Westwood Unitarian Congregation

the moment when it seems most plain....

the Reverend Jane Bramadat
Westwood Unitarian Congregation
June 8, 2008

Opening Words

"If we will search together for the truth in freedom and respect, we will not only find the truth; we will also discover one another" - (words that used to be used at Westwood as Chalice Lighting words...)

Reading

The Discovery

do not imagine that the exploration
ends, that she has yielded all her mystery
or that the map you hold
cancels further discovery

I tell you uncovering her takes years,
takes centuries, and when you find her naked
look again,
admit there is something else you cannot name,
a veil, a coating just above the flesh
which you cannot remove by your mere wish

when you see the land naked, look again
(burn your maps, that is not what I mean),
I mean the moment when it seems most plain
is the moment when you must begin again

1969 Gwendolyn MacEwen (1941-1987)

(Comment-Canadian Gwendolyn MacEwen was very well known in the 70s and 80s - she had the same stature as Margaret Atwood)

Meditation

(words of Horace Westwood after whom this congregation is named...)

"...why in the name of common sense should it be sacred to sing a hymn and secular to hoe a row of corn? Sacred to preach a sermon and secular to turn a lathe?....Holy to utter a prayer and profane to deliver a political speech?
Away once and forever with these artificial distinctions. All things are holy and sacred! ....No task is secular, no work profane. Life itself is a prayer and tasks nobly done are the highest forms of worship...I would have you learn that nothing is insignificant. That all things teem with universal meaning and that in the flight of the moments we may read the meaning of eternity."

Commentary: How would you need to change your life if you truly believed that all things are holy and sacred? Or, how do you live your life because you believe that all things are holy and sacred?

Sermon

I am so pleased to be here this morning! And when I realised that a 26th Anniversary year is about "Original Pictures" I knew that the first thing I had to do was record this religious community for posterity... (take a picture of everyone at the service...) I will send you the pictures and I hope you will take pictures every year and see how the congregation changes and grows....

When I knew I was coming here to celebrate with you not only your first 25 years but also to help kick off your second 25, I decided to take a small trip through my memories of my time here 25 years ago. I was surprised at how fresh it still seems! I asked for a list of the original members - I wonder if any of them are here today?

Charter Members
Vicki Forsch
John Sworder
Zack Florence
Mona Beckman
Linda Mann
Melodie Dupuis
Leroy Russell
Debbie Gallienne
Conrad Ayasse
Lisa Green
Janice Reed
Myra Bielby

Also joined in 1982 but not listed as charter members
Rudy Sund
Gerald Sylvester
Wes Tully
Nancy Glendinning
Nancy Koszec
Paddi Solem
Alan Mather

These people joined before May 30, 1983 (the next batch begins in September 1983)
Maria Sylvester
Evelyn Young
Susan Florence
Jim Newton
Yvette Claveau
Valerie Whitehead
Peter Whitehead
Andre Dupuis
Nancy Lohrey

Is any one still here from that time? There are a few...and I know more of you have been here more than 20 years because you were here when I was....and there are certainly lots of you here now and that's what counts!

As most of you will know, I was the first minister serving this congregation in something other than a temporary position. I was here for 5 1/4 years. I was also a brand new baby minister - and so I know that some of you will bear (metaphorically only I hope!) teething marks from me. But then, since you were a brand new baby congregation.....I received a few teeth marks from you too!

What do you know for sure about the first 25 years? Here are a few of the things I remember: The ongoing search for a church home (a school, then a former butcher shop on a strip mall, then finally in to this cozy building. The building was bought almost overnight by the simple method of phoning everyone [starting with the minister] and asking how much we each would pledge to buy our own building. We raised the needed money quite quickly!

I remember our motto: the little church that could...and did...and keeps doing! I remember the painting we somehow acquired (given/donated?) by Norval Morriseau and then holding Art shows based on the expertise of one of our members, I remember almost asphyxiating some of you during one of the early Winter Solstice services when I was experimenting with a new fire source; (I understand that now your winter solstice service(s) have become a signature service for this congregation...[congratulations!]). I remember many of the special things we did. One example was having the French-Canadian Christmas tradition of a meal at midnight after a Christmas Eve service (reveillon); and other times, many times, Martin Allerstead playing his guitar.

And I remember our little community being willing to sponsor the Lubicon Lake Cree Nation when their previous sponsor (one of the large Christian denominations..) pulled out with no warning and no explanation at a crucial stage in their struggle for survival against the oil giants and the provincial government. Social action was no stranger here at Westwood.

I remember that my office was in what had been the baptismal tub....and I swear I could still hear water dripping...and I knew when I left here that there was no way I could take my stained-glass Tree of Life with me....that it had become part of you, and thus so had I.

And much has transpired here of which I know very little....except I do know, even through the most difficult of times, you did not give up..... you survived and most of you are still smiling! I imagine part of your success is because, like Horace Westwood, you see all things as holy and sacred, and know ultimately that nothing is insignificant, all has meaning.

And now as you are beginning another 25 years. I would like to suggest the Gwendolyn MacEwen poem I read earlier as one possible metaphor to keep you company on your journey.. Here is the poem again:

The Discovery

do not imagine that the exploration
ends, that she has yielded all her mystery
or that the map you hold
cancels further discovery

when you see the land naked, look again
(burn your maps, that is not what I mean),
I mean the moment when it seems most plain
is the moment when you must begin again

This poem is about many things, but I want to concentrate on those last two lines. "I mean the moment when it seems most plain/ is the moment when you must begin again."

This is what life is about, is it not? - at least from our Unitarian and Universalist perspective - that as soon as we have figured out an answer to one of the questions about meaning and purpose and spirit we ask of ourself, of others, of all the events in which we participate or observe - as soon as we have done that, then we need to ask another question, or improve the original question and answer it again!

This is because the world, life, is filled with a limitless number of puzzlements, mysteries, surprises, sights, delights, disappointments, tragedies, miracles. They are all parts of life that need to be understood as much as is possible. The moment we have understood a small piece of reality is not the moment to assume all the rest will fall in to place, but rather is the moment we need to begin uncovering, or excavating another piece; looking at an even larger part of the landscape of mind, heart or soul.

And so here you are as members and friends of Westwood - your building is paid off , everything is humming along, you've arranged to have a consulting minister.(NB. although just minutes before this sermon, I, and the entire congregation present, had been told that Anne Barker had just been invited to be the .6 time minister, starting in September....) There shouldn't be much more to do, right? Of course you know that's not the case.

Living is a matter of beginning again and again and again; of continually re-examining and reassessing who we are, what we are doing and what we are thinking; who we are supporting and who we are loving. There are moments of pure joy like when a choir sings a song in a way that evokes exactly the tone and mood that was meant...and both singers and listeners know it; there are moments of pure terror, when we realise that a decision we have taken will unexpectedly result in an unpleasant conclusion; there are moments of pure confusion when we haven't a clue what's going to happen; there are moments of pure satisfaction when our intentions, our actions and their outcomes are all in harmony. There are moments of pure spirit when we feel connected to that which is larger than ourselves; that which feels and feeds and fills the yearnings we cannot fully express...

I encourage you to always allow time for appreciation of each other; to always allow the opportunity for adjustment.....which is sometimes just another way of acknowledging that failure is also part of life and that there are some lessons that only failure brings......not least among them humility and maturity. I encourage you to listen at all times for that small still voice within you....which may be small in volume but is immense in intellectual and spiritual power - it is the voice that translates, transforms and empowers your insights. So much understanding is right in front of us, but it can sometimes take a unexpected insight to allow us to see it. This is demonstrated in many ways - but whimsically in this small excerpt I found in one of the sermons I delivered at Westwood so many years ago:

"What's that you're writing?" asked Pooh, climbing onto the writing table
"The Tao of Pooh," I replied.
"The How of Pooh?" asked Pooh, smudging one of the words I had just written.
"The Tao of Pooh," I replied, poking his paw away with my pencil
"It seems more like the ow! of Pooh" said Pooh rubbing his paw.
"Well, it's not." I relied huffily.
"What's it all about?" asked Pooh, leaning forward and smearing another word.
"It's about how to stay happy and calm under all circumstances!" I yelled.
"Have you read it?" asked Pooh
(from my sermon "The Great Tao Flows Everywhere" April 24, 88
....obviously from The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff)

Laughter is the sunshine of the soul.....is what I've often said! It is much easier to become aware of a change that needs to be made (to see the light) when there is laughter. Have you read it, indeed!

You can now look back 25 years in the life of this congregation and before you know it there'll be another 25...and some of you may be here for that too! I would think that the wise philosophical calmness and perhaps stoicism that comes to us from part of the aboriginal world, in the following reading from the Taos Pueblo Indians in New Mexico, would be helpful here:

"Reaching back from here
All that I remember of my life
Are the great round rocks and not
The unimportant stones.
I know that I experienced pain and yet
The scars have healed so that
I am like the tree covering itself
With new growth every year.
I know that I walked in sadness and yet
All that I remember now
Is the soothing autumn light.
I know that there was much to make my life unhappy
If I had stopped to notice how
The world sings a broken song.
But I preferred to dwell within
A universe of fields and streams
Which echoed the wholeness of my songs."

(from my sermon "Keeping the Faith," May 8/88)
found in Many Winters by Nancy Wood

We need to have hope, to remember our dreams and the fullness of our lives and even though there will be missteps along the way to never succumb to permanent pessimism. Round rocks are good - those unimportant stones can be easily shaken out of our shoes/souls. Only a masochist keeps walking with stones in shoes/souls! We need to, we must, believe in a universe which echoes the wholeness of our songs.

Your vision statement (created in 2005) has a optimistic confident ring to it.

"By 2010, Westwood is a thriving, inclusive and diverse religious community, with excellent programming for members and friends of all ages. Its members support one another and reach out to the larger community. It successfully balances bringing Unitarian Universalist ideals, fellowship, and social justice to the larger community while maintaining a strong sense of support, friendship and sustainable commitment to its congregation."

I encourage you to put both Mission and Vision statements on your website so others can know how confident and optimistic you are. The world needs more of this....people need more of this.

You are well on your way. You are beginning again because you can see clearly ahead.... . With friends all around and new people welcome to join you in the liberal religious search as they are ready - you will keep beginning again....and it will never be boring or meaningless....and you may become role models for other groups...the positive aspects will never end and any negative ones, like the stones, will shake out and bounce away. If the spirit is willing, the body , mind and heart can easily be persuaded to follow.

Closing Words (spoken responsively)

We came this morning
carrying our power
carrying our stories
to begin again
WE BEGIN AGAIN. (all say this line together)

In fact, we brought
all we have been
and all we hope to become
to begin again
WE BEGIN AGAIN.

We have been here
in our brokenness
in our intense delight.
With magnificent ordinariness
to begin again
WE BEGIN AGAIN.

From holidays and journeys
from disease and rest,
our bodies remind us
to begin again
WE BEGIN AGAIN.

From ritual that renews
and moments that transform,
our spirits remind us
we must begin again
WE BEGIN AGAIN.

(THE CHALICE IS EXTINGUISHED HERE IN SILENCE)

With open hearts and outstretched hands
giving love and singing hope
treading our path, then returning home once more,
We begin again
WE BEGIN AGAIN.

(these words come from words the Reverend Gretchen Thomas had been given... .I do not know the name of the person who created them.. adapted by jmrb)

Our Mission: Westwood Unitarian Congregation is a democratic and inclusive liberal religious community, dedicated to respectfully supporting each other's spiritual quests, nurturing our children and youth as well as the larger community, and working towards social justice.

Our Vision: Westwood is a thriving, inclusive and diverse religious community, with excellent programming for members and friends of all ages. Its members support one another and reach out to the larger community. It successfully balances bringing Unitarian Universalist ideals, fellowship, and social justice to the larger community while maintaining a strong sense of support, friendship and sustainable commitment to its congregation.

We believe that everyone has the right to seek truth and meaning for themselves. The fundamental tools for doing this are your own life experience, your reflection upon it, your intuitive understanding and the promptings of your own conscience.