“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
Late May and early June are a time full of rites of passage, rituals, celebrations and goodbyes. This past Sunday it was a delight to listen to our graduating 12th graders who “crossed the bridge” to young adulthood, even as the reality sinks in that we won’t be seeing them on a regular basis anymore. We’ll hear from our large Coming of Age class of 9th and 10th graders on June 1st. Meanwhile many of you have been or will be attending college and graduate school graduations as well as year-end concerts, games, or shows featuring children or grandchildren. Hearts are full of pride, joy and tenderness.
The sanctuary and our congregation are big enough to hold all these feelings, and more. I know some of us are grappling with sadness and frustration in our personal lives; others have similiar feelings around national policy and budget violence and cruelty. We’ve heard this past week about ICE deportations causing suffering and fear for families with newborns and infants in Lawrence. Thanks to those able to help through our food ministries, local connections and ministerial discretionary fund donations. It is a time to think creatively about what kinds of spiritual, ethical and pragmatic resilience we at North Parish can offer each other and our wider community, especially as some other area congregations go through clergy transitions or other challenges. (Some of us have attended interfaith events at Temple Emanu-el in Haverhill; our hearts are with them as they close and their members join Andover’s Temple Emanuel.)
We have four Sundays left in the “regular” congregational year before we switch to summer services on June 22nd. I will be attending General Assembly in Baltimore, Maryland the week of June 16th, so if you’d like to meet, let’s plan around that. We’ll celebrate Memorial Day, Coming of Age, Flower Communion, Animal Blessing and the Summer Solstice over the next month. May we enjoy this time we have together!
Yours in traversing the milestones,
Rev. Lee
P.S. Thanks to all who prepared for and who attended the Annual Meeting, which was only 30 minutes long! Thanks also to the team that arranged and put together the photo/story exhibt “ To Survive on This Shore” ; I hope many of you got to spend some time with it last weekend or will take some time with it in Freeman Hall this Sunday. Finally, to clarify: At this time, there are no buses planned to go to Boston on Saturday June 14th but there will be a hopefully-much-larger-than-normal stand out on the Common at 11 that day. All are welcome.