As the Humanist representative at interfaith vigils, I am often called upon to speak. Sometimes I reflect upon the person or situation, but I recently found a poem by Rebecca Parker that I revised as a call and response. It affirms the responsibility to use one’s gifts to serve humanity
Social Justice Call & Response
“Choose to Bless the World” adapted from a poem Rebecca Parker
Your gifts—whatever you discover them to be—
can be used to bless or curse the world.
Choose to Bless the World
The mind’s power,
The strength of the hands,
The reaches of the heart,
Choose to Bless the World
Any of these can serve to feed the hungry,
Bind up wounds,
Welcome the stranger,
Praise what is sacred,
Do the work of justice
Or offer love.
Choose to Bless the World
Any of these can draw down the prison door,
Hoard bread,
Abandon the poor,
Obscure what is holy,
Comply with injustice
Or withhold love.
Choose to Bless the World
You must answer this question:
What will you do with your gifts?
Choose to bless the world.
The choice to bless the world is more than an act of will,
A moving forward into the world
With the intention to do good.
It is an act of recognition, a confession of surprise, a grateful acknowledgment
That in the midst of a broken world
Unspeakable beauty, grace and mystery abide.
Choose to Bless the World
None of us alone can save the world.
Together—that is another possibility waiting.
