Chalice Reflection
of
Jackie Whipple
First Parish Unitarian Universalist
Cohasset, Massachusetts
Coming of Age Sunday – May 31, 2009
I have been asked to light the chalice today because I am a grandparent with a lot of experience-- from what your R.E. Director and your Minister are kindly calling “the wisdom generation.” I have been the mentor of two different girls, about a generation apart. And my husband and I have raised two sons and two daughters who Came of Age in this church. And we have four grandsons--one of whom had the Jewish Coming of Age ritual, a Bar Mitzvah. And we have six granddaughters, one of whom also had a Bat Mitzvah.
As you young people know from your year’s study, almost every culture and religion has a ritual marking the coming of age. About the age of 13, you start the transition from childhood to responsible adulthood. Your body is growing up; your thoughts, interests, activities, and beliefs are becoming more grown up too; and some ambitions for your future may be forming. When I was thirteen, I read a book titled “Girl Reporter” and that set my path for the rest of my life. At this age, probably you want more independence and privacy; want to go places and do things on your own; wear what you want to wear; spend more time with your friends than with your parents; redecorate your room, and/or shut your door and live in a mess. All perfectly normal behavior!
Things are changing for your parents, too. A new era of worries: worrying about where you are and who you are with, and why you haven’t come home yet--and other things-- Dreading the day you get your driver’s license. All perfectly normal behavior!
Everything should work out well however: because you all have a good UU background and family relationships of trust and respect--and you all will have your cell phones!
Introduction to Coming of Age Presentations
Jim FitzGerald
First Parish Unitarian Universalist
Cohasset, Massachusetts
Coming of Age Sunday – May 31, 2009
Nine youngsters participated in this year’s Coming of Age program and all nine Coming of Age youth successfully completed the required program expectations. The class visited various faith communities, participated in community service projects, and teamed up with an adult mentor for conversations relating to their faith tradition, spirituality, and life. The program now comes to this milestone conclusion in this offering of credo presentations.
The religious education program asked our Coming of Age class to present their credo presentations in one of three ways:
take the traditional approach of reading a prepared statement from the pulpit
engage in a credo dialogue between mentor and mentee
offer their credo presentation in the form of a painting, sculpture, piece of artwork or craft, perform a musical selection, etc. with some spoken explanation of how their creation illustrates their personal beliefs
The choice – is completely up to each mentor and mentee pair.
In a few moments, mentors will be invited to offer some introductory remarks about their mentee before each credo presentation is given. After each Coming of Age class member completes their presentation, mentors and mentees will engage in a simple ritual.
Mentors will light and present to their mentee a chalice to symbolize our Unitarian Universalist faith and the search for truth and meaning that they have shared throughout this program. Mentees will present their mentor with a rose. The rose, traditionally used during a child’s dedication, reappears this morning to symbolize the many ways in which each mentor has helped their mentee blossom and unfold into the promise of a beautiful life.
“For Our Coming of Age Youth”
A Message by Rev. Dr. Jan Carlsson-Bull
on Coming of Age Sunday
First Parish Unitarian Universalist
Cohasset, MA
May 31, 2009
When I was your age…. No! I won’t go there. I can just see my own kids turned adults rolling their eyes, sure that they know what’s coming. You’re probably better off not knowing about “when I was your age.”
You are the age you are, and you always will be. That doesn’t quite mean that you’ll be forever 12 or 13 or 14, but you will be exactly the age you are, whether it’s 12 or 13 or 14 or 32 or 53 or 73 or maybe 93 or 103. This morning marks your Coming of Age, when your families and your church honor you as you pause in your own distinctive ways at the open gate between childhood and adulthood. Okay, you don’t get to vote yet. You’re too young for a driver’s license. You’re too young according to the by-laws of this congregation to be an official member. You’re too old for childcare. You’re too old for adults to pat you on the head. You’re in that fuzzy time—too young for this, too old for that.
Which means, you’re just right! You are the age that you need to be. You’re exactly the right age to Come of Age.
You’re of the age when you need not forget what it is to be little, to be a child, to take in the smallest detail of the world as if you’re breathing, touching, tasting, hearing, and holding it for the first time. Never forget what that’s like. Hold it dear.
You’re of the age of leaning into adulthood. You don’t yet have the responsibility or the freedom of adulthood, and they come as a package. Yet this is a time to try out responsibility, to taste freedom; and this is a time when you’re trying the resilience of your elders as you sometimes dip too deep for safety into the well of freedom, even as you swell the hearts of your elders as you sometimes assume responsibility beyond your age, beyond the call of childhood.
You both cherish the opinions of others and stretch your own will to be uniquely you. It’s a tightrope, calling for balance. Don’t be afraid to fall off, knowing that there’s a safety net called your family and your church to catch you. Pay close attention. It’s a trip that you only take once. It is precious and sacred, as you are precious and sacred.
You are coming of age, which is to say, you are becoming who you are. Like the flame in our chalice, you are never still. Your credo, your “I believe,” will change over time. What you have shared with us this morning is no less dear. Return to it five years from now, ten years from now. Return to it when you reach your ripest years. It is a sacred expression of who you are and what matters most to you today.
What matters most to me today is that you are you. You are uniquely wondrously you. Melissa, Sarah, Sasha, Brodie, Isabelle, Adrian, Emily, Julia, and Arianna, I hold you in my heart. This entire congregation, your family of faith, holds you in our hearts as we celebrate you today. I love you. We love you.
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