Connections |
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Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax Jul. 7, 2014 Volume 54, Number 27
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In This Issue
Faith Matters blog: Roads for traveling souls
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Faith Matters blog
Roads for traveling souls
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Rev. Jennifer Brooks
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"Afoot and light-hearted, I take to the open road." So Walt Whitman begins his iconic poem, Song of the Open Road. It's a poem I have long loved; its opening phrase resonates with me every time I set off upon a new adventure - this time to serve as UUCF's Interim Parish Minister.
When a UU congregation is between settled ministers, change is inevitable. Whatever the feelings - grief, uncertainty, longing, hope - my calling is to see the beloved community through to the other side. I'm a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association's Interim Ministry Guild, the professional organization for ministers committed to intentional, focused, attentive transitional ministry. I embrace this itinerant ministry because I've seen how a good transition creates a solid foundation for the next successful settled ministry. I want that for all our UU congregations.
So, in Whitman's words, "Strong and content, I travel the open road."
Whenever human beings travel from one place to another - when they leave behind friends and familiar places for somewhere new - they cannot help but carry with them part of the place they've left behind. Whitman suggests that we carry it all: "buildings and streets," the minds of the people we know and "the love out of their hearts." These Whitman calls "my old delicious burdens, ... men and women, ... I am fill'd with them, and I will fill them in return."
I've set out on enough journeys to know the truth of Whitman's joy in the open road - in meeting new people and learning new ways. Whitman announces to the road: "I believe you are not all that is here, I believe that much unseen is also here." So it is. The adventure of travel and the challenge of change are exciting in themselves; yet there is so much more that's not readily apparent.
Of what is "unseen," the most important may be what Whitman calls "the profound lesson of reception" without preference or denial. This openness empowers Whitman to say, "None but are accepted, none but shall be dear to me." I bring this openness, this acceptance, this love to UUCF.
What marks our human journey is not a change of location, like a path on a map, but the growth we achieve along the way: compassion, courage, patience, open-mindedness and the willingness to learn from experience. We're all on that road, and if we're persistent it leads to spiritual transformation. I seek this transformation for myself; I wish it for everyone.
The journey may not be easy. Whitman warns of the constancy of struggle; transformation doesn't occur without challenge. Nonetheless Whitman assures us that the road is "safe," saying, "I have tried it - my own feet have tried it well."
So have my feet, dear ones yet unknown to me, and I say with Whitman that the road ahead is safe. As we travel that road together, like Whitman, "I give you myself ..." And with him I ask, "Will you give me yourself? Will you come travel with me?"
I invite each of us, all of us, onward! "To know the universe itself as a road, as many roads, as roads for traveling souls."
Rev. Jennifer Brooks
Editor's Note: Rev. Jennifer will be arriving in the Fairfax area about August 1. She would like to meet as many UUCF members as possible, individually and in small groups, beginning about August 15. Sign up online after August 1.
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Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax
We are a liberal religious congregation whose mission is to transform
ourselves, our community and the world through acts of love and justice.
(703) 281-4230
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