Public Liturgy to Honor Jax Gratton

The liturgies that we create and celebrate can change who we are as a faith community. Our liturgies also help us to remember our own histories and the important events that might otherwise be lost to time. 

During a workshop at the Rocky Mountain Annual Celebration led by Rev. Tracy Howe, members of Juniper Formation and other participants wrote a litany, a Psalm, and a Song memorializing our transgender sister, Jax Gratton. 

Jax was a beloved Denver community member and hairstylist who went missing in April 2025, and her body was found after a long search in June of the same year. By telling our story as a community in our search for her when she went missing, we collectively commit to being courageous, to seeking to bring out the beauty in others, and to coming together in loving community.

By engaging in this work, we want to remember that Jax was a member of our geographic community and that she was an important part of our local LGBTQ+ community. We want to remember that her life was meaningful and important and her passing was tragic and avoidable. We want to recommit to our work in changing ourselves, our country, and our world so that it becomes safer for all of us, and especially safer for those in the LGBTQ+ community. 

In the midst of a cultural context where many Christians did not consider her to be part of their community, we are saying that she absolutely was part of ours, and that her life was extremely important. We want to make sure that this loss of life does not happen again and that we build a world where this won’t happen again because we will all collectively care for each other and keep each other safe.

Our liturgies can help us change our community’s culture. We want to include this liturgy in our collective worshipping spaces, so that we can be changed by it—so that we can incorporate into our beliefs in the long haul that Jax, and all of the LGBTQ+ community, is part of our community.

Jax Litany

One: You were lost

All: And we found you

One: We came together to search

All: And in the search we found strength

One: In finding you

All: We refound our courage

One: Your beauty was undeniable

All: And you pulled it out of others

We will keep seeking out the beauty in each other.

Jax Song

We come together in time of need

We will not be divided

We will not be divided

It could’ve been me

It’s not safe enough yet

We will not be divided

We will not be divided

We show up for each other

We have each other’s back

We will not be divided

We will not be divided

We will make this world more caring

Our work’s not done yet

We will not be divided

We will not be divided

Jax Psalm

Holy God, How long?

We searched for your child

For days and weeks.

We looked for justice,

We feared the wickedness

We longed for comfort

We longed for closure.

And then in our grief

We found you, God, in

each other, in

community, in the

spilling out of the rainbow faces onto the street

And the love we shared in your name.

Amen.

You are welcome to use this liturgy, attributing it to “Rocky Mountain Conference Annual Conference, 2025.”