Town Hall Council, May 28, tonight at 7pm
Voting on two important finance proposals
Board meeting after
Approve proposal for the Montessori School to open June 1
Coming of Age Worship, May 31
Request for a video of you dancing to “The Circle Game”
Due by end of day
Congregational Meeting, May 31
Approve Budget
Elect Trustees
Annual Reports
Announcements out today
The June Advance will be out next week
In June
Board “retreat” June 6
Music Sunday, June 7
RE Sunday, June 14
My last preaching Sunday June 21
Followed by farewell party
Request for photo of you and sentence or two about the interim
Due by Sunday, May 31
My last contract day is June 30
In July
Small Group Ministry
Starting June 30
6 different groups being formed
I was not involved in creating this
So I don’t have a lot of additional information
More info in today’s announcements
I want to share a reading with you this morning from our hymnal
This a reading by the Unitarian religious educator, Sophia Lyon Fahs
She wrote these words in 1952 for her book Today’s Children and Yesterday’s Heritage
But it sounds like she could have written these words today
In the age of Zoom church
439, “We Gather in Reverence” Sophia Lyon Fahs
We gather in reverence before the wonder of life
The wonder of this moment
The wonder of being together, so close yet so apart
Each hidden in our own secret chamber
Each listening, each trying to speak
Yet none fully understanding, none fully understood.
We gather in reverence before all intangible things that eyes see not, nor ears can detect
That hands can never touch, that space cannot hold, and time cannot measure.
I had to laugh when I read those words
“Each hidden in our own secret chamber”
Isn’t that exactly how Zoom feels?
Each in our own little rectangle?
“The wonder of being together, so close yet so apart.”
“Each listening, each trying to speak”
“Yet none fully understanding, none fully understood.”
Tell me about it.
But realizing that Sophia Fahs wrote those words in 1952, not 2020
Reminds me
That the sense of isolation we feel, today
Is not a special feature of this quarantine
But a universal truth of our human condition
We are always locked inside our own skin
Even when we are able to gather in person
Hidden in the secret chamber of our physical bodies
and private thoughts
We are always struggling to communicate
Failing to make ourselves understood
And failing to understand.
Zoom communication is difficult
But so is email
And so is the telephone
And words cannot always contain our exact meaning
And different people speak different languages
So at least part of the frustration we feel today
Feeling separate and alone
And feeling isolated not only in our bodies but in our spirits
Cannot be blamed on coronarvirus
Or “lock-down”
But we must accept as part of being human
And as it is a physical struggle, now
To stay connected, when we cannot be physical rooms together
It is always a spiritual struggle
To stay connected with others
When we can never truly “be” with another person
And when we cannot ever know directly
The contents of another person’s heart or mind
My spiritual advice then
For this time
Is not to crave a mode of living
That is never available to physical beings
Confined to limited bodies
And limited lifetimes
But to stretch beyond those physical boundaries
Spiritually
The way we always must
To love across distance
To work in the present for a future we won’t live in
To have faith and offer trust when we cannot know
To extend compassion for the struggles of others
When we cannot extend a hand
To forgive what seems to be the failings of others
Because we know how often we fail
when we wish we could do better
And finally, with Sophia Fahs,
To gather in reverence before all intangible things that eyes see not, nor ears can detect
That hands can never touch, that space cannot hold, and time cannot measure.
See you tomorrow, 1pm.