How to part ways reflectively, mindfully, compassionately, in the spirit of religious community? How to part ways with no strings attached, but words that ring with….what might we call it….blessing? At the conclusion of each of our worship experiences together, I offer you a blessing, a benediction.
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 don’t commonly think of serpents–or snakes–as wise; but they are. ….they can also be lovable. So it is with owls. They’re known for their wisdom. But for their love? As the “Whoo’s” sounded softly through the wintry wind, two owls sang their song of love and gazed forth into the night as if they knew the churnings of the world far better than any of us.
It may seem strange, but as a minister, I find the process of planning a memorial service immensely gratifying. Not because someone died, though we all will. Not because I speak with family and friends of the deceased in the intimacy of their grieving, though we have all been there in the land of grief. Rather because I receive from family and friends a treasure of stories of a life lived and living remembered.
Were I to ask my own mother–she who gave birth to me and did indeed nurture me–what her opinion is on this matter of nature or nurture, I can only guess what she would say. Her response would emerge from a century of traveling her own life course. In fact, this is my first Mother’s Day without my mother here to ask such questions. …what would she say as a mother, a grandmother, a great-grandmother, and a longtime nurse, on this matter? I’ll tell you exactly what she’d say…..
