sunday

We are home after a remarkably inspiring sermon this afternoon.
The Reverend Gail Geisenhainer preached this morning.

It started off as most Sundays do.
The friend sitting next to me was jumpy and fidgety - he wanted to chat and I was, for the most part, willing, so we whispered back and forth for a little while.
There was the offering and the time for meditation and then a member of the congregation came up to introduce the visiting minister.
And that too started off as it usually does. One hears the visitors bio/resume/credits.
But this morning, the introducer broke off midway through the litany of honors and degrees and told us how excited she was to have this particular minister visiting.
She gushed over what an amazing speaker the woman was and my friend rolled his eyes.
We sat back to hear what all the fuss was about -
and we were profoundly moved by her words.

She spoke of her upbringing, her very young childhood, of her path toward ministry. She talked about the unbearable disappointment of being gay in a world where gay didn't exist and told us that she removed herself from all children as she had read about the extensive damage she could do to them. She told us about finding her way.
Her sermon was called Making It Up As We Go.
She said that in the past mankind had made history by tearing down, by rejecting, by fighting.
We fought for rights and freedoms and against oppression and tyranny.
But now, she said, we must all build up.
We must find new ways - new ways to find justice, new ways to save our earth, new ways to protect people, new ways to do business, new ways to honor ourselves and those around us.
Every day.
And there are no rules for how to do all of this - we are truly making it up as we go...

I wish I had a copy of the sermon (and the church will post it in the next couple of weeks) because we were struck silent by her simple, down to earth method of preaching world change.
We were rapt, nodding in agreement, smiling and contemplating what each of us would do
next .
I felt people all around me feeling the positive support of someone telling us that
it is okay that we are making it up as we go along...reminding us that every time we accept someone else we help to save a soul...

I don't think I can explain how she stirred the emotions in the huge room, you'll just have to take my word for it. I don't seem to be nearly as eloquent as she was.
It was everything that K and I want from a sermon - hope for the future, support for the present and inspiration for always.

By the time she wound up with:
Go, knowing right to the marrow of your bones, that you are loved and are cherished
I had big tears in my eyes.

We stood outside for a while in the warm sunshine and talked about acceptance and support and smiled and wanted the feeling to last - and I realized that this lesson, this idea of making it up while you go, is exactly what I've been telling Oldest all week long.
Remember, I told him on Wednesday, whatever you decide to do, you only need to know that we love and support you...
which is really all we should be saying to the people around us.