Tapestry
This short homily is a comment about shared ministry and the ways we weave our lives together.
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When I was in college, I became interested in braiding. I liked to take six or eight strands of yarn and weave them together. When I ran out of yarn, I gave the braid away to a person or turned it into a cat toy. The doodles in the margins of my class notes looked like Celtic knot work, patterns of spirals and curves folding in on each other. At parties with my hippie friends, the women and men sitting nearest me would ask me to braid their hair.
I liked doing small things for others. The interconnected strands of braiding seemed to me to stand for the interconnected relationships, giving and receiving acts of kindness and beauty. I learned over and over that small threads, when they are organized, gather a surprising level of strength.
My brother the art major took this even further in his fibers class. He made a table runner for me. I am amazed at the distinct patterns and harmonizing colors in the weaving. Small strands band together for something durable and colorful.
“Weaving a tapestry” is one of the metaphors we’re fond of in the Unitarian Universalist movement. We like the idea of organizing all of our individual threads – our talents, our spiritual paths – to create a strong, beautiful, and useful whole. I imagine that the community we weave together provides a kind of safety net as well; all of us together can hold something too heavy for one of us alone.
Shared ministry is a kind of tapestry. When people in this congregation care for one another, the tapestry is being woven. When people take on leadership, and when they mentor others as they pass the leadership role along, the tapestry is being woven. When someone becomes a member, understanding the joys and responsibilities of that choice, the tapestry is being woven.
This morning’s Time for All Ages story is called Zen Ties (by Jon J. Muth). The characters tie themselves to each other with acts of kindness. Whether they are young or old, panda bear or human, all of the characters are able to give and receive. It is a microcosm of a congregation, with people of all ages and dispositions sharing the ministry. Collectively, those ties make us a community. Individually, those ties make us human in the best sense of the word. UU poet Steven F. Smith writes:
Everywhere we go we take our souls with us.
And every time we meet someone we wrap a little piece of our souls around them
and pass it through them.
All our lives, we weave our souls
around and through everyone we meet,
tying a complex, tangled web to the earth.
This is who we are to the world around us.
Each of us has a thousand, million tendrils of other souls wrapped
around us and through us.
And this is who we are to ourselves.
(Excerpted from “A Little Piece of Our Souls.” This poem is printed in its entirety in How We Are Called: A Meditation Anthology, Skinner House Books, 2003)
So ends the reading. The poet says that the world perceives us as the weaving we do, the actions we take when we are the shuttle moving around and through in meetings with other souls. We perceive ourselves as the web of connections that we have received through grace. Both giving and receiving make us who we are.
As you know, I am going to be away from the congregation for a few months. I’ll miss you. This church has gotten along fine through all kinds of gaps and transitions in professional support. You have an excellent record for sharing ministry among all of the members and friends. Still, I wanted to leave you with a word of encouragement to continue in this fine tradition.
Over the next couple of months, challenge yourself to a new form of leadership. You can start with something small, like putting hymnals away or hosting the social hour after the service. If you sing or play an instrument, volunteer to provide a solo. Maybe you’ve done all the one-time jobs already. The next challenge is to make an ongoing commitment. There is a modest (but not overwhelming) amount of ministry to share on the Program Committee, Religious Education Committee, and Membership Committee. That’s not an exhaustive list.
Shared ministry isn’t simply about what the congregation needs. It’s about finding a home for what makes us human. What are your gifts? What are your passions? Talk to a Board member about sharing them here. I hope and believe that each person will discover a deeper sense of connection, the satisfaction of belonging, and excitement in the challenge as you wrap another length of your soul into the tapestry of this congregation.
In shared ministry, there is a place for shared songs, dreams, and journeys. In the coming months, may this church be for you a source of hope and beauty when those are hard to find. May you discover that sharing the ministry is a way to come alive. May this tapestry always remain colorful and strong. So be it. Blessed be. Amen.
