“O God, to whom we pray for truth, be with us in our trembling lest we find it. We fear its light; our lives are full of shadows: what shall we do for shelter when we stand before the brightness of truth? We do not want the truth that troubles us and seeks to save us; we look for truth that brings us safety, comfort, and repose… We do not want the truth that tells us of a world of human wretchedness, with wrongs to be set right and justice calling us to serve it. For if we see this truth, we must admit our own betrayals: our callousness and cowardice, our evasions and our love of ease. We do not seek the truth of conscience. We want an indulgent God of tenderness and loving kindness who will not trouble our conscience or challenge our complacency. Forgive us our complacency, O God.”
A. Powell Davies (1902 – 1957), Unitarian minister, quoted in Fragments of Holiness for Daily Reflection
“i was cold / i was burning up / a child & endlessly weaving garments for the moon with my tears I found god in myself & i loved her / i loved her fiercely”
Ntozake Shange (1948 – 2018), African-American playwright and poet
“Even broken in spirit as he is, no one can feel more deeply than he does the beauties of nature. The starry sky, the sea, and every sight afforded by these wonderful regions, seems still to have the power of elevating his soul from earth. Such a man has a double existence: he may suffer misery, and be overwhelmed by disappointments; yet, when he has retired into himself, he will be like a celestial spirit that has a halo around him, within whose circle no grief or folly ventures.”
From Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1797 – 1851), born on this day
“There’s really just one thing I can control: my attitude during the journey, which is what keeps me feeling steady and stable, and what keeps me headed in the right direction.”
Chris Hadfield, first Canadian to walk in space, born on this day in 1959
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” … I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today! I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama .. little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today! I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.” This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day… From every mountainside, let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
Martin Luther King Jr., from his speech delivered at the Lincoln memorial in Washington D.C. on this day in 1963
“Stillness is our most intense mode of action. It is in our moments of deep quiet that is born every idea, emotion, and drive which we eventually honor with the name of action. We reach highest in meditation, and farthest in prayer. In stillness every human being is great.”
Leonard Bernstein (1918 – 1990), composer and conductor, born on this day
“O God, may we join the human race in daring to live in the prophetic spirit: seeking inspiration like the seers and sages of this and other lands, judging the past as they, acting on the present like them, envisioning a new and nobler era of the spirit. May our doctrines and forms fit the soul as the limbs fit the body: growing out of it, growing with it. May we have communities for the whole person: truth for the mind, good works for the hands, love for the heart; and for the soul that aspiring after perfection, that unfaltering faith in life, which like lightning in the clouds, shines brightest when elsewhere it is most dark.”
Theodore Parker (1810 – 1860), Unitarian minister, transcendentalist, abolitionist and social reformer, born on this day
International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition
“It is time to abolish human exploitation once and for all, and to recognize the equal and unconditional dignity of each and every individual. Today, let us remember the victims and freedom fighters of the past so that they may inspire future generations to build just societies.”
King Edward Street Chapel 