First Parish Cohasset

Chalice Reflection
of
Kay Mixon

First Parish Unitarian Universalist
Cohasset, Massachusetts
June 13, 2010

First Parish’s Circle Dance

We all join hands and move together
in the large circle of our church.
We welcome each new baby’s cry
as we step forward into the circle of our future.
We join our hearts to those long gone
as we step back into the circle of our past.
We spin and break into our smaller circles,
the circles of our circle ministry groups
where each has its own rhythm
and we hold each other tight.
We waltz into even smaller circles
paired with friends or loves
where we swing and dip and twirl.
We move again into the large circle of our church
then turn and reach out to help the world.
We do the dance of life as we circle, circle, circle
to the music of the spheres.

By Kay Mixon
With homage to Wendell Berry
and thanks to Joan Kovach for a great writing class
and to the Woman Spirit group, my own dear circle of friends.

“Sing out, sing on….”
A Reflection by Rev. Dr. Jan Carlsson-Bull
First Parish Unitarian Universalist
Cohasset, MA
June 13, 2010

We hold each other’s history. Whether it is a history of six years or six days, it is equally precious. In this time I have learned and grown from the lessons you have taught me, some easy, some not so easy. We turn a page in the respective chapters of our life journeys. As we do so, may we all continue to

Sing out, sing on…

We have worshipped together, greeted newcomers, and dedicated new lives. We are almost three centuries old, and with every passing century, every passing year, every passing day, we are brand new. As we cherish stories old and new, lives old and new, music old and new, may we

Sing out, sing on….

Arrivals are full of warmth and welcome. Departures are bittersweet. Change is inevitable. I would remind you that it is protocol within the guidelines of our Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association that departing ministers forego contact with congregants for at least a year, permitting new ministry to take root, permitting a new form of shared ministry to come to fruition with seeds newly planted. As we move ahead on our respective paths, let us each and all

Sing out, sing on….

For all the rites of passage we have shared—weddings of couples starry-eyed with love and the dreams that love holds; memorials services that are celebrations of lives, some barely begun, others leaning into the span of a century, each precious; and child dedications through which we pledge ourselves that to the best of our ability as religious community we will join in raising this child in the way of loving and mindful living both for herself and for humankind. May each and every child find this to be a community of such nurture, a community ever encouraging him to

Sing out, sing on…

We have made music together. Sometimes that music sounds harmoniously. Sometimes that music sounds with dissonance. In caring community, may we find our voice and with courage and perseverance, might we dare to

Sing out, sing on…

While some of us may understand stewardship as gifts given, may all of us grow to know that through stewardship, gifts are given and received—gifts of time and talent, gifts of money, gifts of leadership, gifts of participation, gifts of presence. May we discover stewardship as a song ever new, ever energizing, ever transforming, and

Sing out, sing on…

You know that my ministerial passion is justice making—charity, yes, outreach, yes—but charity and outreach in solidarity with those among us and beyond us who hurt, with those among us and beyond us who are oppressed, and with those among us and beyond us who are members of the amazing family of life in all its forms, the interconnected web in which we are all woven. In the spirit of love and justice, may we

Sing out, sing on…

For those among us who harbor memories with others among us that chafe and hurt, for those among us who find it difficult to let go of these wounds that have sparked anger and resentment grown hard, may we find it in our hearts to seek out one another, to look into one another’s eyes, to speak the truth of what we feel but in love, that we might reconcile, that we might once again

Sing out, sing on….

For those among us reluctant to welcome the youngest and noisiest among us, for those among us reluctant to welcome consciously or unconsciously those among us who love differently, who learn differently, who look different and sound different, those among us eloquent and ineloquent, those among us who we might feel but be reticent to say, “just don’t fit,” may we find it in our minds and hearts to let go of whatever privilege we’re grasping and to share whatever power accrues with this privilege and sing a new song, a song of faith lived faithfully. In the spirit of wholehearted welcome, may we

Sing out, sing on….

A few years ago, this congregation adopted a Mission Statement. With heart, soul, mind, and strength, may we “welcome all to our inclusive spiritual community. May we affirm our Unitarian Universalist principles and put them into action by worshipping together, caring for one another, and working for a safe, just, and sustainable world.” In this faith that we share, a faith bound not by dogma but by covenant grounded in love, let us

Sing out, sing on….

As we seek to grow our souls, may we burst free of whatever fears we harbor and move gracefully and gratefully into whatever lies ahead. Through it all, may we never cease to open the arms of our hearts and the hearts of our minds and in concert,

Sing out, sing on….

So may it be. Amen.