|
A long road has brought this community of faith to this day: 261 years
of the full flow of human emotions; good times and bad; years of abundance
and years of scarcity; times of joy and times of sadness.
May the souls of those departed, and those who will come after us, crowd
with us into this meeting house on 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 spirit united
and universal,
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 itself,
and human love grows large as the very heart of God.
May this church ever, always be a place of love and caring, for ourselves
and the world around us. May it be a place for boundless searching, for
thirsting after knowledge;a place where differing truths are aired openly
and freely; but even more, a place of reconciliation and friendship and
compassion as well.
May we this day, each one of us, rededicate ourselves to our highest ideals
and most noble aspirations; to the call of a faith as big as the whole
world; to the call of a faith as expansive as the universe itself.
Amen.
jbs
4/2/2000 - 3/5/05
|
