RISE

Rise Up: A Call, a Prayer, a Promise

There’s something about the phrase Rise Up that hits the soul.

We hear it in protest chants, gospel songs, and political speeches. We feel it in quiet moments when life knocks us down, and we whisper to ourselves, “Get back up.” It’s a phrase that lives in the body, the heart, and the collective spirit. But today, “Rise Up” isn’t just a lyric or a headline, it’s a necessity.

Rising up is often about survival. When you’ve been laid off, lost someone, you care about, or felt like the world’s weight is crushing your chest, rising up is choosing to breathe again. It’s getting out of bed when your heart is broken. It’s showing up to vote even when you’re disillusioned. It’s holding onto hope when everything tells you to let go.

For a lot of people especially people of color, immigrants, LGBTQ+ folks, the disabled, the working class, rising up is the norm, not the exception. We rise because we have to. Because if we don’t, the systems around us won’t just forget us, they’ll erase us.

This year especially, “Rise Up” is political.

Our democracy, messy and imperfect as it’s always been, faces real danger. The very idea that everyone gets a voice, a vote, a say is under attack. Voter suppression is back with a vengeance. Disinformation spreads like wildfire. And we’ve got leaders more interested in power than people.

So, what does it mean to rise up now? It means speaking truth, even when it’s uncomfortable. It means voting like our lives depend on it, because for many, it does. It means holding leaders accountable, not just cheering them on when it’s convenient.

Rising up isn’t about being loud for the sake of noise, it’s about being firm in your values. It’s about standing up for dignity, for justice, and for each other.

Rise Up in Spirit

There’s a sacred kind of rising that happens when we decide not to let fear run the show. When we refuse to numb out. When we love our neighbors, especially the ones who don’t look, live, or vote like us. Rising up, in a spiritual sense, is reclaiming our connection to something greater. Call it God, the Universe, the ancestors, or the higher self, it’s that voice that says, YOU were made for more than just surviving this.

In many traditions, resurrection is central. Death and rebirth. Despair and hope. Falling and rising. That’s not just religion that’s life. Every time we rise again, we’re participating in something sacred.

Rise Up Together

This isn’t the time for solo rising. We’ve done that long enough. This is a moment for collective uplifting, for locking arms and saying, not on our watch. Not on our watch will democracy fall quietly. Not on our watch will the most vulnerable be left behind. Not on our watch will we let fear win.

We rise, not just for ourselves, but for each other. For the children watching. For the ones who came before us. For the ones who couldn’t rise anymore but dreamed that we would.

So whether you are angry, tired, grieving, hopeful, or unsure, I hope you hear this:

Rise up.
Rise, again.
Rise, with love.
Rise, with purpose.
Rise, and bring someone with you.

Because the future’s watching.
And we were born for this.