Amanda Gorman is a poet and a prophet. Her words time and again take away our breath while filling us with hope and imagination of what might be possible. I share with you her poem This Sacred Scene spoken at the Democratic National Convention, but addressed to us all. I share her words not as a political act but as a prophetic hope that in the reading and the hearing of these words our souls might come alive as to the possibilities before us. Read her words carefully and listen to the rhythm of her speech which lifts her words off the printed page, giving them wings to go where they need to go. https://www.npr.org/2024/08/21/g-s1-18634/amanda-gorman-democratic-national-convention Please do notice the line brakes / and as she suggests in her poem that perhaps the American dream is “a dare to dream together” I dare you to speak this poem aloud. Only in its speaking can there be true hearing!
This Sacred Scene
We gather at this hollowed place / because we believe in the American dream.
We face a race that tests if this country we cherish / shall perish from the Earth / and if our Earth shall perish from this country.
It falls to us to ensure that we do not fall, / for a people that cannot stand together / cannot stand at all.
We are one family / regardless of religion, class or color.
For what defines a patriot is not just our love of liberty / but our love of one another.
This is loud in our country’s call because while we all love freedom, / it is love that frees us all.
Empathy emancipates, / making us greater than hate or vanity, / that is the American promise.
Powerful and pure, / divided we cannot endure / but united, we can endeavor to humanize our democracy / and endear democracy to humanity.
And make no mistake, / coherence is the hardest task history ever wrote.
But tomorrow is not written by our odds of hardship / but by the audacity of our hope, / by the vitality of our vote.
Only now approaching this rare air / are we aware / that perhaps the American dream is no dream at all / but instead a dare / to dream together.
Like a million roots tethered, / branching up humbly, / making one tree, this is our country / from many, one, / from battles, won, / our freedoms sung, / our kingdom come has just begun.
We redeem this sacred scene / ready for our journey from it together.
We must birth this early republic / and achieve an unearthly summit / let us not just believe in an American dream, / let us be worthy of it. Amanda Gorman.
Prayer:
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever. Amen.
Prayers, Poems, and Christian Ponderings 
Gorman’s delightful poetry is easily recognizable without seeing her name, with its lilting rhyming phrases, with words of hope, of observation, of subtle warning. Her wisdom is encouraging and I hope her generation takes to heart the words she offers, and somehow does a better job in solving the challenges my generation has faced and failed.
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