"Here we gather, in this place, / made holy by the hearts and hands..."
Rev. James C. (Jay) Leach, Minister
Unitarian Universalist Church of Charlotte, North Carolina
July 28, 2008
Here we gather, in this place,
made holy by the hearts and hands of those
devoted to the high and deep principles of our religion.
Here we come,
to face the deepest truths of our own lives
and the deepest truths of the world in which we live.
Here we celebrate the best that life offers—the good and the true and the beautiful.
Here we are challenged to be our best selves.
Here too, when life turns tragic, we come to mourn.
In this place on this night,
we lift up before all we hold holy
the lives of those in immediate grief in our Knoxville congregations.
In that mystic bond of human connection
may they sense our support, our camaraderie, our sympathy.
May they be comforted by the extension of our love to them.
In this place on this night
we renew our commitment to this liberal religious pathway.
Amidst all challenges, may we prove resolute.
Amidst all who would seek to silence our good news
may we prove courageous and committed.
In the face of animosity may we embody our deepest valuation
of a ubiquitous worth and dignity
that knows no ideological bounds.
May we prove more loving than we, at times, feel,
and more accepting, that we, at times, might like.
May this, our community,
see in our witness, our beacon,
a bright beam of hope—
evidenced by lives of integrity and generosity.
And, when life proves to be so difficult, so challenging,
so overwhelmingly bewildering,
may we forever have this place
to which each of us may come
to find here the comfort we so desperately need.
In all of our faith, our hope, and our love, we pray,
truly, may it be so.
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Last updated on Thursday, June 3, 2010.
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