Pride

“O our Mother the Earth,
O our Father the Sky,…
weave for us a garment of brightness;
May the warp be the white light of morning;
May the weft be the red light of evening;
May the fringes be the falling rain,
May the border be the standing rainbow.”
–from the Tewa Pueblo

A meditation on pride, in celebration of the annual Upstate SC Pride March & Festival. Offered at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spartanburg, SC on Sunday, November 5, 2017.

The meditation may be heard here:

An excerpt from the meditation:

“Pride,
that claiming of oneself & standing up in oneself,
that decision
to live as the light
burning within us

“& to move that light out,
that thing we so profoundly are,
illuminating the world.

“It is hard to live our truth,
there is so much pressure
not to do so

“and so much threat,
so much rejection and violence,
and so much fear of all we will lose.

“But how powerful
the decision, the pride,
to hold the light of ourselves
for ourselves and for so many others
in the face of all that would stop us;

“and how powerful,
the expanding
constellation of support
we create.

“You are the triple rainbow,
iridescent light
shining through all the coming storms:

“your self, beautiful;
awakening others to their beauty;
showing us the beauty of this world.

“Walk in the beauty of your being.
Walk together in beauty & strength.
Walk full of pride

“through this world
whose beauty
you reveal.”