Travel with me, now, to a winter’s night sometime in 2021. It is pitch black outside, and I am at my dining room table, zooming with our youth group. Our middle schoolers take turns checking in, and answering the question of the day, “How do you describe our church to your friends?” One young person is having internet difficulties at home, so we can’t see his face or hear his voice, but he types into the chat box his response to my question. We all see it pop up at the same time, and read along:
“I say to my friends that it is a church the likes of which they have never seen.”
And, we laughed the way you all just laughed, and man did we need it that night.
You hear a lot of talk these days about how our world is falling apart. You know there are lots of problems we’re facing, from ongoing threats to our democracy, to the climate crisis, to violence against women, and people of color, and immigrants, and religious minorities. To say nothing of ongoing global problems like hunger, poverty, disease, and violence.
We move through our days, and our lives, doing what we need to do—our work, caring for those we love, showing up as we can and have to, trying to make a positive difference in the world, trying to leave the world a little better than we found it. And it is good, isn’t it, to have these vocations, these callings, this work?
Sermon given by Joshua Goulet, September 3, 2023.
Sermon given by Zan Spaihts-Mohns, August 27, 2023.
In Mary Oliver’s poem “The Journey” she illustrates the demands, voices and storms surrounding all of us. We all have these voices from family, friends, bosses, coworkers giving advice and making demands on us. We also have our own voice rehashing things from our past that we cannot change; or our voice planning or worrying about future events that may or may not ever happen. We all have running to do lists ever present.
How are you spending these summer days? I hope you’re getting some time to enjoy them, some time to breathe in the summer air and savor the blessings this season has to offer. I hope you’re getting the opportunity, as Mary Oliver put it, “to be idle and blessed.” Are you getting enough of that? Because you need it; we need it, don’t we?
Many of us in the UU community tend to ask big questions in our religious explorations and practices. To add, the UU tradition is characterized by a commitment to curiosity, open-mindedness, and a search for truth and meaning. UUs often engage in profound and thought-provoking discussions about life's big questions, philosophical inquiries, and ethical considerations.
Universalist Unitarian Church of Haverhill
15 Kenoza Avenue, Haverhill, MA • 978-372-5173 • office@uuhaverhill.org
Mailing & office address: 16 Ashland Street, Haverhill, MA 01830
