Rev. Jennifer L. Brower

New Yorkers, tune in!

Tune in tomorrow to WIOXradio.org to listen to our own David Leven and EOLCNY supporter Barbara Backer talk about medical aid in dying. The show is from 2-2:30.

In addition to being Easter Sunday, celebrating Jesus’ enduring ministry of being “with and for others,” with the goal of bringing about a better world through radical acceptance, it is important that we mark International Trans* Day of Visibility.

March 31st is set aside as a day to see, honor, celebrate and bless the Trans* members of the human family.
I share this prayer with you. Even if you’re not the praying type, I invite you to experience the practice of prayer. Try reading this aloud to yourself, recite it in the company of your loved ones, shout the words from your spot on a street corner (but be careful there…) . As has been said: prayer doesn’t change the world. Prayer changes people and people change the world.
Wishing you a celebratory Easter and Trans* Day of Visibility.

A Prayer for Trans* Day of Visibility by the Rev. Mr. Barb Greve
Blessed are the trailblazers,who brought us this far, and are still trailblazing…still celebrating.
Blessed are the drag queens and kings,who remind us to not take life too seriously.
Blessed are the gender benders, non-binary,gender fluid, and third-gender folk, those who challenge us to reframe our gender paradigm.
Blessed are the young ones, who present fearlessly from the start.
Blessed are their parents, who make space for freedom, and love their children fiercely.
Blessed are the siblings and relatives,who educate, support, and love us as we are.
Blessed are the gender q***r youth,who are struggling and persist.
Blessed are the 90-year olds just coming out, and those who have been out decades.
Blessed are those whose lives were cut too short, may their stories live on through us.
Blessed are the survivors, may they keep on living.
Blessed are the allies,learning to be accomplices.
Blessed are those gathered here today,witnessing, learning,celebrating.May we all commit to continue showing up, fighting for justice, celebrating all the genders in life.Amin.
Originally posted on

TRUUsT Transgender Religious Professional Unitarian Universalists Together

Easter reminds us of the tenacity of life, of love’s ability to resurrect a deadened spirit and the power of hope to see us through a dark season.

Ya’ll need to be thinking about the unthinkable - the end of your or a loved one’s life and how that should unfold. So grab slice and talk to each other. We have the power to make the inevitable as peaceful and loving as possible.

Get talkin' and get eatin' on National Pizza Day! Post with your slice and a note about your values, beliefs, or questions with . Where's your favorite pizza?

Wishing you marvelous discoveries in 2024.
#2024

We read the stories of average folks who did heroic things during WW II. Do such people walk among us still? I wonder, do I have the chutzpah to be one? What does the world need of me? Or you?

Ida and Louise Cook were unmarried sisters in their mid thirties who lived with their parents. One wrote romance novels for Mills and Boon (England’s Harlequin equivalent) and the other commuted from their sleepy London suburb to work as a secretary for the civil service. They wore home made clothes and shared a love of opera. They loved opera so much, they would go to Germany for the weekend just to see the opera there. In the 1930’s.
No one paid attention to them crossing the border, a couple of dowdy women in their homemade clothes, nor on the return trip with their furs and jewels. What Ida and Louise were doing, in addition to going to their beloved opera, was collecting valuables from would be refugees to help them in their new lives. The sisters would find people who would vouch for the refugees, find people willing to home them, assemble papers for them, and even rented an apartment as a temporary space for refugees just arrived. The sisters used their own money for this, so the refugees could sell their valuables for money to help them settle in.
The women entered and left through different checkpoints, so the same guards wouldn’t be able to notice their sudden acquisition of too much jewelry, and created a lie about the valuables in their purses as ‘we can’t trust them in our apartment when we aren’t there!’ They acted simple and foolish and were never caught. They did eventually halt their visits over the border, after directly rescuing 29 people (mostly families), but they did not stop working. They continued to raise money and awareness, and to help refugees in England.
The sisters were honored as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, in 1964.
Ida wrote a memoir that was republished as “Safe Passage” in 2008. In it she plays down their role, saying that what they offered wasn’t much. In exchange for saving lives, they only needed “some trouble, some eloquence, and some money.”

I had the pleasure of being interviewed for the Our Better Half podcast. Have a listen! Beyond my interview, there is great content from this podcast, folks. I hope you’ll check it out.

EPISODES | Our Better Half

True that… Thanks Philo Thoughts for this post of Thich Nhat Hanh’s words.

We are very good at preparing to live, but not very good at living. We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma, and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house, and so on. But we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive. ~Thich Nhat Hanh

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We must help one another avoid falling into despair. If you are faltering today, try these strategies shared elsewhere on Instagram.

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My memories of 9/11 and the days after are vivid. The shock. The fear. The feeling of “what now?” Then a growing resilience and awareness of our innate interdependence. We had big hearts for one another and felt drawn together and strengthened. Well… that’s true for some of us. If you are of Middle Eastern descent or were believed to be of Middle Eastern descent, you likely did not feel all warm and fuzzy. The work of terrorists gave too many Americans an excuse to lash out against other Americans with violence and terror-inducing brutality. When say “Never Forget,” may we recall the fullness of 9/11/01. Let us think tenderly of those whose lives were abruptly cut short, and with admiration for those first responders - trained and civilian who acted courageously. Let us hold in deep sympathy those who mourn. And let us also face the ways we failed to hold close all members of our communities. We hurt others when we were hurting. Terrible events have the power to teach us a great deal about ourselves. When next we are in fear, may we resist spreading fear by lashing out at others.

Rev. Jennifer L. Brower Grief & Life Coach. I also offer spiritually relevant, personalized, engaging Rites of Passage.

To all who are “on the job” today, thank you for working while others rest. Today we are wise to honor those - known and those whose names are lost to time - who have labored for workers’ rights and protections. Clearly, we still have work to do…