Chalice Reflection
of
Abbott Cowen, Graduating Senior
First Parish Unitarian Universalist
Cohasset, Massachusetts
Recognition Sunday – June 7, 2009
of
Abbott Cowen, Graduating Senior
First Parish Unitarian Universalist
Cohasset, Massachusetts
Recognition Sunday – June 7, 2009
Good morning everyone! I think it has been quite some time since I’ve been up here speaking in front of you all. It’s nice to be back. Before I begin, I must say that this chalice reflection was actually supposed to be a joint piece between Nathan and me. However, I guess Nathan had too many graduation parties to go to this week and thus didn’t have any time to come up with anything good. Apparently he is just way more popular than I am. It is true though that these last few weeks have been busy ones.
I guess Nathan and I have reached one of those big transition milestones. You know, one of those times where the older people look back fondly, or maybe not so fondly, on old memories and the younger people look up at you and think: damn, you’re old! So yes, graduating from high school is a big deal, at least for us.
Nathan graduated last Saturday and I graduated just two days ago on Friday. Friday night as I was thinking about how much I was going to miss Milton Academy, I realized that I really wasn’t going to miss it at all. There is nothing all that special about the big glass student center or Forbes dining hall or the science trailers. What I am really going to miss are all the friendships I have made with students and teachers over the last four years. It has been very interesting to see how our class has dealt with the inevitable separation. Some pull their friends closer and others push them away. I think I have been in more fights and exchanged more loving words with friends in these last two weeks than I have in the last two years. These kids have helped shape who I am today and I have become very close with some of them. It’s hard to think that after Friday most of these friends I will only see at the occasional class reunion.
As I stand up here in front of you all today, I realize that the same thing is probably true for this church. I leave in just over a week to go out west for the summer and then jump right into college life when I get back. While I will hopefully be back on my vacations, I will be more or less MIA for the next four years.
Many of you in this community have affected me as I have grown up in this church, and I hold many fond memories. I remember building a cardboard fruit stand in the old meeting house with my dad and Jacqui Clark and selling apples to the rest of the congregation. I remember Shirley Wallace taking all of us in the Coming of Age program to different churches on the South Shore and into Boston for a great sleepover. I remember my mentor, Miraculous Mark. There is a really good story that goes along with that name; you’ll have to ask him about it. He’s a pretty miraculous guy. I remember the youth group and John and Leeanne and all the great fun that we had together. While I have not been present so much this year, Jim has certainly stepped up to fill their place. I remember Jan keeping a watchful eye over all us kids in the RE programs or just being there for a conversation about really anything. And of course, I remember my best buddy Nathan. It has been a fantastic 15 years or so in this community, and while this isn’t really goodbye I would just like to thank you all so much for making this such a great community to grow up in. It has really been fantastic and I will never forget it. Thank you!
Remarks
of
Nathan Wallace, Graduating Senior
First Parish Unitarian Universalist
Cohasset, Massachusetts
Recognition Sunday – June 7, 2009
of
Nathan Wallace, Graduating Senior
First Parish Unitarian Universalist
Cohasset, Massachusetts
Recognition Sunday – June 7, 2009
Good Morning -
I’ve been coming to First Parish for over 10 years now, and throughout my life many people have influenced me, allowing me to become a better, more spiritual person. I’d like to thank Jacqui Clark, John and Leeann, and Jim for being truly the greatest RE teachers and directors one could hope to work under. I’d also like to thank Jan for showing me that living each day to the fullest is the most fulfilling way to live. Finally, I’d like to thank the entire congregation. Without your support, my violin playing wouldn’t have taken off like it has, and I would not be the person I am today. Thank you all.
I’ve been coming to First Parish for over 10 years now, and throughout my life many people have influenced me, allowing me to become a better, more spiritual person. I’d like to thank Jacqui Clark, John and Leeann, and Jim for being truly the greatest RE teachers and directors one could hope to work under. I’d also like to thank Jan for showing me that living each day to the fullest is the most fulfilling way to live. Finally, I’d like to thank the entire congregation. Without your support, my violin playing wouldn’t have taken off like it has, and I would not be the person I am today. Thank you all.
Opening Words
of
Jim FitzGerald
First Parish Unitarian Universalist
Cohasset, Massachusetts
Recognition Sunday – June 7, 2009
As we journey together toward the conclusion of another extraordinary church year, we take time during this special service to reflect and celebrate.
This year we've welcomed new members and mourned the passing of friends. We've cared for one another when illness trumped our daily routines with worry, injury and or sickness.
We've struggled together, laughed together, argued and created together. We've provoked one another and supported one another.
All of which, from time to time caused some tears of sadness and tears of joy.
Today we pause - a sacred pause, to recognize the wonderful ministries in which so many congregation members offer their time and talent.
We also honor the rite of passage of our graduating seniors - Nathan Wallace, Abbott Cowen, and Rachel McMorris. Two of our graduates, Nathan and Abbott are here with us this morning to participate and celebrate. Nathan will offer his spirit in his music and Abbott will offer his wisdom in his chalice reflection.
At this time, I'd like to invite Nathan and Abbott to come forward and light our chalice as we begin our service of praise and gratitude.
Recognizing our graduates
I don't know what it is like to have a son. But, if I am ever blessed with a son, I hope he grows to be honorable and virtuous as Nathan and Abbott.
Shirley and Ron; Annie and Will - you must be so proud.
I think everyone here will agree that adolescence is not easy. Even with the most loving parents and supportive community, life is tested, expectations are real, and pressure to succeed only seems to become more intense.
Rarely have I witnessed two young men handle those pressures with more grace and integrity than Nathan and Abbott.
Abbott personifies the phrase "mature beyond their years." Abbott reflects the Unitarian Universalist virtue of wisdom and confidence that we all witnessed in his wonderful chalice reflection this morning.
Nathan's gentle spirit conveys the Unitarian Universalist trait of unconditional welcome. Regardless of how old someone is, what they look like, or where they've come from, they find unconditional welcome when meeting Nathan. That same gentle spirit will sing from violin strings later this morning.
Nathan and Abbott, this morning we honor you with fond memories of the past and with excitement and anticipation for the future. But most importantly, we celebrate you both today for exactly who you are in this every moment.
Abbott and Nathan, you have a congregation that loves you and a faith community that will always be here to support you, unconditionally, today and forever.
I offer you both a blessing, the same blessing I offered you on my first day here at First Parish Unitarian Universalist in Cohasset - a blessing I borrow from the Buddhist tradition.
Abbott and Nathan
May you both be filled with loving kindness.
May you both be well.
May you both be peaceful and at ease.
And most of all, may you both be happy.
Amen.
This year we've welcomed new members and mourned the passing of friends. We've cared for one another when illness trumped our daily routines with worry, injury and or sickness.
We've struggled together, laughed together, argued and created together. We've provoked one another and supported one another.
All of which, from time to time caused some tears of sadness and tears of joy.
Today we pause - a sacred pause, to recognize the wonderful ministries in which so many congregation members offer their time and talent.
We also honor the rite of passage of our graduating seniors - Nathan Wallace, Abbott Cowen, and Rachel McMorris. Two of our graduates, Nathan and Abbott are here with us this morning to participate and celebrate. Nathan will offer his spirit in his music and Abbott will offer his wisdom in his chalice reflection.
At this time, I'd like to invite Nathan and Abbott to come forward and light our chalice as we begin our service of praise and gratitude.
Recognizing our graduates
I don't know what it is like to have a son. But, if I am ever blessed with a son, I hope he grows to be honorable and virtuous as Nathan and Abbott.
Shirley and Ron; Annie and Will - you must be so proud.
I think everyone here will agree that adolescence is not easy. Even with the most loving parents and supportive community, life is tested, expectations are real, and pressure to succeed only seems to become more intense.
Rarely have I witnessed two young men handle those pressures with more grace and integrity than Nathan and Abbott.
Abbott personifies the phrase "mature beyond their years." Abbott reflects the Unitarian Universalist virtue of wisdom and confidence that we all witnessed in his wonderful chalice reflection this morning.
Nathan's gentle spirit conveys the Unitarian Universalist trait of unconditional welcome. Regardless of how old someone is, what they look like, or where they've come from, they find unconditional welcome when meeting Nathan. That same gentle spirit will sing from violin strings later this morning.
Nathan and Abbott, this morning we honor you with fond memories of the past and with excitement and anticipation for the future. But most importantly, we celebrate you both today for exactly who you are in this every moment.
Abbott and Nathan, you have a congregation that loves you and a faith community that will always be here to support you, unconditionally, today and forever.
I offer you both a blessing, the same blessing I offered you on my first day here at First Parish Unitarian Universalist in Cohasset - a blessing I borrow from the Buddhist tradition.
Abbott and Nathan
May you both be filled with loving kindness.
May you both be well.
May you both be peaceful and at ease.
And most of all, may you both be happy.
Amen.
“In Praise and Gratitude”
A Homily by Rev. Dr. Jan Carlsson-Bull
on Recognition Sunday
First Parish Unitarian Universalist
Cohasset, MA
June 7, 2009
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Let the bells ring and the “Jubilates” sound. Praise and gratitude are the order of the day. Praise and gratitude for all of you who have given abundantly by heart, hand, and funds to sustain and grow the ministries of this congregation over this past year. You have planned, imagined, and strategized. You have organized and orchestrated. You have cooperated and collaborated. You have taught, mentored, and chaperoned. You have reached out and reached in. You have advocated; you have decided. You have cared for each other and for our larger community. You have shared your stories and listened to the stories of others. You have sung and danced. You have baked and served. You have fixed up and cleaned up. You have worshipped together, hoped together, hurt together, laughed together, and celebrated together.
You are what faithful community looks like. You are what faithful community is. You are what seals and solidifies the prospects of this congregation into the next century.
We celebrate you today, and we celebrate our graduating seniors, Abbot and Nathan. We hold you in our hearts, guys; and will dare to ask: “Are you sure you want to go off to college so soon? Didn’t you just start high school this year? Wasn’t it last year that you started kindergarten?” Okay, one of the toughest tasks of parenting is letting go; one of the toughest tasks of your church family is letting go. Jim has shared so eloquently the thoughts that we all hold. Our choir has sung so poetically the choices that are yours. You have spoken so poignantly of what it means to stand on the threshold that is this time of your life. Your words and music linger. The doors of this church and our hearts are ever open to you.
In praise and gratitude, we worship together this morning. Praise and gratitude remind us that none of us can solo dance our faith. We’re in it together. Independent, opinionated, distinctive as we fancy ourselves to be, we are called again and again to affirm our interdependence, our growing edges, our religious community. We do so across opinions, across conventional boundaries of race and class and sexual and gender identity, across generations, and across the years.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! In praise and thanksgiving, I am so grateful for all you do and all are you are; and I love you, each and every one.
Amen.
You are what faithful community looks like. You are what faithful community is. You are what seals and solidifies the prospects of this congregation into the next century.
We celebrate you today, and we celebrate our graduating seniors, Abbot and Nathan. We hold you in our hearts, guys; and will dare to ask: “Are you sure you want to go off to college so soon? Didn’t you just start high school this year? Wasn’t it last year that you started kindergarten?” Okay, one of the toughest tasks of parenting is letting go; one of the toughest tasks of your church family is letting go. Jim has shared so eloquently the thoughts that we all hold. Our choir has sung so poetically the choices that are yours. You have spoken so poignantly of what it means to stand on the threshold that is this time of your life. Your words and music linger. The doors of this church and our hearts are ever open to you.
In praise and gratitude, we worship together this morning. Praise and gratitude remind us that none of us can solo dance our faith. We’re in it together. Independent, opinionated, distinctive as we fancy ourselves to be, we are called again and again to affirm our interdependence, our growing edges, our religious community. We do so across opinions, across conventional boundaries of race and class and sexual and gender identity, across generations, and across the years.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! In praise and thanksgiving, I am so grateful for all you do and all are you are; and I love you, each and every one.
Amen.
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