Rev. Diane Rollert, January 27, 2019

We sit in silence
together,
aware of breath,
of heartbeat,
of thoughts,
and sensations,
of words,
that form
and disappear,
of feelings
that weave themselves
around us,
and remain too often
unexplained.

We are made up
of atoms
and molecules,
of elements
that were once
overwhelming heat
that became stars,
that became us.

Us becomes me,
becomes I,
becomes you,
becomes this uniqueness
that exists,
as we sit
together
in this moment,
children of the ages,
the genetic code passed
down
from generations.

The Eternal
rests unnamed,
indescribable
in the equation of
the mystery that goes
unanswered,
the soul that we cannot
weigh,
or measure,
or see,
as it lives in the body
or leaves at the end.

The scientists and the theologians
cannot definitively prove,
not yet—
perhaps not ever,
what it is
that gives us life
leaving us with our faith
or our impatience
to guide us.

We can only offer
in return,
our deeds,
our kindnesses,
our offerings of light,
to reassure each other
that no matter
where the answers lie,
we will care
for now,
for each other,
for this world.

We have been entrusted
with time,
with the nothingness,
and the everything
that may exist
long before us,
and long after,
or cease and never endure.

Perhaps
we haven’t evolved
enough,
not yet,
maybe never,
to know the answer.

Perhaps there are mysteries
that are better left
as inexplicable,
and uncontrollable,
leaving us only with the power
to shape this one life
we are given,
to leave behind a legacy
that is formed by love.

In this quiet that we share,
in this thinking and being
and breathing,
may you find loving kindness
for your own soul,
for the souls who sit beside you,
and in front of you
and behind you,
and for all the world’s souls,
as we live in the shadows
and the promise
of the mystery.

Amen.