We Are a People - Michael Gurian

In Memoriam, Tree of Life Synagogue, 2018.

We are a people of gardens and storms,

of prayers and history and holiness.

We are a people who survived

the excesses of God’s masterpiece.

We saw the worst that could happen;

now we know for sure: there is nothing

more worth living for than the road of joy

we can each find just off our road of sorrows.

We are a people grateful for everyday things:

to complain about one another is often self-pity.

We must fight to imitate God in all our actions,

and we are a people who know how to fight.

We are a people who seek justice for all those in need;

our personal actions are the breath of God’s love.

We are a people who challenge the universe,

and so: we often eat from a feast of losses.

How shall we manage our human appetite for power?

What shall we do with this wild absurdity, this life?

Make a safe home for our children, and trust

a vast, wandering light we can barely understand.

Live with courage and purpose so that when we fall,

we fall into the arms of an infinitely greater Being.