An Easter Prayer (Sunday, April 24, 2011)

The eye of faith looks out upon the mundane
and sees that which is divine;
the holy eye cast upon the merest stone
reflects back a diamond or a jewel;
everywhere we look we see choice miracles
when the Holy Lord of Easter walks with us.

To let the soul rise to meet its true level
one must stand back, be still,
put aside the ledger book and balance
and listen, heart open, for the essence of life.
All that we torment ourselves with shall pass away in time;
only the Voice of God remains eternal:
singing with the birds; humming softly in the breeze;
crashing and flashing across the sky
in the most awesome cascade of the changing seasons.

O Spirit of Life,
We are surrounded with your wonders on this Easter day.
You are the fount of joy that surges upward in our hearts;
yours is the springtime that makes our spirits glad.
May we learn ever to live in the light of your love;
may we adorn our lives with truth, with gentleness and kindness.
May we, too, blossom forth in beauty once again,
that new life may rise up within us, as well,
and winter turn to spring again within our fragile human hearts,
and the miracles of Easter echo forth within our souls.

Amen.

jbs
7/6/01          3/31/02          4/25/11

Easter 2011

Easter 2011

The Universalist Parsonage

Stoughton, Massachusetts

Dear friends,

The story of Easter is not just another historical myth. It is not even just a matter of religious speculation of what awaits us when we die.

The spirit of Easter is a real, living presence, here with us today. The hope of Easter is for this life. It is a call to push aside the boundaries of this life. To reach deeper and gain more meaning from this life. Easter declares that, wherever death exists in our lives, there is a power of which we can become part, which can overcome it. We experience many deaths in these lives we lead. Faith tells is that we can experience countless resurrections, as well.

Resurrection can be hard work sometimes. It can be soul-wearying and heart-breaking (not to mention back-breaking) work. Resurrection never comes on the cheap. It requires the full engagement of our hearts and minds—and of our hands. Human hands reaching out to do all that needs doing. To heal all that needs healing. Human hands, sometimes, folded in prayer, seeking the help and guidance we will need to choose wisely the next moves we must make on our road toward eternity.

This Easter may we, too, stand as disciples of tireless and timeless ideals:

the ideal that life has meaning;

the ideal that life is worth living;

the ideal that love can transform the world;

the ideal that love is more powerful than even death itself.

That first Easter long ago kindled within us the miraculous ability to hope and to dream. Let us dare to hope with courage. Let us dream, and let us act, wisely and lovingly. Let us choose, here and now, our own special place on the tree of eternal life.

Elizabeth joins me in wishing all of you the choicest blessings of this Easter season.

                                                                                    Faithfully yours,

Rev. Jeffrey B. Symynkywicz

Embracing the Darkness (Sunday, April 10, 2011)

Embracing the darkness

The darkness is deep and beautiful,
truly holy, nothing to fear.
It is the source of all rest and peace,
eternal sleep, ravishing insights,
deeper and hidden reasons for our being here.

The darkness is our bridge
deep inside ourselves;
it is where we climb back
to the eternal from where we came.

Soon enough, the sun will smile (or scowl)
its way into our lives again,
and depending on our circumstances
we will scowl or smile back.
There will be the din of business,
visiting neighbors, the cry of children,
laughter and shouts of anger and pain:
there will be the sound of holy laughter,

and music so beautiful our ears will hurt.

But the eternal night, the darkness,
will abide forever,
always there as refuge and escape,
source of wisdom, haven of hope,
ours for the taking, to enter into deeply as we may,

waiting there for us,

when we need to know ourselves once again.

jbs
9/10/00          1/7/01          4/10/11

Sunday, April 3, 2011 "When we are most alive"

When we are most alive

We live life’s message most deeply
by living it most simply;
not in ostentatious gesture
nor in grand design,
but honestly, directly, by being ourselves
to the very depths of our souls.

We are most alive
when we answer
the call of our souls,
and the admonitions of our hearts.
Then we will finally know who we truly are,
and who our Creator intended us to be.

In the meantime, we may drift about
on the surface of things,
or fumble about
amidst the clutter—
feeling so well the confusion, the separation,
the very complication of it all.

But then there comes a time

when we awaken again to that deeper peace;
in that deeper place.
Awake again with God,
in love, in life, in the holy simplicity face to face
with the simple miracle of who we are inside.

jbs
5/2/02          2/18/07          4/3/11