From The Shooting Star, September 27, 2009. Copyright 2009, Ellen Rowse Spero. All rights reserved.
In the hymn, "Wake, Now, My Senses", the last lines says, "…mingle my calling with all who would share; work toward a planet transformed by our care." (Thomas Mikelson). To be transformed is to be changed significantly, usually for the better. To transform the planet through our care is not simply to make it better here and there. It is to take the risk to step out of our comfort zone, to bear witness in ways that give voice to the world as it is, and imagine the world as it can be by stepping into it.
I would like to thank you for being such a generous and gracious group of people. Although our two visitors from New Orleans: Bishop Victoria McSwaine and Archbishop Ella O’Neal hold a very different faith than ours, you welcomed them to the pulpit, you stretched your spiritual selves to experience their words and their prayers, you bore witness to their stories. You gave generously to Pastor Ella’s church, Lift Thy Name Higher, so that she and her volunteers can continue to run their food bank in the Upper Ninth (around $2000!). Some of you graciously received the gift of Pastor Ella’s healing prayers. It is not easy to step out of our comfort zones, whether it is Pastor Ella and Bishop McSwaine coming up from New Orleans to this old liberal New England Unitarian Universalist church or us opening up to their worship. I imagine our Puritan ancestors were rolling around in their graves, hearing that there were not one but two bishops in the sanctuary, worse still, women bishops!
I say all this to remind us of just how risky it can be to live out our faith—to allow for the different searches for truth and meaning, to be able to stand clearly in our own while honoring the faith of others. And in the midst of it all, to find common ground as well, to know that we all want our world to be transformed and that it must be through our care for one another. So we take the risk, whether it is to go to New Orleans, or to come to Chelmsford, or wherever we need to go to bear witness for more hope, more love, more peace, more joy.
I would like to thank several people specifically for making this adventure a beautiful and powerful one. I would like to thank Warren, Erin, Rose, Fred, Johan and Joan for sharing their powerful reflections of their visit to New Orleans. I would like to thank Tracy, Marybeth, Johan, Walter, and Lynne for providing transportation to and from church, the hotel, the airport, my house, and the Old North Bridge, in Concord. I forget how much we can take for granted the history that surrounds us, and I am reminded of its meaning by folks like Pastor Ella who have longed to see it. I would like to thank Lynne for all her support and help in managing all the details and making all the Walgreen’s runs. She worked very hard to make this visit go so smoothly. And, finally, to Pamela for leading the "amens."
Again, I thank all of you for being gracious and generous. Pastor Ella is right that I am very blessed to be the minister of this congregation.
In faith,
Rev. Ellen