Friday afternoon musings

Another week has flown by in this seminary experience. I’m happy to report that I have come to a cheerful acceptance that while my life of being a seminary student is amazingly exhilarating, my work, my passion and my call remains in the Upper Delaware.

I have to admit, though, that the weather in Berkeley in February is springlike, gorgeous, and without mud.

Highlights of the week include the preaching of Starr King’s Dean of Faculty, the Dr. Rev. Dorsey A. Blake, at a Pacific School of Religion service entitled “We are Our Ancestors’ Dream.” In a traditional black-minister preaching style, with booming voice and extra syllables added to the end of certain words, we were all encouraged to consider the question “How have you lived your life in the knowledge of your truth?”

The Rev. Dwight Webster followed that up with a great sermon at Starr King two hours later, which encouraged us to be a firefighter who puts out the flames of our burning home. A minister from New Orleans who is married to one of the administration staff at the school, he harkened our attention back to a question that was asked of Martin Luther King Jr. of whether the house on fire was worth saving. According to Webster, King responded that if the house was built on justice, truth and liberty, then it was indeed worth saving. Using the burning house as a metaphor for the state of the earth, in that same black preacher style, he explained that the Mississippi is mighty because of all of the tributaries that join it on its way to the Gulf of Mexico. He enjoined us to “get wet” and get involved in what would be the salvation of the world.

Being a lifelong Unitarian, I have never really related to salvation, or redemption and sin for that matter. For me, it has always been enough to be an involved, aware, tolerant, and loving individual.

But I have to agree, the house is burning; the earth is crying out for its salvation, and we need to get involved. We need to show up. We need to know that our actions are geared to making a difference. Like those tributaries, those actions are revelant whether it be making a difference in the life of a child, a family, an organization or a world movement.

We are participating in a revolution of consciousness, and I think it begins with getting to Friday afternoon and feeling satisfied with “how you lived your life in the knowledge of your truth.”