Sharing this prayer I offered for the Transgender Day of Remembrance:

 

We praise You, Holy One, for the gift of life,

precious, stubborn, fragile, and beautiful;

we are grateful for the time we have to live upon the earth,

to love, to grow, and to be.

 

We give thanks for the will to live and for our capacity to live fully all of the days that we are given;

We remember those who have been taken by the devastation of violence used upon them. We remember them and claim the opportunity to build lives of wholeness in their honour.

We give You thanks for partners, friends, allies, and families who have been steadfast in their love. We thank you for the people who have devoted their life’s work to the prevention of violence, making transitioning and living a full authentic life possible.

We give You thanks for the diligent science, brilliant ideas, and insights that have led to new life-giving procedures, for those in leadership who have acted to provide health care for people who are in transition.

We give thanks for those whose prejudice and judgement have yielded to understanding, for those who have overcome fear, indifference, or burnout to embrace a life of caring compassion.

 We praise You, Eternal One, for those who have loved enough that their hearts have broken, who cherish the memories of those we have lost, and for those who console the grieving.

God, grant us the love, courage, tenacity, and the will to continue to make a difference in a world that all too often is filled with hate, fear, and violence.

Inspire us to challenge and stand strong against the forces that allow needless harm and violence to continue – prejudice, unjust laws, repression, stigma and fear.

 

Into Your care, we trust and lift up the hundreds of souls who have been tortured and murdered.

We lift up to You our dreams of a world where all are cared for,

Our dreams of wholeness,

Our dreams of a world where all are accepted and respected,

 A dream we know You share. Amen. [1]

 

[1] I made minor edits to the original prayer written by Rabbi Denise L. Eger in the excellent book“Where Pride Dwells: A Celebration of LGBTQ Jewish Life and Ritual”.  Photo credit: Photo by Lena Balk on Unsplash