This year we joined together with the Trans Theology Group to design a liturgy to be used on Trans* Day of Remembrance. Please use this liturgy in whatever way is helpful for you to mark the day. Please also find attached the powerpoint we used, which you are welcome to use too.
TDOR- Liturgy 20th November 2023
Welcome:
Hello friends, welcome and thank you for coming to this evening’s vigil to mark Trans* Day of Remembrance. This evening we will be sharing in prayer, poetry and music to remember those we have lost, and pray for those still fighting.
Opening prayer from the Corrymeela Community:
God of all creation, whose wisdom and love is boundless. You have many names and you are beyond all divisions of gender. We have many names for our sexual and gender identities. We give you thanks for the diversity of sexuality and gender. At times we deny that diversity by holding too strongly and tightly to the divisions that we ourselves create. As we come together to remember those transgender people who have been killed, taken their own lives or been injured, help us to honour their identities, and the identities of all people. Help us to create a world where everyone can live with authenticity and dignity. Help us all; who belong to every sexuality and gender, to live our own lives in true fulfilment of our different identities, in fellowship with each other and in the Love of Christ.
Amen
Prayer for the trans* community:
God of creation.
We remember that you call us good, precious, worthy of protection and of love.
We thank you for every single trans* person, those we know and those we do not know.
We bring to mind the trans* people we know and love, especially those we know are struggling.
We ask for your strength for our community to care for our trans* members and our trans* selves.
We thank you for those working and fighting for our futures, in big and small ways. Strengthen them and help our community to share the work.
We seek Your strength, Your warmth and comfort, Your unconditional and boundless love.
Help us share it with each other.
God of justice,
be with us in our grief,
share in our anger at lives taken.
Let your righteous anger be heard in our society.
We seek your ways of justice, your ways of transformation, your peace.
Guide us in your ways.
Amen
Moment of silence (2 mins):
Please join with us in silence to remember our siblings who have been victims of violence. In particular we remember those 320 trans and gender-diverse people who have been murdered globally in the past year, and those who have taken their own lives. We also pray for those still fighting for a fairer, more equal world.
Silence broken by these words:
Leader: To all those we have lost, we say:
ALL: We remember them.
Leader: To all those who survive, we say:
ALL: We cherish them.
Leader: To all those who fight on, we say:
ALL: We protect them.
‘Golden Golgotha’, by Jay Hulme:
even when we
wreath Him in gold
He is still dying
here is our God
on a cross awaiting
the birds
sometimes
He is beautiful, like
we wish we were
sometimes
He is more human
than we
either way
there is blood
and iron
spear shunts
and scratches
and screams
some say this
is a form of
agony
to see God
as broken as
we’ll all be
but where else
in the ashes of creation
will I ever
see a God
who weeps
like me
Prayer activity:
As you listen to the words of ‘Loves Majority’ pick up a pencil and draw yourself in ten years’ time. Don’t worry about how it looks or your artistic ability, use this time to be with God thinking creatively about who you are and who you want to be. If you are struggling to start, think about simple things such as a haircut, where do you live? Who are you? Who is God calling you to be? If you would rather sit and listen to the music please do.
‘Loves Majority’ by Martyn Joseph: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr3nc52x0m8
‘Hope is the Thing with Feathers’, by Emily Dickinson:
Introduction: Holding those drawings in the light or thinking about the lyrics to the song, consider how you will walk over the world spreading love and hope. As you do so, listen to the words of Emily Dickinson:
Hope is the thing with feathers,
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -
And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -
I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.
Closing prayer:
Lord, as we go from this call into our everyday lives without those we remember today, bring us comfort in Your presence. We ask Your strength to carry on fighting for our rights, Your peace when we feel lost, and Your Love and joy when we feel alone. Let our hope for a better tomorrow rest in You. Grant us fresh hearts and new minds so that we can celebrate the fullness of human experience in the Love of Christ.
Amen
Thank you:
Thank you for coming friends, please feel free to stay and chat with each other afterwards.
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