Wednesday, October 21, 2026

Spirituality for the Streets • Wisdom for the Journey • A Fuller Life for Everyone

Eternal Progression • A Fuller Life for Everyone • Live and Help Live

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🧭 TODAY’S THEME

THE WOMAN WHO NAMED GOD

When Being Seen Is Not Enough

Today is both Global Dignity Day and Global Ethics Day.

Our reflection begins with Hagar, an Egyptian enslaved woman whose story raises an unsettling question:

What does it mean to recognize someone’s humanity while allowing the conditions that harm them to continue?

This edition explores dignity, power, belonging, water, practical care, and the difference between noticing suffering and responding to it.

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📖 SCRIPTURE FOR THE DAY

Thou God Seest Me

“And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me.”

— Genesis 16:13, KJV

Hagar is one of the most remarkable women in the biblical library.

She is foreign.

She is enslaved.

She is a woman living within a patriarchal household.

She possesses very little social power.

Yet Genesis gives her something extraordinary.

She names God.

The person pushed toward the margins becomes a theologian.

And the God she names is the God who sees.

But today’s question goes one step further.

What happens after we see?

Because noticing another person’s suffering is not the same thing as changing the conditions producing it.

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✍️ FROM THE PILGRIM’S DESK

Please Don’t Just See Me. Respect Me.

There is something comforting about being seen.

Someone notices you.

Someone remembers your name.

Someone recognizes what you are going through.

That matters.

But there is also a danger in turning “seeing” into the final goal.

We can see someone experiencing homelessness and continue supporting arrangements that leave people without shelter.

We can see disabled people while designing buildings, transportation systems, websites, and emergency plans that remain inaccessible.

We can celebrate queer visibility while tolerating discrimination.

We can praise essential workers while paying them wages that do not meet basic needs.

We can recognize Indigenous peoples while ignoring questions about land, sovereignty, and cultural survival.

Visibility matters.

But dignity demands more.

Dignity asks whether people have meaningful control over their own lives.

It asks whether they are listened to.

It asks whether their needs are treated as legitimate.

It asks whether our communities are organized so that everyone has genuine opportunities to flourish.

My Franciscan spirituality tells me to recognize every person as kin.

My Clarean spirituality reminds me that community means dependence upon one another.

My liberation theology asks who possesses power.

My queer theology asks whose existence must continually be justified.

And my anarcho-communist convictions ask whether relationships are based upon cooperation or domination.

All of those perspectives converge on one simple principle:

Do not merely notice people. Respect their agency.

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🎙️ TODAY’S SERMON

THE WOMAN WHO NAMED GOD

Genesis 16:1–16; 21:8–21

When Being Seen Is Not Enough

Hagar’s story is uncomfortable.

And it should be.

Sometimes Christians approach biblical characters as though they were pieces on a stained-glass window.

Abraham.

Sarah.

Hagar.

Isaac.

Ishmael.

We already know which characters are supposed to matter.

We already know where the story is going.

And because we know the theological destination, we may move too quickly past the people who get hurt along the way.

But historical-critical interpretation asks us to slow down.

Genesis is not a modern biography.

It is part of Israel’s ancestral traditions, shaped through long processes of oral transmission, composition, and editing.

The stories of Abraham and Sarah function within larger theological narratives about ancestry, land, covenant, promise, and identity.

But those narratives also contain disturbing social realities.

Hagar is introduced in Genesis 16 as an Egyptian slave belonging to Sarai.

She is not an employee.

She does not possess equal social standing.

She lives within an ancient household system where enslaved women could be treated as reproductive resources.

Sarai cannot conceive.

So Hagar is given to Abram.

Later theological traditions have sometimes softened the situation.

But we should resist romanticizing it.

Within the social world described by the text, Hagar possesses very little power over what happens to her body.

She becomes pregnant.

Conflict develops between Hagar and Sarai.

Sarai complains to Abram.

And Abram essentially tells Sarai:

She’s your slave.

Do what you want.

Genesis says Sarai deals harshly with Hagar.

Hagar runs away.

Now stop there.

Before the angel.

Before the promise.

Before the theological interpretation.

A pregnant enslaved woman has fled into the wilderness.

That should matter.

She is not simply a supporting character in Abraham’s spiritual journey.

She is a human being trying to survive.

And then something remarkable happens.

The divine messenger encounters her.

Not Abraham.

Not Sarah.

Hagar.

The woman without social power becomes the recipient of divine attention.

And eventually Hagar speaks one of the most extraordinary lines in Genesis.

She names God.

El Roi.

The God who sees me.

Think about the theological reversal.

The patriarch does not name God here.

The enslaved Egyptian woman does.

The outsider becomes theologian.

The person whose body has been controlled becomes interpreter of the divine.

The person overlooked by the household discovers herself seen.

That is powerful.

Liberation theologians have understandably found enormous significance in this story.

Womanist interpreters in particular have drawn attention to Hagar’s experiences of enslavement, sexual exploitation, survival, motherhood, wilderness, and divine encounter.

Hagar’s story resonates differently when read from the perspective of people whose ancestors experienced slavery or whose bodies have been controlled by others.

And that is why interpretation must involve more than asking:

“What does this passage mean?”

We should also ask:

Who is reading it?

A wealthy person may notice one thing.

A refugee may notice another.

An enslaved ancestor’s descendant may hear something different.

A woman who has experienced abuse may notice details someone else overlooks.

A queer person rejected by family may understand wilderness differently.

A person living with disability may hear the language of dependence differently.

The text does not change.

But readers ask different questions.

And those questions reveal dimensions of the text that dominant interpretations sometimes ignore.

But now we encounter a difficult theological problem.

The divine messenger tells Hagar to return.

That is troubling.

A liberationist reading should not casually transform that command into a universal rule.

We should never tell someone experiencing abuse:

“Hagar went back, therefore God wants you to return to your abuser.”

No.

Ancient narrative is not automatically modern ethical instruction.

Historical context matters.

Literary context matters.

And the safety of actual human beings matters.

Later, in Genesis 21, Hagar and Ishmael are expelled from Abraham’s household.

They enter the wilderness.

Their water runs out.

Hagar believes her child is going to die.

And again the story says that God hears.

A well becomes visible.

Hagar and Ishmael survive.

The text preserves both vulnerability and promise.

But we should not rush to spiritualize away the injustice.

Hagar repeatedly survives situations created by people with more power than she possesses.

And that brings us to today’s question.

Is being seen enough?

Hagar calls God the God who sees.

That recognition matters deeply.

But if we read this story today, we should ask what seeing requires from us.

Because there is a form of compassion that notices suffering without changing anything.

We say:

“I see you.”

But the inaccessible staircase remains.

“I see you.”

But the worker still cannot afford rent.

“I see you.”

But the refugee remains trapped.

“I see you.”

But the transgender person still has to prove their humanity before receiving basic respect.

“I see you.”

But the person experiencing homelessness still has nowhere safe to sleep.

Seeing becomes sentimental when it requires nothing from us.

Liberation theology insists that compassion must become material.

Hungry people need food.

Unhoused people need housing.

Sick people need healthcare.

Workers need dignity.

Disabled people need accessibility.

People fleeing violence need safety.

And communities need meaningful power over decisions affecting their lives.

From my anarcho-communist perspective, dignity cannot depend entirely upon benevolent authorities deciding to be kind.

A hierarchy may occasionally produce compassionate rulers.

But justice requires more than hoping powerful people behave nicely.

People should possess meaningful agency.

Communities should be able to participate in decisions affecting them.

Workers should have a voice in their workplaces.

People should not be forced into unnecessary dependence upon landlords, bosses, religious authorities, or bureaucratic institutions simply to survive.

Mutual aid offers another model.

Not charity flowing downward from superior to inferior.

But people cooperating.

Sharing resources.

Sharing knowledge.

Sharing responsibility.

Helping one another because our lives are interconnected.

Franciscan spirituality understands something similar.

Francis embraced poverty voluntarily.

That distinction matters.

Voluntary simplicity is not the same thing as involuntary deprivation.

There is nothing spiritually romantic about someone being unable to afford food.

There is nothing holy about unsafe housing.

There is nothing sacred about preventable suffering.

Franciscan poverty challenges accumulation.

It should never be used to justify abandoning people experiencing poverty.

Clare’s communities depended upon relationships.

People cared for one another.

That mutual dependence can become a model for how we imagine society.

Not everyone isolated behind private walls.

Not everyone accumulating as much as possible.

But communities where people understand that their flourishing is connected.

Queer theology brings us back to visibility.

Queer communities know something about the politics of being seen.

Visibility can be liberating.

But visibility can also make people vulnerable.

A person may be visible and still unsafe.

A transgender person may be represented in media while lacking access to housing, employment, healthcare, or legal protection.

A queer teenager may be visible to their family and still not be accepted.

So visibility alone is not liberation.

Recognition must become relationship.

Relationship must become respect.

Respect must include agency.

And dignity must become practical.

Feminist theology asks us to examine Hagar’s body.

Who controls it?

Who benefits from it?

Who speaks about it?

Who speaks for her?

And when does Hagar finally speak for herself?

These questions remain relevant.

Whenever institutions make decisions about people’s bodies without meaningfully including those people, Hagar’s story should make us uncomfortable.

Ecological theology adds another dimension.

Hagar’s survival depends upon water.

In Genesis 21, the crisis becomes immediate when the water runs out.

A theological promise does not eliminate a material need.

Hagar needs water.

Ishmael needs water.

Bodies require water.

That sounds obvious.

But spirituality sometimes becomes detached from bodies.

We pray for people whose practical needs we could help address.

We offer blessings while ignoring infrastructure.

We talk about salvation while communities lack clean drinking water.

The story refuses that separation.

The well matters.

Material life matters.

Bodies matter.

Now let us talk about God.

I do not imagine God as a supernatural monarch controlling every detail of Hagar’s suffering.

That interpretation creates serious moral problems.

If God possesses absolute coercive control, then we must ask why Hagar was allowed to be enslaved and mistreated in the first place.

Following John D. Caputo, I prefer to understand God as insistence rather than domination.

God calls.

God interrupts.

God disturbs.

God insists upon possibilities that human systems repeatedly suppress.

The insistence of God appears in the question:

Do you see her?

Not merely as Abraham’s slave.

Not merely as Sarah’s rival.

Not merely as Ishmael’s mother.

But Hagar.

A person.

A subject.

A theologian.

A survivor.

God does not erase her humanity by turning her into a symbol.

The divine call insists:

See.

Listen.

Respond.

And perhaps that is what Global Dignity Day should mean.

Not sentimental recognition.

Not smiling photographs of diverse people.

Not corporate slogans about inclusion.

Dignity becomes meaningful when people possess agency.

When their voices matter.

When their bodies are respected.

When their needs are taken seriously.

When their differences do not disqualify them from belonging.

When communities organize themselves so that people can flourish together.

Today, remember Hagar.

The enslaved woman.

The foreigner.

The mother.

The refugee in the wilderness.

The survivor.

The theologian.

The woman who named God.

She discovered that she was seen.

Our responsibility is to ask what happens next.

Because if we truly see another person’s humanity,

then eventually we must confront whatever denies it.

Seeing is the beginning.

Dignity requires more.

Amen.

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🌍 THE WORLD OUTSIDE OUR DOOR

Global Dignity Day Meets Global Ethics Day

Reported Facts — October 21, 2026

Today marks Global Dignity Day, an international initiative centered on the idea that every person possesses inherent worth and deserves dignity and respect.

The observance is generally held on the third Wednesday of October and encourages conversations and activities focused on human dignity, empathy, inclusion, and the ways individuals can contribute to the dignity of others.

October 21 also marks Global Ethics Day, an annual initiative associated with the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.

Global Ethics Day encourages individuals and organizations to consider ethical questions affecting public life, institutions, technology, international affairs, workplaces, and communities.

The coincidence of these observances provides an opportunity to ask not merely what values we profess but how those values shape institutions and everyday relationships.

Urban Pilgrim Commentary

Dignity is easy to affirm in the abstract.

The harder question is what dignity requires materially.

Does a person possess dignity if they cannot obtain safe housing?

Does workplace dignity exist where workers possess little influence over conditions affecting their lives?

Can we celebrate disabled people while leaving public spaces inaccessible?

Can we celebrate queer visibility while demanding conformity?

Can we speak about human dignity while treating refugees, prisoners, poor people, or political opponents as disposable?

From my anarcho-communist perspective, dignity requires questioning unnecessary domination and creating forms of cooperation in which people have meaningful participation in decisions affecting their lives.

From my Franciscan perspective, dignity means rejecting the idea that possessions determine human worth.

From my Christian perspective, dignity calls us toward the neighbor.

And from my post-theistic perspective, God is not the supernatural enforcement officer of dignity.

God is the insistence that keeps asking:

What would love require here?

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📚 SCHOLAR’S CORNER

Two Wilderness Stories, Two Difficult Questions

Hagar appears prominently in both Genesis 16 and Genesis 21.

These narratives contain overlapping themes but also important differences.

In Genesis 16, Hagar flees from Sarai while pregnant.

In Genesis 21, Hagar and Ishmael are expelled after Isaac’s birth.

Scholars studying the Pentateuch have long examined such parallel traditions as evidence of the complex compositional history of Genesis.

Rather than treating every difference as a problem that must be erased, historical criticism asks what each narrative contributes.

Genesis 16 emphasizes Hagar’s encounter with the divine messenger and her naming of God.

Genesis 21 emphasizes divine hearing, survival, water, and Ishmael’s future.

Together they preserve an extraordinary amount of narrative attention on a woman who occupies a socially vulnerable position.

Sometimes the margins of the biblical story contain some of its most powerful theology.

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❓ QUESTION EVERYTHING

Can You Recognize Someone’s Dignity While Controlling Their Life?

A benevolent ruler may treat subjects kindly.

A compassionate boss may treat employees well.

A caring religious leader may treat followers respectfully.

But what happens when all meaningful decisions still flow in one direction?

Is kindness enough?

Or does dignity require agency?

This does not mean every relationship must have identical roles.

Teachers and students have different responsibilities.

Medical professionals possess specialized expertise.

Parents have responsibilities toward children.

But differences in responsibility do not eliminate the need for respect, accountability, consent, and participation.

Today’s question:

When does care become control?

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🌿 CREATION IS OUR MONASTERY

The Spirituality of a Glass of Water

Pour yourself a glass of water.

Then stop.

Consider what made that ordinary moment possible.

Rain.

Rivers.

Reservoirs.

Groundwater.

Treatment systems.

Pipes.

Workers.

Infrastructure.

Energy.

Public health regulations.

Ecological systems.

A glass of water is not really an individual accomplishment.

It represents relationships.

Today, drink one glass slowly and with gratitude.

Then remember the people around the world who lack reliable access to safe drinking water.

Gratitude becomes meaningful when it grows into responsibility.

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🏳️‍🌈 QUEER WISDOM

Visibility Without Safety Is Not Liberation

Queer people have fought hard for visibility.

That matters.

Seeing people like ourselves can reduce isolation.

Representation can challenge stereotypes.

But visibility is not the final goal.

A transgender person can be visible and unemployed.

A queer teenager can be visible and homeless.

A same-sex couple can be visible and unsafe.

A nonbinary person can be visible and continually disrespected.

The goal is not simply to be noticed.

The goal is to live freely.

Visibility says: We exist.

Dignity says: Our lives matter.

Liberation asks: Can we flourish?

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💡 ONE BIG IDEA

Recognition and Redistribution

Political philosopher Nancy Fraser has argued that struggles for justice often involve both recognition and redistribution.

Recognition concerns status, identity, respect, and cultural inclusion.

Redistribution concerns material resources and economic arrangements.

The distinction is useful.

A company can celebrate diversity while paying workers poverty wages.

A city can celebrate marginalized communities while allowing housing to become unaffordable.

A religious institution can issue inclusive statements while maintaining structures that exclude people from leadership.

Recognition matters.

Material conditions matter too.

The Urban Pilgrim question is:

Are we merely celebrating people, or are we helping create conditions in which they can flourish?

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✊ SAINT, HERETIC & TROUBLEMAKER OF THE DAY

Pauli Murray — Refusing the Categories

Pauli Murray was a lawyer, civil-rights activist, writer, Episcopal priest, and pioneering legal thinker.

Born in 1910, Murray challenged both racial segregation and sexism.

Murray developed legal arguments that influenced later civil-rights and women’s-rights litigation.

Murray also wrestled personally with gender identity in ways that do not fit neatly into contemporary categories.

Modern scholars have explored Murray’s writings and experiences in conversation with transgender and gender-nonconforming history, while recognizing that imposing present-day labels upon historical figures requires care.

In 1977, Murray became the first Black woman ordained an Episcopal priest.

Murray’s life reminds us that human beings frequently exceed the categories available to describe them.

Sometimes the troublemaker is simply the person who refuses to disappear when society’s categories have no room for them.

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🕊️ WORDS FOR THE ROAD

Seeing someone’s humanity is the beginning of compassion. Respecting their agency is where justice begins.

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📓 PILGRIM JOURNAL PROMPT

When Did I Feel Truly Respected?

Think about a time when someone treated you with genuine dignity.

What did they do?

Did they listen?

Did they ask rather than assume?

Did they respect a boundary?

Did they allow you to make a decision?

Did they take your experience seriously?

Now ask:

How can I offer that same dignity to someone else today?

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😇 HOLY FOOLERY

The Heavenly Ethics Committee

Angel:

“We have received your application to become a compassionate person.”

Applicant:

“Excellent.”

Angel:

“You wrote that you love humanity.”

Applicant:

“Very much.”

Angel:

“How do you feel about actual humans?”

Applicant:

“Well…”

Angel:

“People who disagree with you?”

Applicant:

“Hmm.”

Angel:

“People who inconvenience you?”

Applicant:

“This application is getting intrusive.”

Angel:

“People who need help at inconvenient times?”

Applicant:

“Can I just love humanity conceptually?”

Angel:

“No.”

Applicant:

“I knew there was a catch.”

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🙏 PRAYER FOR PEACE ACROSS ALL FAITHS

A Prayer for Those Whose Voices Are Overlooked

Sacred Mystery beyond every name,

teach us to notice without staring,

to listen without controlling,

and to help without taking away another person’s agency.

May Christians practice humility.

May Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Pagans, Indigenous peoples, humanists, atheists, and people of every path live with dignity and freedom.

May refugees find safety.

May people experiencing poverty find solidarity.

May disabled people encounter accessibility rather than barriers.

May queer and transgender people live without fear.

May workers receive dignity.

May prisoners retain their humanity.

May children be protected.

May older people be valued.

May those whose voices have been ignored finally be heard.

And may peace become more than the absence of conflict.

May it become the presence of justice.

Amen.

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🕯️ FRANCISCAN CLAREAN REFLECTION

Not a Charity Case, but a Neighbor

Francis did not simply encounter “the poor.”

He encountered people.

Clare did not build an abstract theory of community.

She lived in relationship with actual women.

Franciscan Clarean spirituality asks us to resist turning people into categories.

The homeless.

The disabled.

The elderly.

The refugee.

The addict.

The poor.

The queer community.

Categories may help us discuss social conditions.

But no human being is merely a category.

Every person possesses a history.

Preferences.

Relationships.

Abilities.

Boundaries.

Dreams.

Fears.

And agency.

Mutual aid begins when we stop asking:

“What can I do for those people?”

And begin asking:

“What can we do together?”

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🌱 THE HERBAL MINUTE

Cinnamon — A Familiar Spice, Not a Miracle Cure

Cinnamon is obtained from the bark of trees in the genus Cinnamomum.

Several species are sold as cinnamon, including Ceylon cinnamon and cassia cinnamon.

It is widely used in foods and beverages.

Cinnamon can add flavor to oatmeal, fruit, rice dishes, baked foods, and warm drinks without requiring much additional sugar.

It has also been studied for possible effects on blood glucose and other health measures.

Research remains mixed, and cinnamon should not be treated as a substitute for diabetes medication or other prescribed treatment.

Safety note: Culinary amounts are generally well tolerated. Cassia cinnamon can contain substantial amounts of coumarin, and regularly consuming large medicinal quantities may create liver-related concerns for some people. Concentrated supplements may also interact with medications. Cinnamon essential oil is highly concentrated and should not be casually ingested.

Today’s herbal wisdom:

An herb does not need miraculous claims to be valuable. Sometimes being delicious is enough.

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🎒 URBAN PREPAREDNESS

Water That People Can Actually Reach

Emergency planners often recommend storing water.

Good advice.

But there is another question:

Can everyone in the household actually access it?

A large water container may be economical.

But someone with limited strength may not be able to lift it.

A water supply stored on a high shelf may be inaccessible to someone with mobility limitations.

A complicated filtration system may be difficult to operate under stress.

Preparedness should fit the people using it.

Today, look at your household water supply.

Can everyone who might need it reach it?

Can containers be opened?

Are some smaller containers available?

Do household members know where water is stored?

Is there enough for pets?

If someone depends upon assistance, is there a backup plan if the usual helper is unavailable?

Franciscan simplicity favors practical solutions.

Mutual aid reminds us that preparedness is communal.

Accessibility reminds us that an emergency supply is useless if the person who needs it cannot use it.

Good preparedness does not merely store resources. It makes resources usable.

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🥾 OUTDOOR PILGRIM SKILL

Recognizing Dangerous Low Ground

Water naturally moves downhill.

That simple fact is one of the most important outdoor safety lessons.

Low-lying areas can collect water quickly during heavy rain.

Dry creek beds can become flowing channels.

Underpasses may flood.

Urban drainage areas can fill rapidly.

Trails beside rivers or streams may become unsafe even when rain is falling somewhere upstream rather than directly overhead.

When walking outdoors, begin noticing the shape of the land.

Where would water travel?

Where are the lowest points?

Are there drainage channels?

Is the trail below surrounding terrain?

Are there signs of previous high water, such as debris caught in vegetation?

Before outdoor travel during unsettled weather, check reliable forecasts and local warnings.

Never enter moving floodwater.

Do not assume water is shallow merely because you can see the road or trail beneath it.

And remember accessibility.

A route that becomes muddy, slippery, or flooded may become dangerous much sooner for someone with limited mobility or vision.

Fieldcraft begins by noticing what the landscape is telling you before conditions become dangerous.

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🚶 PILGRIM PRACTICE FOR TODAY

Ask Before You Help

Today, practice one sentence:

“Would you like help?”

Not:

“You need help.”

Not grabbing.

Not assuming.

Ask.

If the answer is yes, ask what kind of help would actually be useful.

If the answer is no, respect it unless there is an immediate safety emergency requiring intervention.

This is especially important when interacting with disabled people, older adults, children with appropriate guardianship considerations, and anyone whose independence is frequently overlooked.

Helping someone does not require taking control.

Compassion asks. Domination assumes.

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✨ CLOSING BLESSING

May We Learn to See Without Possessing

May Hagar remind us that people pushed toward the margins can become theologians.

May Abraham and Sarah’s complicated household warn us about the damage created when power goes unquestioned.

May liberation theology teach us that compassion must become material.

May feminist theology ask who controls the body.

May queer theology ask who controls the category.

May ecological theology remind us that every body depends upon water, land, air, and community.

May Francis teach us simplicity without romanticizing deprivation.

May Clare teach us community without domination.

May Pauli Murray remind us that human beings frequently exceed the categories society gives them.

May our preparedness make resources accessible.

May our outdoor skills teach us to pay attention to the landscape.

May our communities become networks of mutual aid rather than ladders of domination.

May we learn the difference between helping and controlling.

Between seeing and staring.

Between charity and solidarity.

Between inclusion and assimilation.

Between recognition and liberation.

And may the God who does not rule through irresistible supernatural coercion,

but insists whenever justice, dignity, mercy, hospitality, and love call us toward one another,

keep interrupting every system that reduces a person to an object.

See.

Listen.

Ask.

Respect.

Share.

Cooperate.

Protect.

And remember Hagar.

The enslaved woman who became a theologian.

The foreign woman whose story entered sacred Scripture.

The mother who wandered into the wilderness.

The survivor who discovered water.

The woman who dared to give God a name.

El Roi.

The God who sees.

But may we never use divine seeing as an excuse for human inaction.

If we see hunger,

let us ask how food can be shared.

If we see loneliness,

let us build community.

If we see inaccessible spaces,

let us remove barriers.

If we see workers exploited,

let us stand in solidarity.

If we see queer people excluded,

let us make room.

If we see refugees displaced,

let us defend their dignity.

If we see someone struggling,

let us ask what help they actually want.

And if we discover that our own institutions are causing harm,

may we possess enough humility to change them.

Because dignity is not something powerful people generously distribute to everyone else.

Human dignity belongs to people before institutions recognize it.

Before governments recognize it.

Before churches recognize it.

Before employers recognize it.

Before neighbors recognize it.

Our responsibility is not to manufacture another person’s worth.

It is to stop behaving as though we have the authority to deny it.

We are pilgrims.

Not owners of one another.

Not masters of one another.

Not saviors descending upon passive recipients.

Pilgrims.

Neighbors.

Companions.

People learning to live together without domination.

May we see one another.

May we listen to one another.

May we respect one another.

And may seeing become solidarity.

Eternal Progression • A Fuller Life for Everyone • Live and Help Live.