Rev. Vanessa Titang

Tag: hope

  • Rinse and Repeat

    Rinse and Repeat

    [A meditation for these difficult times]

    Get it I out,
    Cry it out,
    Yell to and at the heavens above
    (The divine knows exactly why and can assuredly take it).
    Things are neither right
    Nor fair,
    Let the tears wash over you,
    Inhale,
    Exhale–In and out,
    And get up,
    Rise to the challenge of fighting the good fight another day,
    And then another,
    But be sure to cry,
    Release,
    Let the tears condition your strengthening heart,
    Remain open to and receptive of love
    For this is how and why we do this;
    Breathe,
    Rinse and repeat.

  • A Prayer for Peace

    A Prayer for Peace

    I have been quiet as yet on the Palestine and Israel conversation being had globally amidst the violence of Hamas attacks and Israel’s response. This is not because I have no thoughts on the matter, but rather because from what I knew, I have not had enough to speak to what is currently happening. I have since done my research. And like so many, I am still lost by the tangle of helplessness my hands make, as I ask, “What can be done?”

    I am often frustrated at the prospect of resorting to prayers alone. Alas, that is not all that is being done in prayer – throwing up our hands. No, it is also a means of working through complex realities to discern what these frustrated hands can, in fact, do for the better, and to call on hope.



    A Prayer for Peace
    (10-16-2023)

    I pray for peace.
    I pray for the Palestinians wanting freedom in their homeland,
    For their safety,
    I pray for the Israeli people
    Too wanting safety in the home where they are,
    I pray for the means of peaceful resolution
    To complicated matters
    Only further complicated by more harm done,
    May the people of this holy place
    Find mercy and means
    Of coming together,
    In resolution
    For the human right
    Of peace.

  • “To Bless the Messy” Homily

    This homily has been one that I have returned to multiple times for different spaces. It is also what I presented as my homily for the Ministerial Fellowship Committee in March 2023.

    As the world remains complicated and in many ways a messy place, I believe this message remains relevant.

  • Blessed, When the World Has Fallen Apart

    Blessed, When the World Has Fallen Apart

    (Reflection on a blessing from a Nigerian Chief, given Juneteenth 2022, in Maine)

    The world has fallen apart

    Though this is not the first time,

    It is just one of the times

    where it is all too much;

    Intentionally crafted

    By mortal powers that be.

    Not ordained by divinity.

    Weakened,

    But not dead

    I remind myself.

    And yesterday I was again reminded

    Of ancestors

    Who have been tasked similarly.

    What is next?

    What do I do now?

    When my back has been given

    Far too much weight

    To bare;

    When the final straw is placed?

    I did not know what I needed,

    Until it was before me,

    A spirit of power and memory,

    Backlit by the warm glow of summer sun,

    A masked figure,

    Familiar to family I do not know,

    And my predecessors,

    Speaking in a language I do not know,

    But understood.

    The slow, careful sound of ankle bells  

    And a motion to come forth,

    Welcomed me in,

    And back,

    Back,

    Back,

    In time and space,

    Back.

    This has happened before,

    And here

    we are;

    Still.

    A blessing given

    Of memory,

    Of protection,

    Of our shared connection,

    I cannot know the intention,

    But I felt it

    We all felt it.

    Let us not forget;

    Never forget,

    This moment,

    Or all that brought us

    Here—in time and space.

    Remembering

    Past, present

    And that

    we are not done,

    –This is always just beginning.

    We are our ancestors’ wildest dreams,

    May we be our descendants’ bravest heroes,

    keepers of the flame,

    Knowing we are the ones we have been waiting for,

    Thus,

    let’s go!

  • Bruxism (A Prayer for Hard Times)

    There is tension in my body;

    teeth are set on edge,

    This is how my body holds stress,

    carrying this heavy weight,

    That I’m not even aware of

    Until I feel it manifest:

    This pressure;

    Unrecognized burdens

    Are weighing

    And wearing

    Down bone and sinew,

    And I have nothing

    but

    to pray,

    Soul laid bare,

    My spirit needing release

    A vent for so much pressure,

    I am at times forgetful of this force in and around

    That thus allows me space for relief,

    Spirit!

    Here I lay down this weight,

    This anxious mind,

    Into your enveloping grace.

  • A Prayer for the Ordinary

    A Prayer for the Ordinary

    In this great heavy time,
    We have faced trials only our ancestors long passed could know,
    We have had great worry laid upon our chests,
    with the turning of the clock,
    Forward
    Into another year,
    Let us find peace,
    And make peace with the days that have passed,
    Let our expectations be as much as we can bear,
    And yet our hope for the future ever growing,
    In this year,
    Let us see life with eyes brand new,
    With an appreciation from the trials faced,
    Of the new day, of a baby’s breath, of the privilege of monotony
    Let us celebrate spirit when the ordinary occurs,
    For oh do we know
    The grief of lost normalcy,
    Let us be joyous
    For it is a new day,
    Joyous,
    For this now is our time,

    Spirit as we awaken
    To the renewed beauty and gift that is life,
    May we find comfort and protection,
    From the world’s great unknowns,
    And knowledge that in our struggles
    We are not alone.