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Rev. Chris Jimmerson
June 12, 2022
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org
How might we express a Unitarian Universalist concept of a blessing? How might we be blessings for one another? What are the blessings to be found in day-to-day living? We will explore these questions and more as we discover how me might celebrate our blessing that may be greater than we often realize.
Chalice Lighting
This is the flame we hold in our hearts as we strive for justice for everyone. This is the light we shine upon systems of oppression until they are no more. This is the warmth that we share with one another as our struggle becomes our salvation.
Call to Worship
So what, then, does it mean to offer a blessing, to be a blessing?
To bless something or someone is to invoke its wholeness, to help remind the person or thing you are blessing of its essence, its sacredness, its beauty, and to help remind yourself of that, too. Blessing does not fix anything. It is not a cure.
A blessing does not fix us. It does not instill health or well-being or strength. Instead, it reminds us that those things are already there, within us.
– Elea Kemler
Affirming Our Mission
Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.
Meditation Reading
BELOVED IS WHERE WE BEGIN
If you would enter
into the wilderness,
do not begin
without a blessing.Do not leave
without hearing
who you are:
Beloved,
named by the One
who has traveled this path
before you.Do not go
without letting it echo
in your ears,
and if you find
it is hard
to let it into your heart,
do not despair.That is what
this journey is for.I cannot promise
this blessing will free you
from danger,
from fear,
from hunger
or thirst,
from the scorching of sun
or the fall of the night.But I can tell you
that on this path
there will be help.I can tell you
that on this way
there will be rest.I can tell you
that you will know
the strange graces
that come to our aid
only on a road such as this,
that fly to meet us
bearing comfort and strength,
that come alongside us
for no other cause
than to lean themselves
toward our ear
and with their curious insistence
whisper our name:Beloved.
Beloved.
Beloved.– Jan Richardson
from Circle of Grace
Sermon
BLESSING WHEN THE WORLD IS ENDING
Look, the world
is always ending
somewhere.Somewhere
the sun has come
crashing down.Somewhere
it has gone completely dark.Somewhere
it has ended with the gun,
the knife,
the fist.Somewhere
it has ended with
the slammed door,
the shattered hope.Somewhere
it has ended
with the utter quiet
that follows the news
from the phone,
the television,
the hospital room.Somewhere
it has ended
with a tenderness
that will break your heart.But, listen,
this blessing means
to be anything
but morose.It has not come
to cause despair.It is simply here
because there is nothing
a blessing
is better suited for
than an ending,
nothing that cries out more
for a blessing
than when a world
is falling apart.This blessing
will not fix you,
will not mend you,
will not give you
false comfort;it will not talk to you
about one door opening when another one closes.
It will simply sit itself beside you
among the shards
and gently turn your face
toward the direction
from which the light will come,
gathering itself
about you
as the world begins again.– Jan Richardson
from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons
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