One Without the Other Isn't Enough

There is a poem by Oriah, a poet, author, and mystic who grew up in northern Ontario, Canada. The first stanza of “The Invitation,”

It doesn’t interest me

what you do for a living.

I want to know

what you ache for

and if you dare to dream

of meeting your heart’s longing.

What an invitation to relationship! It goes straight to the heart of the meaning of “Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations,” our third Unitarian Universalist Principle.

Yet, in contemplation, the poem is more personal and demands more from one another than “mere acceptance.” It seems to require compassion and a willingness to travel with another in their search for spiritual growth.

This is what brings us to church. Our need to be with others on this journey we call Life.

Oriah does not shriek from the complexities and demands of relationship.

I want to know

if you can sit with pain

mine or your own

without moving to hide it

or fade it

or fix it.   

I want to know

if you can be with joy

mine or your own

If you can dance with the wildness

and let the ecstasy fill you …

Yes, she makes it clear there are joys and sorrows which we must share if we are to travel together.

But she does not forget what we must do on our communal journey:

It doesn’t interest me

to know where you live

or how much money you have.

I want to know if you can get up

after the night of grief and despair

weary and bruised to the bone

and do what needs to be done

to feed the children.

Once we commit to being together, there is more to our communal, religious life than the spiritual journey. There is the call of those who are in need of food, water, medical attention, clothing, and compassion.

When service is our prayer, it is empty if we are not seeking, as Jung would say, a deeper, more meaningful existence than the superficiality of our culture.

Nor would spiritual growth alone be enough, for without both, something is missing.

For pondering – see you in church, Rev. Lil

You can find Oriah’s complete poem at http://www.oriahmountaindreamer.com