The Shelter on a Unitarian Universalist Path
click for more discussions fromThe Unitarian Universalist View thru the eyes of Rev. Charles Davis
The first Hymn in the Unitarian Universalist hymnal is about shelter.
May nothing evil cross this door,and may ill fortune never pry
about these windows; may the roar and rain go by.
By faith made strong the rafters will withstand the battering of the storm
This hearth, though all the world grow chill, will keep us warm.
Peace shall walk softly through these roome touching our lips with holy wine,
'til every casual corner blooms in to a shrine.
With Laughter drown the raucous shout, and though these sheltering walls are thin,
may they be strong to keep hate out and hold love in.
Louis Untermeyer 1885-1977.
This hymn reminds me to look at even the most mundane thing in my home as precious.
Every corner of our lives is capable of blooming into a shrine if we take time to look at it and appreciate it.
Unitarian Universalism draws from many sources. We have roots in the Christian tradition, yet we were one of the first traditions to embrace a scientific humanist search for meaning. I resonate with the trancendentalist stream of our tradition which stands between those extremes. Emerson, Thoreau, and Walt Whitman embraced the emerging science and shed the dogmas of Christianity yet retained a spiritual or poetic view of life. The material world is real but the human mind imbues it with meaning. In Leaves of Grass, Whitman writes,
"All architecture is what you do to it when you look upon it, (Did you think it was in the white or gray stone? or the lines of the arches and cornices?) All music is what awakes from you when you are reminded by the instruments. It is not the violins and the cornets, it is not the oboe nor the beating drums, nor the score of the baritone singer singing his sweet romanza, nor that of the men's chorus, nor that of the women's chorus, It is nearer and farther than they. "
So I may feel the shelter of a cloud even while outside. When I am sheltered in my house at night my window may be a portal to the universe. What ever my material situation my mind always contains all possible interpretations. So whenever I feel the need for shelter from physical or emotional storms, I try to realize that it is always available to me. If I choose to seek, I will find.
My mind seeks and the universe provides.
Blessings,
Rev. Charlie
May nothing evil cross this door,and may ill fortune never pry
about these windows; may the roar and rain go by.
By faith made strong the rafters will withstand the battering of the storm
This hearth, though all the world grow chill, will keep us warm.
Peace shall walk softly through these roome touching our lips with holy wine,
'til every casual corner blooms in to a shrine.
With Laughter drown the raucous shout, and though these sheltering walls are thin,
may they be strong to keep hate out and hold love in.
Louis Untermeyer 1885-1977.
This hymn reminds me to look at even the most mundane thing in my home as precious.
Every corner of our lives is capable of blooming into a shrine if we take time to look at it and appreciate it.
Unitarian Universalism draws from many sources. We have roots in the Christian tradition, yet we were one of the first traditions to embrace a scientific humanist search for meaning. I resonate with the trancendentalist stream of our tradition which stands between those extremes. Emerson, Thoreau, and Walt Whitman embraced the emerging science and shed the dogmas of Christianity yet retained a spiritual or poetic view of life. The material world is real but the human mind imbues it with meaning. In Leaves of Grass, Whitman writes,
"All architecture is what you do to it when you look upon it, (Did you think it was in the white or gray stone? or the lines of the arches and cornices?) All music is what awakes from you when you are reminded by the instruments. It is not the violins and the cornets, it is not the oboe nor the beating drums, nor the score of the baritone singer singing his sweet romanza, nor that of the men's chorus, nor that of the women's chorus, It is nearer and farther than they. "
So I may feel the shelter of a cloud even while outside. When I am sheltered in my house at night my window may be a portal to the universe. What ever my material situation my mind always contains all possible interpretations. So whenever I feel the need for shelter from physical or emotional storms, I try to realize that it is always available to me. If I choose to seek, I will find.
My mind seeks and the universe provides.
Blessings,
Rev. Charlie
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