Missing Sisters

This year as remains of precious sisters and daughters were found in landfills we were poignantly reminded of the terrible ongoing reality of #MMIWG2S.  May all across this country, all levels of government, law enforcement, and the service sector, dedicate renewed efforts to understanding and implementing the Calls to Justice of the Final Report of the National Inquiry.  May we honour the dead, grieve with the living, seek the missing, and commit our nation to change.

Words and image: Jennifer Henry

May 4, 2025

1. Loved into being, by the Creator,
creatures revealing beauty divine.
Precious your textures, exquisite your colours,
diverse beyond measure, bold your design.

2. Christ interrupting, all our injustice,
bold love disrupting failures to care.
Seeking our witness, equity flowering,
daring within us, redress and repair.

3. Spirit unfolding, forging connexions,
deep in belonging, each find their place.
Risking inclusion, mutually transforming,
beloved perfusion, abundant in grace.

4. Torn and divided, forgetting your promise,
needing reminded just whose we are.
Rethread your vision, restore our fabric
Weaver Christ risen, mending us all.

Lyrics: Jennifer Henry (2025)

Tune options: It might scan to a traditional Gaelic melody, with traditional words by Eleanor Farjeon, made famous in a less traditional rendition by Cat Stevens.

Note: I have been coming undone by the vilifying of DEI. Not only are these hard won words, values, aspirations, strategies and commitments, they strike me as core to the dream of God, the essence of God’s revelation of themselves. I wrote this poem/hymn reflecting on the Trinity and this trio of words. Blame the Methodists for “connexion”. It’s still a work in progress but I thought I would share it.

Breath. Today we receive the Breath of God, the Spirit who rages, disturbs, converts and consoles.

Breath of God. What does it mean to claim this?

Surely it means ending the white supremacy that murderously takes breath away.

Surely it means guarding, with dignity, the breath of our elders until its natural end.

Surely it means giving every virus ravaged body equal access to the care that will sustain breath.

Surely it means celebrating every baby’s first breath—whether in Juba, Grassy Narrows or Manila—with equity and possibility.

Breath of the Divine. What does it to mean to claim this? What does it mean…. And what will I do? What will we do?

Amen.

Jennifer Henry with Paulette Brown (May 31 2020)

For All Who Mother,

Creator, we give thanks for all those who mother in diverse and wonderful ways. May we find words and ways to express our gratitude.

For the mothers who build peace all around the world that the lives of their children might be transformed. May the origins of this day be honored with our deepened commitment to peace.

For the mothers of Black sons, of Indigenous daughters, of all racialized children. May racist violence and white supremacy end and safety, equity and justice for all children be made real.

For the spiritual mothers, chosen mothers, mothers of history and mothers of movements who have helped to bring about change in church and world.  May our lives and our choices build on their legacy. 

For those seeking to mother who are denied, for those who grieve their mothers, for mothers who grieve their children, and for those for whom the word “mother” is pain and not comfort. May your stories be honoured.

For our Mother the Earth, who is wounded by our neglect and excess. May we learn from what she is teaching us about how to truly live.

We lift all these prayers to you, Creator. With your Mothering love, receive our prayers. Amen

Words: Jennifer Henry

May 9, 2020