4003 Service of the Living Tradition
Sunday morning, thousands of Unitarian Universalists converged
on Boston’s Fleet Center via “the T” (the public
transportation system), cabs, shuttles, and old-fashioned foot power.
We entered what was obviously a sports arena, with flags on the
ceiling for the Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics. But it had become
a worship space with the large “stained glass” image
at one end, a chalice in the center of the floor, stadium seating
around three sides, box seats higher up, and seating on the floor
of the arena for ministers being honored, the surviving family members
of ministers who had died in the last year, two choirs, and a few
VIPs. Opening the program, the tone of the morning was clearly both
reverent and irreverent – the opening quotation was from Philip
Appleman:
O Karma, Dharma, pudding and pie,
Gimme a break before I die:
Grant me wisdom, will, and wit,
Purity, probity, pluck, and grit.
As the opening time neared and the arena filled, one end of the
stands began a “wave,” and it continued to laughter
and widespread participation to the other end of the huge U-shaped
tiers of seats – three times. At that point, the Rev. David
P. Hubner, Director of Ministry and Professional Leadership for
the UUA, stepped forward to begin the service, beginning by saying,
“From what I’ve seen, I think you’re glad to be
here.” He welcomed us to the “largest ever gathering
of Unitarian Universalists,” calling it a “time to affirm
our faith” and to “covenant to work together in the
world, give recognition to our leaders, lay and professional, to
do so much. . . . We can transform this sports arena at least this
morning into a cathedral of Unitarian Universalist spirit. Welcome,
rejoice, and come in.”
Following this welcome was the Unitarian Universalist Children’s
Choir, directed by Ann MacDonald Diers, performing “For the
Beauty of the Earth,” and a Call to Worship led by the Rev.
Beth Williams, Religious Education Credentialing Director. As the
congregation stood for the hymn “Rank by Rank,” ministers
filed in wearing their robes – many black or other colors
of academic robes, and other colors and styles as well.
The chalice was lit in silence by Ms. Marilyn Gentile, the partner
of deceased minister the Rev. Jody Shipley. The Rev. Dr. Ralph Mero,
Church Staff Finances Director of the UUA, led a responsive reading
adapted from the Rev. Ralph Norman Helverson, remembering, recognizing,
and thanking ministers in their many different ways of ministering.
Representing the Ministerial Fellowship Committee, the Rev. Leslie
Westbrook told her own story of realizing the importance of ministry.
She recalled walking through Gettysburg cemetery with Jim Reeb,
and how when he said, “Isn’t it better than being alone?”
she felt a healing care. “My story is highly personal, and
yet I think not so different from all our stories of this love affair
with Unitarian Universalism.” She welcomed those receiving
Preliminary Fellowship to the Unitarian Universalist ministry,
Before the Rev. David Pettee read the names of the ministers who
have attained Preliminary Fellowship, he said that “each certificate
represents a unique and individual journey of faith, persistence,
and commitment … and also the love and support of many people”
who’ve made those journeys possible. The hand of fellowship,
he said, is “not symbolic, but incarnates a pledge of support
and fellowship.” He called the names of those receiving Preliminary
Fellowship. Each received a certificate, then the right hand of
fellowship from the Rev. Dr. William Sinkford, UUA President; the
Rev. Dr. Kendyl Gibbons, UU Ministers Association President; Westbrook,
representing the Ministerial Fellowship Committee; and the Rev.
David P. Hubner, representing the UUA’s Department of Ministry.
The Rev. Dr. Michelle Bentley, Professional Development Director
of the UUA, then introduced the ministers recognized for receiving
Final Fellowship, after active and successful ministries of at least
three years, saying “May all your ministries be rich and long.”
She shared some “words of wisdom” from the Rev. Dana
McLean Greeley on the three-fold function of ministry: serving individual
needs, promoting the faith, and reforming society. These ministers,
too, filed past in the center of the arena, receiving certificates
and the hand of fellowship from Sinkford, Gibbons, Westbook, and
Hubner.
The Rev. Dr. John H. Weston, UUA Settlement Director, introduced
the ministers completing their service by noting that the 16 such
ministers present represented “20,100 people counseled; 9,600
weddings; 2,900 children dedicated; 3,700 memorial services and
funerals; 13,800 sermons preached; 52 family relocations to take
a new call; 4,600 Board meetings, 8,400 pot luck dinners consumed,
and 1,800 dinners missed while keeping vigil at hospitals.”
The Rev. Dr. Peter S. Raible joined Sinkford, Westbrook, Gibbons,
and Hubner in extending a hand of appreciation and thanks to the
ministers after their names were individually called and received
certificates.
Rev. Mero then introduced the offering for the Living Tradition
Fund, urging that people contribute generously to the fund, which
supports scholarships for theological school students, aid to current
ministers, and aid to retired ministers. He asked that those present
continue this help: “to those to whom much is given, much
is expected … especially in uncertain times…. We share
our hopes, we share our values; let us be generous to keep them
alive.”
As the offering baskets were passed around the huge arena, the
children’s and adult choirs energetically sang “Feel
Good,” accompanied by intricate coordinated hand gestures
by the children.
The Rev. Gary Smith, Senior Minister of First Parish in Concord,
Mass., delivered the sermon which he’d titled “Give
‘Em the Old Razzle Dazzle” (which
is available in full online). He talked of sports heroes in
Boston and what they’d meant to him in creating “sacred
ground” where the Fleet Center stands. In a dramatic moment,
imitating the raising of the jerseys of those sports heroes into
the rafters of the arena, Smith honored the “uniform”
of ministerial colleagues by literally raising a pulpit robe to
the rafters – to laughs and cheers. He also noted the challenges
of ministry, and that most ministers won’t be heroes in the
same sense of sports stars. He concluded,
“Ministry is our calling, it is our life work, it is our
procession, it is our living tradition. And out there, beyond
time present, beyond all the pageantry, the trumpet fanfares,
and the drum rolls, there will always be the simple and ordinary
moments that will transform and transcend and make holy, ministry
now and again and again and again. I thank you all for this faith
and for this profession we share.”
The choral response, by the adult choir, Singers of the Living
Tradition, was “We Are One,” with a rousing soprano
solo.
Rev. Sinkford honored those ministers who had died in the year
preceding this General Assembly, reading their individual names
and leading a prayer, “that we may know the emptiness their
passing leaves in our hearts, but also the many, many blessings
their ministries brought us.” This was followed by an organ
response in a somber mood.
The congregation then stood for the recessional hymn, “For
All the Saints,” while the ministers honored filed out. Rev.
Hubner closed with a benediction, and then the program closed with
a piano postlude, a medley of favorite Unitarian Universalist hymns.
Reported for the Web by Jone Johnson Lewis, edited by Margy
Levine Young; Web Design by Julie Albanese & Anna Belle Leiserson
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