the middle
like a five pound note.
i called the boy who use to love me
tried to ‘okay’ my voice
i said hello
he said warsan, what’s wrong, what’s happened?
i’ve been praying,
and these are what my prayers look like;
dear god
i come from two countries
one is thirsty
the other is on fire
both need water.
later that night
i held an atlas in my lap
ran my fingers across the whole world
and whispered
where does it hurt?
it answered
everywhere
everywhere

Take good care of yourselves, beloveds

Rev. Wendy and Rev. Lynn