# Morning Prayers: Courtney Godwin "Breathe Life" October 26, 2023 - [ Blog ](/news-categories/blog) ![Courtney Godwin](/sites/g/files/omnuum7126/files/thememorialchurch/files/221003_courtney_godwin_1_0.jpg) Courtney Godwin MDiv '23, Interim Minister, the Memorial Church of Harvard University. File photo by Jeffrey Blackwell/Memorial Church Communications –– Embed [Harvard Memorial Church](https://soundcloud.com/memorial-church "Harvard Memorial Church") · [Courtney Godwin MDiv '23 - Oct. 26, 2023 | Morning Prayers](https://soundcloud.com/memorial-church/courtney-godwin-mdiv-23-oct-26-2023-morning-prayers "Courtney Godwin MDiv '23 - Oct. 26, 2023 | Morning Prayers") –– *By Courtney Godwin Interim Minister The Memorial Church of Harvard University* *(The following is a transcript of the Morning Prayers service audio, Oct. 26, 2023)* "Breathe," said the wind. "How can I breathe at a time like this when the air is full of smoke, of burning tires, burning lives?" "Just breathe," the wind insisted. "Easy for you to say, if the weight of injustice is not wrapped around your throat, cutting off all air." "I need you to breathe. I need you to breathe." "Don't tell me to be calm when there are so many reasons to be angry, so much cause for despair." "I didn't say to be calm," said the wind. "I said to breathe. We're going to need a lot of air to make this hurricane together." I don't know how to be angry. My therapist told me years ago that this is unfortunately common. We are taught that anger is inappropriate, so we don't express it, and then it manifests in other destructive ways, like depression. This morning, as a fun thought experiment, I let myself count the number of times I felt angry, even vaguely annoyed or upset, on my less than one-mile, 17-minute walk to work. It started before I even left the house. I dropped my toast. Then three cars ran a red light while I waited to cross the intersection. Then I had to hold my breath not once but twice as I passed someone smoking on the street just to avoid a puff of my inhaler. I was mad that the coffee shop wasn't open yet, even though I have not once stopped there in the morning. By the time I got to campus, I was feeling pretty miserable. I was feeling sorry for myself, and I was utterly regretting this decision. Like many of you probably, I have felt horrified, and heartbroken, and helpless these last few weeks. The world is hurting, and there is no adequate response. I am angry. I am angry at the oppressive systems we live under. I am angry at the loss of beloved sacred life. And I'm angry at myself for all the ways in which I'm complicit. And I don't know what to do with that anger. It is times like these that I think of the poem I just read to you by Unitarian Universalist Minister Lynn Ungar. When I don't know what the next right thing is, I take a breath and then another. And I remind myself that each and every breath is so much more. Breath is a stabilizer, regulating our central nervous system, grounding us in our bodies. Breath is relational. We all share the same air in what poet Juliana Spahr calls This Connection of Everyone with Lungs. Breath is a prayer. And when used correctly, breath is a powerful tool for change. We breathe to lift our voices in song or to raise them against injustice. We breathe to power our next steps as oxygen spreads through our bodies via our bloodstream. We breathe to remind ourselves of the preciousness of life, of our own fragility, of our body's determination to keep going when our hearts want to give up. When I rounded Memorial Hall this morning, my heart wanted to give up. The anger at these little things was not serving me. But then I passed under the oak trees, and the sky opened up for me over Science Plaza, and there was a rainbow. I stopped for a few minutes to recenter myself, and yes, to breathe. I remembered the first rainbow in Genesis, a covenant between us and God after tragedy. And I remembered the anger that I started with this morning, the anger at the devastation of war, the anger at our government, the anger yet another mass shooting. This is the anger that will fuel my compassion today that will keep me fighting to change these systems that will hold off the helplessness and the hopelessness from sinking in. And I heard the wind tell me, "I didn't say to be calm. I said to breathe. You will need a lot of air to make this hurricane together." Will you please join me in prayer? God of the bow, you breathed life into us and called us to be your people. Thank you for the gifts of anger. Help us to know when and how to use our anger for justice, for hope, and for love. Amen. See also:- [ Morning Prayers ](/blog-categories/morning-prayers) - [ Morning Prayers ](/archive/morning-prayers) Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#)