Wedding Blessings and Memorial Prayers
Wedding Homily - Written for Jon and Mary Prouty
Jon and Mary selected some words for the homily, but I told them that I would start by offering a few words that I wrote just for them based on our conversations in preparing for this day. These words are among only a few that will be a surprise for them, as most others they have lovingly selected and carefully considered well in advance of this ceremony. Marriage is a combination of careful planning, And then responding to a sudden surprise and so it is good to reflect that combination in this ceremony. I’d imagine that in some way that is a fitting way to describe this day, and your relationship as a whole in fact – the surprise of discovering love and the desire for this deeper commitment at this stage in your life, as well as a sense that it all just makes perfect sense and is as if your life has been leading here – right here - all along. In our first meeting, you described to me your mutual ease when you are together, the respect you have for one another, the joy you find in choosing one another freely. Your love was clear to me on that day, as it is now. I want to lift up that last phrase, as my gift back to you on this day. You shared with me – the joy you find in choosing one another freely. Binding ourselves to another in marriage can feel like a constraint, or it can feel like liberation. Off-hand colloquialisms referring to one’s spouse as “the old ball and chain” remind us that all too easily what once felt like a gift can turn into a burden. My invitation to you both on this day, is to remember that this distinction is your choice. Every day you will have a choice to say yes to loving one another, yes to feeling this love as a liberating force in your lives and in the lives of all you come into contact with. Each morning you wake together, the choice is before you – To say once again, “yes,” I choose love freely. A healthy and happy marriage, as you told me and I now reflect back to you, does not come out of a sense of obligation, but out of a sense of free choice. Your love compels you, nothing else. May it be always so. |
Pastoral Prayer - Written for Bob Young's Memorial, August 2013
Please join me in a spirit of meditation, or prayer. Let your feet hit the ground. Close your eyes if you're willing. Let your breath slow. Allow the air to fill your lungs, and then release. Into this room. Into the world. And then take it all in once again. And release. How are we to think about life in moments like this? How are we to understand how a person can be so filled with life, so present, and then seemingly, one day, not be? Whether by science or by faith, we affirm energy does not simply die. It changes, it evolves, it moves, it begins anew. But it does not suddenly disappear. As we breathe in, and out together We know we breathe in atoms and particles from those whose physical lives ended long ago, but who live on right here and now. Environmentalist David Suzuki reminds us, "Your next breath will contain more than 400,000 of the atoms that Ghandi breathed in his long life. Atoms are here from the conversations at the Last Supper, and from the recitations of the classic poets, from the exhalations of the dinosaurs, the whales and the sabre-toothed tigers." And as surely as all of these live here, so does our friend Bob Young. We breathe in an affirmation of our continued connectedness, our living relationship, the relentless reality of his spirit, with us, here, now, and always. As we bring his spirit into our consciousness, we let memories from times we spent with him, ways he has impacted our lives, come alive in our hearts. We remember a conversation we had with him. Advice he offered. Insight. Questions. Care. We remember the way he spoke, the way he looked, his gentle smile and fierce intelligence. As we breathe in, and out, we remember his passion for this world, for the ways we are all connected - as people, and also how we are connected to the whole of the natural world. We let this passion spark something inside us. We take it in, and allow it to become a part of our new reality. We breathe it in and imagine ourselves with a new kind of fervor for making a difference in this world - a fervor inspired by a life so fully and well lived. These memories are filling us up now, bursting inside us and all around us and with gratitude we let them wash over us. Wash over us with a force that calls to mind that Colorado River that he so loved. Let us picture now those headwaters of the Colorado at la poudre pass, that source of life for so many in the west. Unassuming and flowing steadily, offering itself in beauty and nourishment to all it encounters along its meandering and yet purposeful path. Here is an image for Bob's life that we might carry with us. Purposeful, beautiful, steady, faithful. A gift to all he has encountered along the way. Tomorrow as the family goes to scatter his ashes in the beautiful lands he dedicated his life to, he will indeed rest amongst the river and the rock and the air all around us. And so with each breath, may our lives be a response to the gifts he has given us, the vision of a life so well lived. And whenever we find ourselves standing at the Colorado, or standing amidst the Rockies, may we recall the great blessing of his life, and may we honor him bringing such a spirit out into our own lives and into the world. And as we end our meditation, may our hearts be filled with gratitude, and joy, that he touched our lives, and his spirit lives on in us, now, and always. Amen. |
Chalice Lighting - Written for Rick Gumina's Memorial Service, October 2012
Many of us here know of Rick’s passion for our partner church in Romania.
It seems to me so fitting that Rick felt called to something called the Partner Church program, for what better way to describe him than as a generous and faithful partner? Wherever he went, he offered his warmth, enthusiasm, and generosity to support each person he met. He kept an openness of spirit and an insatiable curiosity - and always sought to find ways to be a better partner with all other people of the world. His students, his colleagues, his friends, his congregation, Unitarians all across the world.
For our chalice lighting, I want to honor this spirit of partnership that Rick’s life so well embodied. For as we light this flame here, we remind ourselves of the ways we are connected to others - all across the world - who kindle a similar fire - who are our partners in this project of building the beloved community. And as I light the chalice, I offer this traditional Transylvanian blessing, from the Unitarian Universalist Partner Church Council -
We, humans, are all brothers and sisters,
Our law is one: love.
Where there is love there is peace
Where there is peace there is blessing
Where there is blessing there is God
The goal of our work is shared,
Happy are those of God's Kingdom.
For Where there is God, there is all we need.
Blessed be.
Many of us here know of Rick’s passion for our partner church in Romania.
It seems to me so fitting that Rick felt called to something called the Partner Church program, for what better way to describe him than as a generous and faithful partner? Wherever he went, he offered his warmth, enthusiasm, and generosity to support each person he met. He kept an openness of spirit and an insatiable curiosity - and always sought to find ways to be a better partner with all other people of the world. His students, his colleagues, his friends, his congregation, Unitarians all across the world.
For our chalice lighting, I want to honor this spirit of partnership that Rick’s life so well embodied. For as we light this flame here, we remind ourselves of the ways we are connected to others - all across the world - who kindle a similar fire - who are our partners in this project of building the beloved community. And as I light the chalice, I offer this traditional Transylvanian blessing, from the Unitarian Universalist Partner Church Council -
We, humans, are all brothers and sisters,
Our law is one: love.
Where there is love there is peace
Where there is peace there is blessing
Where there is blessing there is God
The goal of our work is shared,
Happy are those of God's Kingdom.
For Where there is God, there is all we need.
Blessed be.