A Minister's Musings: Crossing Over

This is the text of the reflections I offered on Sunday, June 2, 2019 at the congregation I serve in Charlottesville, Virginia. This was the Sunday of our annual Bridging Ceremony, the uniquely Unitarian Universalist rite of passage from "youth" to "young adult." It might be worth noting that these words were illustrated by project images. (I've put the images at the end of the post, and noted throughout where they came.)

Prior to the reflection we watched a clip from an episode of the BBC Documentary "Human Planet," about the "Living Bridges of Meghalaya." It's awesome.

There aren’t too many rituals that we Unitarian Universalists all share. The vast majority of congregations light achalice at the beginning of their worship services, covenant groups, and some meetings, but not all congregations do. And many UU communities celebrate an annual Flower Communion, yet I don’t think it’s even most.

Back in 1967 the Rev. Peter Raible took songs from the hymnal that was then in use, Hymns for the Celebration of Life, and, as he described it, “freely translated” them, creating Hymns for the Cerebration of Strife. One of the more popular, sung to the tune of “Holy, Holy, Holy” was, “Coffee, Coffee, Coffee:”

Coffee, Coffee, Coffee,
Praise the strength of coffee.
Early in the morn we rise with thoughts of only thee.
Served fresh or reheated,
Dark by thee defeated,
Brewed black by perk or drip or instantly.

Though all else we scoff we
Come to church for coffee;
If we're late to congregate, we come in time for thee.
Coffee our one ritual,
Drinking it habitual,
Brewed black by perk or drip instantly.

Coffee the communion
Of our Uni-Union,
Symbol of our sacred ground, our one necessity.
Feel the holy power
At our coffee hour,
Brewed black by perk or drip or instantly.

So there’s that – the Coffee Hour. Yet not even all of us drink coffee.

No, the one ritual that I believe is celebrated in every Unitarian Universalist congregation is what we’re about to do here today. As far as I know every Unitarian Universalist congregation marks the transition of its young people from being youth to being young adults. We don’t have a first Communion. We don’t have Confirmation. We don’t have Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. We don’t send our children out into the woods to come back adults. Instead, we have the Ceremony of Bridging.

Bridges are symbols with deep roots in our cultural consciousness. From “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” and “A Bridge Too Far,” to “Bridge of Spies,” “Bridge to Tarabithia,” and, of course, the 1995 classic, “The Bridges of Madison County,” bridges evoke so much.

Fundamentally, bridges represent getting from here to there, here to somewhere else. (1) They cross some kind of chasm, connect two places separated by some kind of gulf. (2) Some bridges take a long time to traverse (3), while the journey over some others is pretty quick (4). Some bridges are solid (5), when you’re on them you feel safe, secure. Others are a little more … sketchy (6). Some (7) are improvised, rather impermanent. Others (8) you know can last for centuries. Like those bridges in Meghalaya. (9, 10)

This morning I want to lift up three messages I find in this metaphor. I’m talking particularly to our bridges, of course, yet I think we could all do well to listen.

First, even on the most solid of bridges crossing over from here to there is an act of faith. You don’t always know (11) where there is. We generally know where here is, but where there is, (12) and what’s waiting for you on the other side is not always so clear. Sometimes you’re not even sure what’s under you, (13) what’s supporting you, what's keeping you up. Yet we all have to cross over the bridges of our lives when we come to them.

Oh, we don’t always have to be in a rush about it. (14) Sometimes we’re able to take our time. (15) Eventually, though, we all have to cross over the bridges of our lives. (16) If we want to keep moving forward, that is. If we want to truly be Alive, that is.

The second message in bridges is that crossing a bridge can be a dangerous thing. That’s why so many movies set a fight scene on a bridge (17) – it ramps up the tension (18), because we all know, viscerally, that when you’re crossing a bridge from here to there, (19) there’s always the danger of falling. Of course, there are some bridges that don’t give any cause for concern (20) -- they're not all that high, and a fall wouldn't be so bad. And there are others that are built (21) so as to inspire every confidence, constructed to assure you of your safety. But not all bridges are like that. (22) There are some bridges that are truly dangerous (23) to traverse. We know that we cross over them at our peril. (24)

Yet even these we have to cross if we want to keep moving forward and be truly Alive. The truth is that even when it’s a bridge like this – and I hate to tell you, if your doing it right, you’ll come to such bridges more than once in your life – even when it’s a bridge like this – and maybe especially when it’s a bridge like this – it is actually far more dangers to our life’s journeys if we refuse to cross, and instead settle for staying stuck where we are.

So that’s two things – as we live our lives we will be faced with crossing over a bridge the end of which we can’t always know, and we will have to cross them even though we do know that it can be dangerous. The third lesson comes specifically from those living bridges of Meghalaya. (25) The third lesson is that the bridges that are the strongest (26), that will truly stand the test of time, are those that we create with others (27), those bridges that are really Alive not only because they grow and evolve but also because they are made by living and loving hands. (28)

You who are bridging today are about to cross a bridge (29) from here to there, from being seen as youth to being known as young adults. And this bridge you cross has been lovingly built and carefully tended by your parents, your siblings, your friends, your teachers at school, your teachers here at church, the people who make up this Unitarian Universalist faith, and all those who have crossed over this bridge before you. You, too, have a part in building this bridge, because as you cross it you leave something of yourself. You add your own unique beauty, and you strengthen this bridge for all who will cross over it in all the years to come.

In this distinctively Unitarian Universalist ritual, one of the few shared by every Unitarian Universalist congregation, we recognize that you are young adults; that you’ve reached a milestone, a turning point, a transition in your lives and that we, as a community that loves you, recognize, mark this moment and honor this passage.

Oh, one more thing. Despite the roughly 1,200 words I’ve just spoken, in the end it is up to you to determine just what the bridges of your life mean, and what messages you will glean from your crossings. (30)

Pax tecum,

RevWik

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