the Search Poem or "Let Me Tell You a Story"

This is the poem/homily I wrote for my ministerial fellowship committee appearance, and I've shared it with my Interim congregation as well as for colleagues.

It is personal, and yet it has the feeling of journey, of search, that many people such as Unitarian Universalists have or are going through in their religious life. It is not finished, and I hope to continue to build on it as I learn of other ways to enter religious journey by being a minister to the society.

Let Me Tell You a Story
by Rev. Jim Parrish (all rights reserved)

Let me tell you a Story!

It’s not very long,

And from me a little story

Is so much better than a song!

It’s a story about a young man, or woman, 

or other,

our seeker, if you will

Who ponders the stuff of the universe

Or verses the stuff of ponds and windmills

Either way, it is a wondering done

about God, or Buddha or trees

lots of thought about love and war

And some questions about the workings of knees

There was trying to make sense of biblical lore

Which seemed kind of fanciful, sexy and sad

Because the God therein was loved by its people

though they couldn’t tell if he was happy or mad

And Jesus was a Rabbi who rocked the boat

filling the Mount and Plain with ancient words

Love thy Neighbor as Thyself…

But the neighbors were Roman Curs...

So his life was shortened to minimize the pain

But the damage had been done

God as Love became a Gnostic sermon

and Christ followers worshipped in common homes

But God as love was too universal

speaking to power in a passive voice

and arguments broke out about theology

with unity and trinity as opposing choice

So Christianity became complex and loud and bold

with theologians competing for a Patron

Emperor Constantine was looking for an army

it seemed a marriage made in heaven

Now, The joining of politics and religion is very old

The power of state held by goddess or god

its been all the rage and fashion for us

since humanity started breaking the sod

So even with a reformation, the seeker thought

And Enlightened the west became

Religion and state - state and religion

was a state we couldn’t declaim

So in our story the testaments surrounded our seeker

its gospels culturally embedded

Which made for a great deal of confusion

In knowing just where they were headed

Religion and God had so many meanings

for war, for peace, for science

it was hard to decide which banner to follow

which dogma, or creed to be compliant

Discouraged our seeker thought, and exclaimed

What about the East?

Maybe some enlightened thought to find

to sit with in silence - give my soul some ease

Becoming a Buddha seemed a natural goal

A quest to a higher station

And our seeker, in a religious whirl

Could use some quiet meditation

It made sense that all life is suffering

that suffering we would sit and reduce

grasp hold and use the eight fold way

begin to peacefully walk life through

But our seeker also has a fire inside

that wants to right some wrongs

and Buddhist thought struggles sometimes

to be an active force in the throng

So try as our seeker might

to float peacefully through this world

something inside called out for action and change

like a flag in the wind unfurled

So what is Religion… our seeker cries

Why is there no easy meaning

something that I can hold in my emotional breast

and yet… to my head not be so demeaning?

Why can’t I have action in Love

while attaining inner healing?

Why do the religions fidget so much?

Don’t they all have the same meaning?

but religion seemed to mean so many things

To so many of those around

That our young seeker twirled and whirled

and went falling, falling, stunned to the ground

Yet, while down, down with face in the turf

some marvelous things were discovered

The earth felt, well earthy, smelling rich and alive

and our seeker began to recover

What if god were here, thought our seeker, in the earth where I lay

god evolved from the very dust as we?

That would mean we are part of it

and all of it is part of me

And if this earth is who we are

and what we are going to become

then a question, the question must be asked

Where, where did this dust come from?

Then our seeker turned over and gazed up, out and away

into the far burning stars above

and fell into the yawning universe

falling deeply, deeply  in love

To lay grounded and flying all at once is fantastic

floating high while holding onto the earth

with stardust falling all around and around

our seeker’s heart and mind almost burst

My science classes, the seeker exclaimed!

I remember, I remember it all now

there is so much more that we do know and claim

more than many religions will avow

How we evolved from the very dust I lay

into creatures great and small

Everything is related to everything else

and us related to all

How marvelous a happening

An unfolding evolution to behold

mysteries of Trees and knees were answered

and secrets of life were told...

but science didn’t answer all of the questions

like why love and war still fought

why the universe was flying apart

and how a brain might have a thought

Again our seeker was perplexed

with life’s answers still incomplete

science told the truth,  but religion held love

and sometimes both cried... deceit!

So, discouraged that no answer from all the above

came no closer than  42

our seeker wondered if life is just a long, lonely journey

with no destination we might come to?

But “wait” our seeker sighs,

if there is one thing on this journey I’ve learned

is that I hold both religion and science

in my body and my souls concern

I’ve learned that religion can be true

and that love can be science

And that politics, if it were to make any sense

must listen to the technician, and the pious

I see that Love is found in relationships

As Jesus was trying to tell

and a most important connection there

is knowing ones own Buddha-self

So my journey as a human being

Is to find a way to bring

all of my ways of seeing the universe

into focus and esteem

To not dismiss a religious myth

because it is untrue

but let its lovely human story

hold my hand in life’s ado

To let truth become my starry guide

with love to provide it substance

I’ll pay attention to the inner self

so my relationships have my full essence!

With this resolution in our seeker’s heart

the journey was nearly done

but a story is sometimes  incomplete

without a riding into the sun

We visit again our young ponderer,

who is now a little old

but has never given up the seeker’s quest

to find the human soul

This seeker found that the journeys road

was life itself, you see

that answers led to questions, questions to answers

so that the journey - the journey was the key

But seeing is not as easy as being

And being is sometimes a thorny crown

if your questions are a little different

and you’ve never conformed to the crowd

The pursuit of the “why” of life

can become wearying, and lonely

So our seeker Sought company,

someone who might share an "existential interrogatory"

But where might this community be?

One that respects questions profound

But doesn’t limit its search

To one book, or prophet, or tired old blood-hound?

That place, I suggest, in this story at least

is one that we in this UU movement might offer

a respite from the seeker’s journey

yet many more questions to proffer

A place, or a gathering of seekers, of doubters,

to whom a small truth is a golden heart,

who see the question as only the beginning of life

and love the journey that it starts

And I hope, beyond hope, that the seekers will find us

so they are not wandering alone

that we can learn from their unique journey

and the seeker can have a home

And I hope again that we as a community of seekers

Haven’t the full journey forsaken

By clinging to our own pathways so tightly

That our world cannot be shaken…

~~~~

 (to the congregation)

Look around you… there are many seekers here today

With many different poems describing their journey

A journey that takes us from birth to death

A human adventure in living fully in this universe

Shall we continue on that journey together

Covenant to hold each other in love

As we continue our traditions dialogue

Dialogue between seekers at the edge of understanding

At the edge of Religion and Science

Learning and practicing love and inclusion

So that we may lead ourselves and humanity to a better way

Let us step on that path, again and again and again

And I promise to be a companion on that path

What else could I do that could be more important?

What else could I do?

So may it be

Closing Words:

As my meditation master said every day at 5am, 9am, 1pm and 6pm for a week, 

momentarily breaking the silence surrounding us…

You must practice… 

Begin again, Begin Again, Begin again