IDAHOBIT Day chapel blessing

Last week, The Salvation Army joined commemorations for the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT), observed on 17 May each year.

Territorial Headquarters at Blackburn (Melbourne) and Redfern (Sydney) hosted chapel services and morning teas last Thursday to observe the day.

To read the story on these events, click here.

As part of the Blackburn service, Amanda Brummell Lennestaal read a chapel prayer she had written for the occasion. Amanda is General Manager – Diversity Equity and Inclusion.

May the God of all-encompassing, limitless love,  

Remind you today that you are fearfully and wonderfully made, in the image of the Divine. 

To all who have been cast out, shut down, or made to feel ‘less than’,  

May you hear again the truth: 

You bear the likeness of God. 

May the spirit stir in those of us who attempt to build community -  

To open doors that were once closed,  

To widen tables where none are turned away, 

To plant gardens where once there were walls, 

To call resolutely for healing and restoration. 

To the wounded and weary:

May you find rest in the arms of a saviour who knows rejection,  

bears your pain, and calls you beloved. 

And may the blessing of our Creator, 

The grace of Christ who walks with the outcast, 

And the fire of the Spirit who births renewal and belonging,  

Go with you now, 

As you seek and shape in a world 

Where all are seen, safe, and held in sacred worth.  

Amen.

– Amanda Brummell Lennestaal