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Here is the 2008 version of the litany. Leader: I am the earth, the air and the waters. We have no voice.Congregation: I will speak for you. Leader: I am the redwood, the polar bear and the great blue whale. We have no voice. Congregation: I will speak for you. Leader: I am the poor, the homeless and the orphan. Congregation: I will speak for you. Leader: I am the very young, the very old and the disenfranchised. Congregation: I will speak for you. Leader: I am a minority because of my size, shape or color; the language I speak, my sexual orientation or physical ability. Congregation: I will speak for you. Leader: I am alone. Congregation: You are not; take my hand. All: Namasté. I acknowledge the divine spark within you. And here is the 2007 version: Leader: I am blind.Congregation: I can see. I will tell you if a speaker uses a hand gesture. Leader: I am hard of hearing. Congregation: I can hear. I will ask people to use the microphone. Leader: I am too young to vote. Congregation: I vote. I will vote for the good of the community, not my selfish interests. Leader: I use a wheelchair. Congregation: I walk. I will not begrudge the extra expense my church, my town or my county incurs for accessibility. Leader: I am a slave to alcohol. Congregation: I am not. You will have to free yourself, but I will serve you apple juice without question. Leader: I am a slave to drugs. Congregation: I am not. You will have to free yourself, but I will speak for treatment instead of jail. Leader: I am alone. Congregation: You are not. Take my hand. Leader and Congregation: We help each other out of common humanity. We help each other in the hope others will help us, when we become weak or frail. We help each other out of respect for the divine spark that burns within each of us. * "Comfort Me", lyrics and music copyright by Mimi Bornstein, Comfort me, oh my soul Litany written by Ted Pack, who notes: The hymn is bald without the music and the repetition; each verse repeats the first phrase ("Comfort me", "Sing with me", etc.) three times, then "oh my soul". The phrase "Speak for me" is the simplest and most eloquent call to act for social justice that I've ever heard. |
This is one of a series of homilies I wrote for the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Stanislaus County, in Modesto, California, from 2003 - 2014.