Interfaith Day of Prayer – Prayer from Valarie Kaur

Waheguru.

May we sit in stillness and be present to this bright pain.

May we let our tears flow.

May we awaken to the truth — that we are only as strong or safe or well as the most vulnerable among us.

May we look upon the faces of others as sisters, brothers, and siblings, and say: You are a part of me that I do not yet know.

May we begin to reimagine a world where we see no stranger, where no person is disposable — and emerge from this pandemic ready to remake the systems that crush us.

May we make revolutionary love a conscious practice in our homes and hearts and in the streets.

May we stay in Chardi Kala — ever-rising spirits even in the darkness, joy even in the suffering — and find the energy to stay in the labor.

For this will be one long labor.

May we breathe and push and begin to birth the world we dream.

Valarie Kaur 

Sikh activist, documentary film maker, lawyer, founder of Groundswell Movement, America’s largest multi-faith online organizing network, and author of SEE NO STRANGER.