Psalm 118 teaches:
Min hametzar karati yahA name for God, as in "halleluyah" – praise God. Some people prefer this name for God as a non-gendered option. anani vamerkhav yah
From out of the narrow place, I called to God and God answered me from a God-filled, expansive space
Min hametzar
From out of the narrow place
From legally imposed constraints
From a crushing of autonomy
From a space of oppression
From choking constriction
Min hametzar karati
From out of the narrow place I cry out
In pain at this lurch backward
In fear for the health of so many women
In concern for people on the margins becoming even more marginalized
In grief about the increase in poverty and lives altered because of the will of others
In worry for what may be threatened next
In rage at the overreach, at the very gall
Min hametzar karati Yah
From out of the narrow place I scream out to God
My God is debased, discounted, dismissed in this imposition of someone else’s narrow religious values on 51% of our nation’s population
My God is erased and so is my freedom to believe in my God and to act in accordance with my beliefs
My God is a God of liberation, not constriction
My God is a God of strength, not subordination
My God is a God of lovingkindness, not rigidity
My God is a God of covenantal relationship, not authoritarianism
My God is a living process sustaining creation
My God is in the faces of family and friends and allies
My God is in the comfort we receive when we are heartbroken or hurt
My God is in the goodness WE bring into the world
Min hametzar karati yah anani vamerkhav yah
From out of the narrow place, I called to God and God answered me from a God-filled, expansive space
Let us bless all those seeking to make the best and most responsible choices for themselves and their families. Let us honor the health care providers who risk their lives to help people with unplanned, unwanted, unsustainable pregnancies choose a different life. Let us strengthen the networks growing to support women’s autonomy in these dangerous times. Let us bring all our resources, all our agency, to those most in need, most affected, most at risk. Let us be buoyed by the solidarity we experience through coalition work and be called to come through as good allies. Let us use our voices and our votes to cry out as loud as we can; let us use our bodies to match our cries with effective action; and in so doing, let us together create expansive, God-filled spaces:
Spaces of safety
Spaces of autonomy
Spaces of access
Spaces of opportunity
Spaces of solidarity
Spaces of freedom
May we sanctify and protect these spaces in care and coalition and community.
Ken yehi ratzonLit. "May it be Your Will ..." The opening of many petitionary prayers., let it be so, let us make it so.
