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Parish Minister
Rev. Mary Katherine Morn
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In the service Sunday morning (my last as your minister), Don Reagan shared his poem, Days Like These. It closes like this:
I've made my choice and I will make it again and again
I choose to raise my arms high and wide, and then pirouette
My joyful, reckless signal to the world
He is referring to a wonderful moment during Burt Coffman's memorial service when Burt's wife, Jane, who was suffering from severe dementia, hearing reference in the service to a certain "skinny dipping incident" stood in the front row, arms raised high and wide, and spun slowly, a mischievous smile on her face. One of my favorite UUCF moments.
The poem cajoles us to bear the losses that come when we have risked love. What a gift for the day. I needed that.
Thank you all for the wonderful send-off. Thank you for the hugs, the cards, the poetry, the good wishes, the party, the book of photographs and benedictions (good words), the generous gift of a brick in my honor for the UUA's new headquarters and for your love. I am full beyond reason. (And maybe comfort, if I'm telling the truth.)
And thank you for reminding me in so many ways ...
how lucky are we who choose love,
to see that these days point
not backward, but forward;
that they prepare us for so much more,
that they open us up to wholeness.
May it be so. Amen.
I love you.
Mary Katherine
Days Like These
by Don Reagan
It's days like these
When it's tempting to ask -
"Why bother?"
Warm, lush, blooming days
That mock the ache
Held deep in our hurting hearts
Why do we do it?
Why do we allow ourselves
To love so deeply
When we know
There will be days like these?
Days we could have avoided
Had we just worked a little harder
To move away
From our better, truer selves
"I told you so"
Taunt the cynics, the naysayers
"You are so naïve. I thought you had learned
This would happen when you were young?
That loving like this is precarious
Leaving you vulnerable, exposed"
"Follow us" they say
"So you will never again
Face a day like this"
But that simply won't do,
Not if we are really serious about living
Not if we really want to know what it is to love
And to love with everything we have
With no hesitation
No pretense, no guardedness
To taste real joy, real life
We must accept days like these ...
No, not just accept, but embrace them
Hold them willingly, joyfully, recklessly
Make them a part of our finest moments
Make them the capstones of our most precious loves
And see that days like these are only a snapshot
On the long timeline of choice
Life or an illusion of comfort, love or a mirage of security
If it is life and love
If that is indeed the faith we are willing to choose
Then yes! There will be days like these
And when they come, we will know sorrow
But we will also know
That it is worth it, so worth it
Oh, how lucky are we who choose love
To see that these days point
Not backward, but forward
That they prepare us for so much more
That they open us up to wholeness
So I say to the risk avoiders, stay away
I've made my choice and I will make it again and again
I choose to raise my arms high and wide, and then pirouette
My joyful, reckless signal to the world
