Accompany Us, O God
/“Please God, come along in our company.”
This simple statement from the First Reading is my prayer right now. God, come along in our company. Come with me and keep me company. Accompany us, God.
This week I’ve been watching the news so much it’s like I can’t look away from the marches and responses from leaders, police, and activists. I’ve also been rallying. Each rally I go to has its own flavor: one was standing with activists and families and listening to inspiring speakers; another was a prayer walk through my neighborhood; a couple of others have been marches, one through downtown Cincinnati and another around the University of Cincinnati campus. I love being in the heart of each of these protests. There’s anger and sadness, but also strength, solidarity, and the spirit of change in the air.
At the march downtown, I noticed a lot of teenagers and young adults. For some, it may have been their first march, and the leaders of the protest offered lots of directions about what to do and where to move. At one point, I looked across from me to see that a young woman had matched her pace to walk with an older woman. They entered into what appeared to be an earnest conversation, and it really moved me. It reminded me about the importance of intergenerational activism, how we need both experience and raw passion to work for change. It showed me the importance of accompaniment, which is essential to both social action and the spiritual life. We need to go with each other in love and support. We need each other.
At the end of the march, we stopped at City Hall. Everyone knelt in front of a line of police officers who had their shields raised. The rally leaders with megaphones invited the officers to kneel with us, and the crowd took up the chant. We stayed that way for a while. As I knelt, my chanting grew silent. I noticed the hard, rocky street under my knees, and I closed my eyes and felt my hands raise. I felt each person there with me. And then I felt God there with us. It was one of those unsought but longed-for holy moments. Time stopped and it was just that moment of love and presence. I felt the goodness of each person and the goodness of God in each one. It was a beautiful, graced moment.
We want change and we work for change. I hope we have change – equity, safety, dignity for all who don’t have those things, particularly African American people. The very gifted leadership I witnessed in both younger and older activists makes me believe that change will come. When it does, it will be because people have worked very hard for it. It won’t be a sudden magic moment – poof – there was injustice before but now things are equal for all people. The miracle of change will come from people. But that doesn’t mean that God’s not there. God accompanies all who work for justice and peace. God moves people to keep working when they tire or get discouraged. God encourages people through other people. The miracle of social change looks like a march – a slow movement forward, step by step, young and old, chanting together in many voices.
This is Trinity Sunday, also celebrated as Providence Sunday, especially by my community. As I think about it, Providence Sunday is the feast of accompaniment, the celebration of God being deeply with us. God as Trinity shows us that God looks like community, and healthy community looks like God. This is the feast when we pray to God, “Come along in our company.” We trust that God does, in fact, come with us. In moments of grace when we sense God, as well as times of distress when we don’t, God is there. God is there in the quiet stillness of our hearts as well as our cries against injustice. As we accompany each other on the march toward freedom, God accompanies us. As we are Providence to each other, the world changes.
By Sister Leslie Keener, CDP
Sister Leslie Keener, CDP is the director of God Space, a community-building spirituality ministry in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. She’s a Sister of Divine Providence with a Masters in Ministry and a Certificate in Spiritual Direction and Retreats from Creighton University. She directs retreats, meets with people for spiritual direction, and serves as the vocation director for her community. She also serves on the Coordinating Council of Spiritual Directors International. She enjoys music, dancing, meaningful conversations, and activism.