liturgy

i had lunch with a friend today. it had been too long since we last sat together. there was so much we caught up on. it was truly wonderful to reconnect with her.

after talking about our lives and where we are heading, we found ourselves talking about spirituality and the power of liturgy. and the beauty we find in it.

we talked about the sacredness and the connectedness in groups of people speaking the same words, and i had a thought come to me... words that have been spoken for generations. the apostle's creed, psalm 23, the nativity story, the easter story, the communion narrative...

then another thought...

do we not have unofficial liturgies which we speak daily? words that people all over the world have spoken and are speaking...

what of the liturgy of "i love you"?

i shared my thought with my friend and she played a little devil's advocate with me (she's so good at it) and made me think... just as we sometimes say creeds without engaging with the sacredness of the moment, haven't we made "i love you" into a statement that has lost its meaning - not treating it with the reverence and beauty it deserves?

what if we truly adopted a liturgy of love?

today, i was walking down the sidewalk at the university i attend and work at, thinking about all of this and thinking about a situation on campus where i am trying to share my perspective as a lesbian, and not being received by people i thought would receive me. i was snapped out of my thoughts when i heard several guys yelling right beside me. a car.

"bitch."
"whore."
"dyke."

all yelled in less than 2 seconds.

the car sped off.

it isn't the first time this has happened.

except the other time the phrase yelled was "fucking lesbian." and i was on the other side of the same street.

a liturgy of hate.

i am so angry. and i am scared. and i know it is time to break the silence about how gay and lesbian students are treated on my campus. but we can't say anything because we know how the administration feels about us... we are an "issue"... not only that, but an "issue" they would rather ignore, intellectualize, and keep in a place of invisibility and silence.

well, enough is enough. and it's been too much.

but i know i must act wisely and speak out within the context of love and community.

i also know i must speak out. despite my fears. and i must speak a liturgy of love and ask others to join me in it.

if we say "i love you" and mean it, and embrace the holiness and beauty of speaking those words and other liturgies of love, will we not drown out the creeds of hatred, malice, and violence? will we not assert together that love shall lead us? will we not connect to one another through words of love and actions of love so powerfully that the binding cannot be broken by hate?

does love not conquer and cover?

will you join me in overcoming hatred through action and breaking the silence?

and will you stand with me and speak with me: a liturgy of love?