This is ME!

"This is Me" from The Greatest Showman

"When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out
I am brave, I am bruised
I am who I'm meant to be, this is me
Look out 'cause here I come
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum
I'm not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me."

This song blew me away when we saw the movie on Wednesday evening. I was literally unable to stop crying as it was sung by the "rejects and castoffs" that PT Barnum gave a voice, a place, and a home to in the circus. They became family and grew to accept themselves in ways they had not before. The words struck a chord with my soul. I was mesmerized and moved.

Too often in our world persons are rejected by those who see them as "other" or too different from themselves. This happens to LGBTQIA folks who are seen as sinful or repulsive by their families or friends. It happens to persons of color who are seen as unworthy or less than by a culture founded on white supremacy. It happens to larger people who are seen as lazy or unmotivated. It happens to anyone the "culture" chooses to "other."

In The Greatest Showman it was the bearded lady, the dog boy, the tallest man, the tattooed woman, and others who were criticized, cast out, rejected, and picketed against by angry townies. It's the ones they don't understand or even view as people.

In real life it is too often these same folks who are left bruised and battered on the side of the road. The immigrant striving for a better life, the refugee who only wants to find safety for their family, the transgender man or woman wanting to BE who they are meant to be, the gay kid fearfully coming out to conservative parents, the poor farmer who needs a helping hand after a flood, the addict who is trying to stay straight, the black kid waving a toy gun in a park, the lesbian couple holding hands in a movie theater that you scoff at, the Islamic woman trying to walk the street without getting laughed at or taunted, or the island people needing water and power when they have been forgotten after a hurricane.

In real life the rejection can impact us more than we know. The looks, the stares, the laughs, the name calling, the slights, the oppression seen and unseen, the lack of acceptance, the fear of people in power, the isolation and bitterness - they all get old. They all tear at our spirits. They all make us weary. They all keep us locked in cells if we let them.

In real life it is often far too easy to turn our backs on the "other." But it is at just these moments when we - as people of faith - are asked to be our best selves and to see the divine in every person we meet. To acknowledge that even if we are different we are siblings to one another is more powerful than the stinging rebukes of others. To bear witness to the divine and speak up when others treat someone as less than or oppress them in any way. To shine a light on the last, the lost, the least, and the left behind as they too are part of the beloved community.

God has made all of us to be who we're meant to be. We owe no one an apology. We won't hide away. We can't be scared to see the light. We belong in the light. We are the light.

This is me. This is us. This is who we're meant to be.

"And I know that I deserve your love
There's nothing I'm not worthy of
When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out
This is brave, this is proof
This is who I'm meant to be, this is me."

Listen to the song here - This is ME! from The Greatest Showman.