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| From right: Alex, Graham and Miles at Camp Lackadogma |
One of my favorite church services each
year is the Religious Exploration celebration, which includes a farewell to –
and from – the high school seniors, who are introduced by their parents.
That is, it was a favorite until this year.
Because this year, this morning to be exact, my son was doing the farewell and I was
doing the introducing.
We’ve come full circle. Fourteen years ago,
it was 4-year-old Alex and his barrage of questions about God, religion and
spirituality that led us to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Lexington. We
didn’t find absolute answers to those questions, of course, but I can’t imagine
a better place to explore them. And we found so much more.
As Alex prepares to graduate and leave for
college, he takes with him a host of rich memories and valuable lessons from
this dynamic community in which he has been privileged to have grown up.
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| Odd wise man |
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| The "nice young couple" |
Even this year’s church directory photo shoot was memorable, when the apparently sight-impaired Olan Mills salesman taking us through the proofs referred to us as a “nice young couple” before Alex’s outburst of laughter let him know that something was amiss.
UUCL taught him about diversity and
fairness and justice and social action and environmental responsibility. In short,
he learned what it means to embody his childhood definition of Unitarian
Universalism: “Loving Hearts, Open Minds, Helping Hands.”
He learned the beauty and comfort of
tradition and ritual: the flower communion in which individual flowers of differing
shapes, colors and varieties create a congregational bouquet; the water
ceremony that signifies reconnecting after our summer travel; and “Silent Night”
in a candlelight circle on Christmas Eve.
He explored his personal spirituality in
the Coming of Age program and learned how to be a responsible sexual being in
Our Whole Lives.
He learned the satisfaction of service by
organizing the Crop Walk, being a teen mentor for new Coming of Agers and
helping Sharon run the Service Auction kitchen. Occasionally, he even learned
how to – and how not to – deal with controversial issues that have far-reaching
implications.
Although his parents divorced when he was
10, Alex learned that successful relationships can thrive, sometimes for multiple decades.
A heartfelt thank you to some of the many loving examples: Bob and Ruth; Gil and
Jan; Wayne and Shirley; Judy and Judy; Dick and Donna; Alan and Judy; Roz and Herm; and Joe and Elise.
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| Woodstock Service Auction '12 |
At UUCL, Alex has crossed paths with more
interesting, talented, dedicated and downright quirky people than most middle
class white kids from Lexington, KY, could dream of. He’s a better person for
it. We often say that UUCL is the only game in town for one reason: because it
is.
He’s made great friends, including some
intergenerational ones. I’m not sure how many 18-year-olds have a dozen 70- and
80-year-olds among their Facebook friends. A fringe benefit to that: he’s encouraged
to keep his Facebook posts clean.
Like my actual home, my “church home” will
be a bit empty come August. I’ll miss sharing a hymnal and singing (off key,
both of us) our favorite songs “Gather the Spirit” and “Enter Rejoice and Come
In.”
But I take solace in the fact that Alex
will be taking along a childhood full of memories from UUCL. I hope he hears
the congregation singing the very tune that carried his youthful self to RE
classes each Sunday:
Go now in peace; go now in
peace.
May the spirit of love surround
you;Everywhere, everywhere, you may go.
