AN ODYSSEY IN REAL TIME

                  AN ODYSSEY IN REAL TIME: 

                        Rev. Kit Ketcham, 4/14/24

 

         When I accepted the invitation of the UUCWI worship team to visit today and enjoy a reunion with this congregation where I landed in 2003, you were only the second congregation I had served in my time in ministry. 

I spent some time thinking about who you all are and what you have become and who I am and what I have become, and I was reminded of the many twists and turns we both have taken in our journey to this moment in time.

         I began to see our individual journeys and our journey as a UU congregation in a new light.  We both, at that time, were on what the ancient storyteller Homer would call an Odyssey, a long wandering or a voyage marked by many self-discoveries, some painful, some deeply rewarding.  All life-changing.

         Do you remember the story of Odysseus, the hero of Homer’s major work The Odyssey?  In this ancient tale, Odysseus spends 20 years traveling home from the Trojan War.  He has astonishing adventures and learns a great deal about himself and the world; he even descends to the underworld to talk to the dead.

         An odyssey, as we have come to understand Homer’s legendary work, is any long, complicated journey, often a quest for a goal, and it may be a spiritual or psychological journey as well as an actual voyage.

         Our odyssey as a congregation and its pastor began as each of us came to this moment in time from a place of pain and discomfort with goings on that didn’t feel right, that alienated people, that changed the ways we saw ourselves and each other.  Both the congregation and I had come to a turning point, a place in time where a change of direction could spell great joy or more pain.  It was in our hands---could we find the joy we sought?  This happened almost exactly 20 years ago!

         We took a chance and I became your minister.  It wasn’t always easy but we gradually experienced a great deal of joy together.  We had learned a lot from the pain we left behind when we found each other.  

We built this beautiful sanctuary in this beautiful place; we reached out into the community to establish ourselves as justice seekers during the long haul to Marriage Equality, we mourned the deaths of people like Baird and Peggy Bardarson, Malcolm and Wendy Ferrier, John Adams and others, strong leaders we had counted on over the years.  

Let’s take a look at who was here at that time at the UU Congregation of Whidbey Island.

If you were one of those leaders in the years 2003--2007 or so, raise your hand or stand up. (pause) I invite you to call out the names of other leaders from those days who are no longer with us---in recognition of their hard work. (Clap). Thank you for your hard work!

         But new leaders stepped in to continue the work, many of them here today.  Those new leaders looked at what we had accomplished over the past years and examined the needs of the Whidbey Island community to plan the next steps in UUCWI’s odyssey.

If you were one of those newer leaders who stepped up to fill the shoes of former leaders during the years 2008-12, I invite you to stand or raise your hand in fond recognition of your work to help this congregation grow strong and sure.  And call out the names of those leaders who are not here today.  (Clap!) Thank you for your hard work!

         New leadership brings new ideas and new challenges.  The world beyond these beautiful doors created by John Long and the work of others who built this sanctuary, this holy place, has brought new ideas, new worries, new losses of people like Roy Bingman, new beginnings with new ministers, and coping with the many challenges brought by the worldwide plagues of COVID, of racism, antisemitism, ecological disasters, homophobia and transphobia, to name a few.

 

         The past several years have been deeply traumatic for the entire world’s population.  We were hit hard by COVID, had to learn quickly how to cope with the strictures of the plague, how to calm our fears, how to keep ourselves and others safe.

         It wasn’t easy!  We have all been through the proverbial mill!

But to back up for a moment when my 70^th birthday rolled around in June of 2012, I had put in over 9 years with you and I still smile with joy when I think of those 9 years and how we learned and worked together.  It wasn’t always easy---we had our challenges and disagreements---but we found ways to continue the good work.  

And here we are today---you are strong and growing still; you have survived two years of pandemic challenges, several changes in pastoral leadership which have given you new experiences and new perspectives that come with each pastoral change.

You have gathered in new members, new children, new projects, new ways of serving the Whidbey Island community’s social justice needs. If you are a newer member, if you have brought your children to the Religious Education program, if you have suggested a new project or a new way of serving the needs of this beautiful Island, stand or raise your hand.  (Clap). And call out the names of anyone who did this work with you but couldn’t be here today.  Thank you for your hard work! 

And now will all of you who have taken on leadership roles over the past 20 years please stand and be acknowledged.  You form the foundation for UUCWI to stand on.  You have created a strong structure of leadership but you have also been traumatized in some major ways, by deaths of beloved members and friends, setbacks in national politics, the ongoing struggle to create and maintain a healthy planet, a healthy population reflecting diversity, equity, inclusion, and a healthy, growing congregation.

We are living in a chaotic world these days.  And the trauma around us, whether it has touched us personally or not, affects us all, saps our strength, challenges our sense of accomplishment, and clouds our judgment at times.  

I asked our worship team for today to give me a rundown on how the recent workshop went, and I received a list of positive outcomes as well as some hopes and dreams for the future, but without a clear sense of where and how.  And underlying the conclusions from the workshop was, for me at least, a recognition that UUCWI is at one of those turning points that define an Odyssey.

  

I thought about what the list of positives from the worship team’s list seemed to indicate:  here are some of the points listed.

1.    It was a time for talking together.

2.   It revealed the resilience that undergirds this congregation.

3.   It revealed the gratitude you have for one another’s presence here and for this beautiful space.

4.   It showcased what is truly important to this congregation.

5.   It gave voice to all who came and participated and to those who took a role in creating this process.

6.   And thanks to the leadership of those presenting, it ended on time and stuck to the agenda.

Back in the day----not long before I retired from UUCWI, so it must have been about 2010 or 11, we began the creation of our Covenant of Right Relations.  We had met as small groups, with larger groups to sort out the really important features we wanted to include, smooth out the rough patches and eventually came to the point where we voted to accept the work of the congregation and include our Covenant of Right Relations in our official documents.

We knew at the time that it might not be complete and that we might want to alter it someday, but at that moment of voting, these words expressed the desire of this congregation to hold fast to these promises to each other. 

Let’s repeat the Covenant of Right Relations on which the UU Congregation of Whidbey Island comes together in Beloved Community.

 

Our Covenant of Right Relations

Love is the spirit of this congregation and service is its practice.

This is our great covenant: to dwell together in peace, to seek truth in love, and to help one another.

 

Our promises:

We warmly welcome all.

We speak with honesty, respect, and kindness.

We listen compassionately.

We express gratitude for the service of others.

We honor and support one another in our life journeys, in times of joy, need, and struggle.

We embrace our diversity and the opportunity to share our different perspectives.

We address our disagreements directly and openly, and see conflict through to an authentic resolution.

We serve our spiritual community with generosity and joy, honoring our commitments.

We strive to keep these promises, but when we fall short, we forgive ourselves and others and begin again in love.

 

 

 

It brought tears to my eyes then and it still does.  This Covenant is not necessarily perfect, but it lays out a path for addressing the pain of past trauma, reaching out to those who have felt the trauma and are yet in pain, reminding us all that diversity, equity, and inclusion can be a reachable goal, that this document provides a structure, an outline, for addressing the turmoil that exists in our world and can affect this beloved community.

The Covenant of Right Relations for UUCWI, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Whidbey Island, provides a pathway to greater community, greater cooperation, and a greater sense of commitment in attaining the promises set forth in this Covenant of Right Relations.

Its origins, back in our congregational history together, as so many times in human relations, were born out of pain and strife, disagreements about how things should operate, and conversations about those differences of opinion were voiced directly and openly and conflict was seen through to an authentic resolution.

You have survived a hard series of events over the past several years, not only with the congregation but also individually.  Your next step is to decide which way you will go in the future:  will it be the path of the Covenant you have adopted or will it become another struggle?

 

If there is disagreement, can you examine the promises of the Covenant and measure your growth or your loss in each promise?  Can you do this in a direct and open way, so that conflict can be seen through to an authentic resolution.  I believe you can and will.  Because you love each other, you love this place which means so much to all of us, and you love what it stands for in the larger community.

I wish you well in your next steps in this Odyssey, this journey of discovery and healing.  I am so glad to be with you again for this brief time.  It has been a time of growth for me to be here again and to reflect on how the years have brought you and me to this time and place.

I am grateful for the impetus that caused your worship team to invite me here for this occasion.  It has been a valuable experience for me as well, to reflect on our past together and look for the lessons it has brought us, both individually and collectively.

I am a better minister because of our time together.  I learned a great deal about love and loss, growth and struggle, and I took these lessons to my next congregation, the tiny Pacific Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Astoria.

  

You as a congregation are at a turning point.   I suggest that the Covenant of Right Relations that we developed together those years ago is a blueprint for next steps, to see where you’ve been and where you might go from here, using what you’ve learned in the past years of challenge.

You can take your Covenant of Right Relations and review it for directions on your Odyssey path.  It is a good start for the next phase of your journey.

HYMN:  Our closing hymn is #323, “Break Not the Circle of Love”

Let’s take a time of silence before our Benediction:  

 

BENEDICTION:

         Our worship service, our time of shaping worth together, is ended, but our service to the world begins again as we leave this place.  Let us go in peace, remembering the struggles we have overcome, the love that has grown between us all, and the commitment we share for making this chaotic world a better place.  May we always remember this Covenant that gives structure to this Beloved Community.

Amen, Shalom, Salaam, and Blessed Be.