"Of Body and Soul" (Sunday, September 23, 2012)

 

Of Body and Soul

Doing all those big and very important things that are ours to do,
means doing well those little, closer things
which open our hearts and hands and minds
and set these love-catching soul in motion.

That means paying attention to these bodies of ours,
for whatever we think of them, they are, after all, the vessels of the soul.
We need to mind them, and honor them,
even when we might rather disengage and run,
and see ourselves jetting through the cosmos
as pure air and light and spirit,
which is, of course, something that we're not.

So Mary now meets Martha
and soul meets body and bliss befriends duty.
And in the holy union of the two

                 that who we shall be can yet be born                                                        

and through these selves of ours, both earthy and ethereal,
Holy Love can flow in all its forms,
a living spirit upon this living Earth.

jbs
11/28/98      10/16/05     9/23/12

"In Praise of Humility" (Sunday, September 16, 2012)

In Praise of Humility

Sometimes, our souls
are like watering cans full of holes:
holes where the humanness, the humility, and the humor
shine through.
But make no mistake about it:
there shines through as well
the most holy light, the very face of God.

When our (so-called) “lower traits”
are used for God, to glorify our Creator,
they, too, become holy.
God takes the most lowly among us
and raises us to a kingly priesthood;
God takes our limitations
and sanctifies them to divine service.

In this transcendence (this transformation),
the true miracle of life abides:
small daily miracles that warm our hearts,
and remind us of what a joy life can be;
great soul-stretching (sometimes heart-wrenching) miracles
that open wide the gates of our souls
to the heaven that dwells within (and beyond).

So, don’t be ashamed of your humbleness,
for it is your bridge to the holy.
Don’t be afraid of your humanness,
for in that image you reflect, every day of your life,
the love of God made flesh, and bone, and body.

jbs
7/30/04          10/3/04          9/16/12

A Prayer for Our Church School (Children's Sunday, June 10, 2012)

A Prayer for Our Church School

Now, another year in the life of this church family is hurrying to a close. So now, may we pause in quietness and peace, and think about the lessons we have learned, and maybe even get a glimpse of the road that is still before us.

.We are thankful that here, we have been able to open our eyes: to see the beauty and good in other people, and to help them see the beauty in themselves. We are thankful that we have been able to look beyond the small faults and limitations people have on the surface, to glimpse the real and true, deeper, divine beauty within.

We are thankful for the opportunities we have had to come to know ourselves better, as well: our strengths, as well as our weaknesses; to discover something of what we believe, and what we don’t.

We are grateful for having had the chance to hear the stories of those who have come before, those who have added light and warmth, wisdom and love, to this world that always needs those things. Though they are gone, may they live forever in our hearts, and walk with us, every step of our own journeys.

We are thankful for this Church—and this Church School-- this precious incubator of our spirits. A place where no one is too young and no one is too old, and each and every one is cherished as the great gifts of life that he or she truly is.

So, may we sing our songs, and sing them always at full voice. And even when we are absent from one another, may the music we have made together ring always in our ears and in our memories, till we are together once again.

Amen.

jbs
6/10/12

The call of conscience (Sunday, June 3, 2012)

The call of conscience

Conscience can make heroes of us all;
but that demands that we listen.
Conscience demands that we open our eyes,
look, and see what is around us.
Answering the demand of what we witness
is even another choice unto itself.

We are not automatic angels,
responding on cue to the signal of the Almighty;
nor are we mere groveling beasts
answering our bellies, organs, instincts,
and nothing more.

We are embodied spirits,
owning the blessings and the curses
of both body and spirit.
We are singular, unique beings,
yet intimately interconnected
one with another, and with all that is.

Our soul's realization comes through
accepting, then accentuating,
both that uniqueness and that interconnection--
not in some schizophrenic balancing act,
but in all ways and always,
in the very days we live
every season of our lives.

jbs
2/13/99    11/7/99       6/3/12

Easter Greetings 2012

Easter 2012

The Universalist Parsonage

                                                                       Stoughton, Massachusetts

Dear friends,

Jesus may have died on that cross in ancient Palestine more than two thousand years ago; but he lives still in the hearts of all of those who seek to live out the eternal lessons of the life he lived. That lesson reverberates to the examples of all great souls; all men and women of goodwill and sacrificial spirit; all of those whom we have loved and held close, whose lives have blessed ours, but who are no longer with us. Even though they’re gone, their lessons live on in our hearts, as much as when they were alive.

            That is one of the great miracles of Easter: that the deeper meanings inherent in our human living transcend our physical existence on this planet.

            Another is the miracle of nature. “Lo, the earth awakes again,” we sing—and isn’t it wonderful? Isn’t it about time, too? Such a timeless miracle it is that this earth, which such a short time ago seemed locked in the grip of winter—which seemed all but dead—is now about to burgeon forth with the full refulgence of life. That we are there to witness that miracle each and every year—what a blessing that is! Who can but rejoice at this Easter miracle of springtime come again?

Then there is also the springtime of our souls, which abides as well. That springtime is hope—which perhaps we sense most clearly at Easter. This hope is not always an easy thing. Sometimes, it is a tough hope, a defiant hope, which spits in the face of these badlands which this world puts forth. “If one tries to break new ground, or to walk in a new path, one walks straight to Calvary,” Teilhard de Chardin reminds us. But then, he continues: “Those who spread their sails in the right way to the winds of the earth will find themselves borne by a current towards the open seas.”

Hope is not easy. It can be hard to keep up hope. But hope is that sacred wind which lifts us from the dreariness of the world as it is, toward the resurrection of our spirits and the new life that can be. Hope is the doorway toward the rising that lies in wait, the resurrection in our souls, which yearns to usher forth at Eastertime.

Elizabeth joins me in wishing you all a Happy Easter and the choicest blessings of this season of new life.

                                                                                         Faithfully yours,

  

Rev. Jeffrey B. Symynkywicz

A Prayer for Our Chuch (Membership Sunday, April 1, 2012)

Come, Spirit of Wholeness and Peace, and abide with us at this time and in this place.

May the souls of those departed and those who will come after us crowd with us into this meeting house this day, warming our gathering with the presence of their memory; inspiring our gathering with the radiance of their hope.

The past offers its gifts generously
with strong hands of bold and free-spirited souls
who dared to offer their world (and ours)
a liberating vision of hope and courage.
May we remember gratefully this day
those gifts of this free tradition,
ours for the borrowing in our time:

the gift of a faith that will not rest
until the circle of its community is as wide as the universe,
and human love grows as large as the very heart of God.

May this church ever be
a place of love and caring, for ourselves and the world around us.
May we this day rededicate ourselves to our highest ideals and most noble aspirations; to the call of a faith as expansive as the universe itself.

Amen.

jbs
4/2/2000          4/1/2012

Living in the symbols (Sunday, March 25, 2012)

Living in the symbols

To treat all things as symbols
and every act as ritual
is to see in every being another manifestation
of the divine.

This is how we can approach life
when we slow down enough
and let go of the need to prove ourselves worthy
by demonstrating how busy we are.

Not merely to stand back, withdraw from life,
or let it flow on past us;
nor simply to throw ourselves into the vortex
of the maddening swirl,
only to find ourselves consumed by it.

But consciously--
for it is in our consciousness that mind and universe meet--
consciously to live
as though all things were symbols
pointing out life's lessons to us;
as though every deliberate act was a ritual
connecting us to the cosmos;
as though every being, every creature, every natural element
was, indeed,
like each of us,
another manifestation of the holiness and godliness
of Life itself.

jbs
11/6/98          3/25/12