“Our bodies are not apologies
Our bodies are riots,
Bodies of resistance,
Bodies that are deserving of celebration,
of love
of compassion,
of joy
of pleasure
Without conditions”
C.U.B. (Charles Buchanan, Eden Student)
Linked here is a UCC resource (prepared several years ago by Eden alumni Rev. Mike Schuenemeyer and Rev. Lori Tisher) on the Transgender Day of Remembrance. https://new.uccfiles.com/pdf/remembrance.pdf
This year, in honor of this day, we share with permission, the above poem and following prayer, both written by current Eden student, Charles Buchanan, who shared a powerful presentation of them earlier via social media.
Dear Creator,
who meets us in the places the world tries to erase
We gather here today not only holding the names, the memories, the lives of our trans siblings
who have been taken from us by
violence, neglect, and a world too afraid of our freedom.
We gather even when our hands are trembling with fierce hearts, knowing that remembrance is
not a passive action. It is in fact an act of resistance. It is an act of love.
God, Creator of the transitioning universe, the breath that refuses to be legislated
be near to us in this moment
Wrap us in the tenderness that we were told we did not deserve.
Hold close the ones who are grieving
our friends, our lovers, the families of choice who face this day
ache and with fire.
We remember each life lost not as a headline, not as a statistic, but as someone who loved,
dreamed, danced, struggled, who prayed, and dared to live their truth in a world dares to punish
those who are authentic
We name them with courage.
We honor them in their joy.
We refuse to let their stories be swallowed by silence.
God, teach us to build a world where trans lives are not just mourned, but cherished.
Where our bodies are not battlegrounds but sacred ground.
Where our becoming is not feared but celebrated as the holy mystery it that is you
Where trans kids get to grow old.
Where trans elders pass on their wisdom in long lives.
Where we get to rest.
Where we get to be safe.
Where we get to be held.
Let today be more than memory….let it be fuel. Lord
Fuel for the organizers, the healers, the caregivers, the clergy, the parents
the ones who show up again and again because our liberation demands nothing less than
collective devotion.
May we honor the dead by fighting like hell for the living.
May their names echo not only in sorrow, but in the courage we carry forward.
And to our allies
those who claim to love us, those who walk beside us, those who say they want a world where
trans lives can flourish…hear this call clearly:
This is not a day to be silent.
Do not mourn us in November and abandon us in December.
Show up in the rooms where we are not invited.
Interrupt the violence that is spoken in jokes, in our policies, in living rooms.
Put your bodies, your votes, your money, your platforms, your reputations
on the line.
Learn our stories.
Defend our joy.
Protect our youth.
Center our leadership.
And do it when its not glamour, be consistent work that makes safety real.
Because beloved
remembrance without action is just performance.
And we deserve more than that
we deserve true accomplices who understand that solidarity is a verb.
So I ask Creator, be with us.
Creator, be felt in us.
Creator, remind us that we are already enough
That we are already held, that we are already loved, that we are already whole.
For the body of every trans body is a miracle.
In your name, I say
Amen and Ashe
Written by: Rev. Charles Unique (current Eden student)
