Making Common Cause with the Losers

This morning I conducted (conducted? facilitated? officiated? led?) the religious services (9:15 and 11:00) at the Unitarian Society of Northampton & Florence, where I am a member. Its title comes from a quote by Dr. Paul Farmer in Tracy Kidder's book, Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World.

I worked really hard on this sermon -- both in letting it come together and feeding my patience that it would come together before deadline, and then once there was far too much written, finding the cohesive message for this day. (In writing, I think I came up with material for at least one, perhaps two other sermons or homilies, but who knows if they will come to fruition...) I also put in much effort to make the whole service be of one cloth, to contain many internal references so that there was a chance to encounter recurring themes over and over: redistributive justice, neighbor, fight the long defeat, preferential option for the poor.

This was quite a thrill for me, in so many ways. To put into motion something I have worked on for many weeks (eight official drafts, but likely more). To be among my fellow congregants and have the chance to be a spark in their lives. To see the sea of faces, so many familiar to me, many of them known to me -- there were special guests there, which was a thrill of a different sort. I got to read story to the children of the congregation and I loved the chance to sit with them, to hear their perspective, to get a giggle out of them. I loved getting a giggle out of the congregation too, as well as some sighs of having said just the right word or phrase that resonated with the listener. That is quite a joy!

I am exhausted, not only from the exchange of energy in creating the whole service, but on the more mundane level, because I was so filled with adrenalin this morning, I didn't have my morning tea. So all day I've had no caffeine (since I can't drink caffeine of any sort after noon or will be up til midnight...) and I'm t i r e d...

As always, my sermons can be found at a different blog. The link for this one is http://www.leamon.org/kj/index.php?itemid=35 (you'll probably have to cut & paste into your subject bar).

-- Karen