A sermon by Linda M. Neas
Preached at Unitarian Society of Northampton & Florence
August 29, 2004
A sermon by Linda M. Neas
Preached at Unitarian Society of Northampton & Florence
August 29, 2004
Mother,
You rock to a lullaby beat.
Nurturing, loving,
Guardian Angel to those
Whose tiny hands leave prints upon your heart.
Come to the Circle.
Woman,
You stiletto march your route.
Scorned, abused,
Necessary evil to those
Whose eyes see not your soul.
Come to the Circle.
Daughter,
You run headlong into Life.
Laughing, singing,
Radiant hope to those
Whose hands guided you along the path.
Come to the Circle.
Woman,
You climb the corporate ladder.
Aggressive, determined,
Amazon warrior to those
Whose fears hide the beauty of your mind.
Come to the Circle.
Grandma,
You sit in aging silence.
Feeble, forgotten,
Empty shell to those
Whose lives fail to witness your wisdom.
Come to the Circle.
Woman,
You stand strong against time.
Respected, honored,
Venerable sage to those
Whose beings seek guidance in your judgement.
Come to the Circle.
Sister,
You skip around the rosy.
Teased, rivaled,
Trusted confidant to those
Whose dreams hold court with your own.
Come to the Circle.
Woman,
You hide and seek with truth.
Cryptic, covert,
Mystic seductress to those
Whose hearts willingly play your game.
Come to the Circle.
Maiden, Mother, Crone,
Join hands in energetic solidarity.
Mother, Daughter, Sister/Friend,
Encompass the world with your Laughter, Love and Light.
Come to the Circle!
The poem I just read was an inspired work born from the suggestion of my daughter, Courtney, to contribute something to her theater classes' lab series, In Celebration of Women. At the time, I remember telling Courtney that I would sleep on the idea and if something came to me, I'd send it along. Two days later at four o'clock in the morning I gave birth to the poem I just read.
In the process of pondering the celebration of women, I envisioned women during ancient times coming together in circles…beside a campfire, around the well, at a sewing circle, around the kitchen table, together at a birth and around the bed of the sick and dying.
As we heard in the quote from Black Elk, "life is a circle from childhood to childhood." Cycles, circles, spirals are sacred and have been since humans first walked this earth. Why? My guess is that our early ancestors recognized that everything in life returned to its origin sooner or later. Seasons follow each other, animals often return to the very place they were born to have their own young, plants start as seeds and end as seeds. Black Elk pointed out, "It is so in everything where power moves." Even childhood games often are played in a circle…marbles; duck, duck, goose; Little Sally Waters and Ring around the rosy. Think for a second about that last game…Ring around the rosy/pocketful of poseys/ashes, ashes/we all fall down…even in this game, played in a circle, is the awareness of the cycles of life. Few today know that this game was created during the great plaque in Europe. People carried posies (flowers) to keep the smell of the death from overpowering them. For many in those days before antibiotics, it was literally ashes to ashes. The last phrase, it to me very important… "we all fall down"…when one suffers, the whole suffers.
Come to the circle! What an invitation! In a spiritual setting such as this, it is an unconditional call to all to join in the Power of our combined truths. As Unitarians, most of us have deliberately and with great forethought, chosen to belong to this Society because we recognized the truth in a faith that saw "The inherent worth and dignity of every person; justice, equity and compassion in human relations; acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations; a free and responsible search for truth and meaning; the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large; the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all; and finally, respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part."
Pretty powerful stuff! And it is with such power that we invite others, not by proselytizing or "witnessing", but by living each day consciously or unconsciously, such as the case may be, aware of these principles. The strange thing is, and I think President Sinkford eluded to it when he visited us, many of our congregations seem to forget that the Power which brought us into the circle continues to bring others and while circles have no beginning and no end, Neale Donald Walsch states so eloquently, they are "also the symbol…of unity, but not of possession, of joining, but not of restricting, of encirclement, but not of entrapment. For Love cannot be possessed, nor can it be restricted. And a soul can never be entrapped!"
As the seasons change to shorter days and longer nights and the circles of Life bring us to the places we have been and those that are new; as we return to the Great Hall newly refurbished and restored, let us remember Howard Eves' challenge that it is "Our task …to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." It is, after all, the all encompassing Compassion and Love we have for one another that brings us here together and calls others to Come to the Circle.