Bafflement

What a precious thing we all hold in our hands—this community in which we can share the deep questions of our lives. We share the perennial questions that people have wondered about for generations—What is the meaning of life? What is the meaning of death? How can we live with integrity? And we share the timely questions of our own day—What is a humane solution for immigrant families without documentation? How can we adapt to a changing economy so everyone is able to participate? How can we survive climate change?

So often, in the midst of this pondering, the predominant feeling in my heart is bafflement. So many questions do not have easy answers. I am glad we don't push easy answers on the questions. I am so thankful for this community in which we can ponder together, to face these questions with kindness, with compassion, with creativity, with joy at life's mystery and beauty, and sorrow at its grief and suffering. It is good to ponder together and to be baffled together and then perhaps smile a little and have fun.

I am so thankful for all of you who care enough about this community to give of your love and time, your extraordinary talents and hard earned money, even your crankiness and impatience! The world is changing and it is good to be able to sort it out together.

Experts say that churches as we have known them are dying—that they might not exist by the end of the century. I am not sure if that is a good or a bad thing. But it reminds me that we can never take our community for granted. Allen Avenue UU Church has a lot of life in it. We hold a new kind of religion in an old form. Our vision of an inclusive gathering of spiritual searchers without dogma is a new kind of idea. But the form our church takes is the form of the old Protestant church with Sunday services and children's religious education and a building in which we gather and lots of volunteer time. Maybe the forms will have to change. It give us more questions to ponder, and bafflement to feel.

But I hope this spark of light and love will endure, this beacon of hope and kindness will keep shining brightly, in whatever forms we inherit or create together! I hope we can be open to the creativity and dedication that are needed in a time of change.