All These Alters
November 4, 2022
This Sunday in Spirit Play we told the story of Many Paths to the Mountain. It is a story about 5 travelers who are all traveling to the mountain, but are each convinced that their way is the only best way.
When they all reach the top, they celebrate and share stories of their many adventures. This year I have arranged my schedule so that I am able to attend worship and teach so when I came to class I had Rob’s sermon ringing in my mind. He preached on the story of Abraham bringing Isaac to the mountain to be sacrificed, a difficult story to plumb.
I also could not help but have KP’s words ringing in my mind from our teacher training where he spoke of alters as places of burning, a place where we are undone. He challenged us to accompany our children in a way that opens our hearts to vulnerability and risk, to be in an authentic place of journey with one another as we engage in the spiritual practice of teaching and learning together.
As I sat by the door breathing and witnessing I found myself tearing up as the Storyteller introduced each path. One traveler picked the forrest path to face fear, the next picked the desert path to encounter austerity. One picked the rocky path to test endurance and worthiness, one picked the river path so they would be refreshed for the journey and the last picked a path through cities, so they could have community along the way. All the paths brought the respective travelers to the destination. How many times have I picked the path of my journey from obligation and fear? And still there is something to learn. What path do I choose now?
And what are these paths? Maybe they too are alters. Maybe each path to each traveler is so important that they must give themselves over to it so that the path itself becomes the encounter with the sacred, that the traveler surrenders to it in a way that irrevocably changes/alters the person walking it. What path do you choose to give yourself to? This is serious business, this journey.
And then there are the children, our children. Before our story, we brought the children into the sanctuary to witness the Celebration of New Lives that we had just talked about the week before. And there was another dedication. These parents are promising to bring their children to us, to Unity, to our community. A community which seeks to make the beloved community real. And we promised to love these babies as they grow. We have given ourselves over to that path and their parents have given them to us. And this happens at least each week as we give our children to this community to learn together, to discover our truth and our path, and to walk it with as much engagement and awareness as we can. Who knows what happens next?
Our youth just won an award for their dedication to Black Lives Matter. For our youth, participating in this movement for justice is the path that they have chosen. Whether chosen from a deep yes, or from a place of inner obligation it has brought them into a beautiful and dangerous journey of love. It has brought them to the 4th precinct. It has brought them hand in hand into community. We love these children, our children. We offer them over and over to this path with fear and trembling and pride. Their path is the depth of love and the flame in the chalice of our hearts that we cannot resist, that we must give ourselves over to.
When asked at teacher training to name a value we hold and an example of being undone by it, I answered that I deeply believe that all children should be loved and feel a sense of belonging. I am undone by this all the time and I come to our Spirit Play classroom partly to know and fiercely love our children. My work is to see them, to notice them, to let them know that their presence is a joy and a delight; and to let them know I missed them when they have been gone. This is a path I give myself to. As I teared up in class, one of our children put his hand on my hand. He put his hand on my shoulder. On an alter so important, in work so sacred, it is a relief to know we’re not alone. We are on this beautiful and dangerous path all together hand in hand.