Sunday Sermon

Good morning, Friends... Today is another opportunity to serve and excell in this glorious life, where everyday is an adventure, every meal a feast, and every sermon a veritable wealth of wisdom!

The ancient Celts (why do those guys in Boston persist in saying it with a soft C?) had a well developed sense of circularity. They realized that the seasons, the movement of the stars, the phases of life, and, in fact, Everything moved in a circular cycle. They saw that beginnings look a lot like endings, and realized that the chaos known as "the middle" was simply the ends trying to connect again. This regularity in life was, no doubt, a source of comfort for the tribes, as they decorated everything from the crowns of their kings to common household items with swirling knotwork, a graphical metaphor for the cycles of existence. At any given point in a large knotwork design, it can be difficult to see how it all connects, but the knowledge that there is an order within the complexity adds to its beauty.

Today, we often overlook this circular flow. We forget that even the most chaotic situation is moving toward a resolution that completes a circuit, like a lap around the track. We will never be exactly Here again, but eventually we'll be in a place that's quite similar, and that allows us to bear the misery of change with a modicum of grace.

Nowhere is this more true than in relationships. Our friends are on their complex circular trajectories, that intersect and sometimes collide with our own. The intertwined lines of our living trace an intricate pattern, forming a part of the cosmic knotwork. The twists and convolutions of our lives can and will cause pain to us, but we can take comfort in the knowledge that their complexities add to the beauty of this existence.

May you be blessed with good friends.
May you learn to be a good friend to yourself.
May you be able to journey to that place in your soul where
there is great love, warmth, feeling, and forgiveness.
May this change you.
May it transfigure that which is negative, distant, or cold in you.
May you be brought in to the real passion, kinship, and
affinity of belonging.
May you treasure your friends.
May you be good to them and may you be there for them;
may they bring you all the blessings, challenges, truth,
and light that you need for your journey.
May you never be isolated.
May you always be in the gentle nest of belonging with your anam cara.

- A Friendship Blessing, from John O'Donohue's Anam Cara, A Book of Celtic Wisdom