(Excerpted from a talk given for the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork, Bridgehampton NY, Sept. 25, 2011)
Several years reflecting on my work with trauma survivors taught me that the same God I believed in before the trauma would not survive the trauma. My own "dark night of the soul" [a life threatening illness] led me to a less certain, but deeper experience.... I came to know in my bones that sometimes the best thing to say about God is no-thing -- silence about God is sometimes the most eloquent word.
But words can also touch us and feel true....the words that come to mind to describe that experience are ones like mystery, connection, light in darkness, strength, power, hope, peace, friend and, of course, love. They're the old words certainly, but they're brand new when they're filtered through experiences like sickness, dying, losing a loved one or the shock of divorce. Those experiences make us feel like grown ups, and those old words take on a new and deeper meaning....
I look to people like veterans, cops, firefighters, medics, cancer survivors and Alzheimers caregivers to catch the faint signals that love is deeper than hate and despair, that hope is not stupid, or that while we can be beasts at times, we can also be sisters and brothers. Maybe I can't mend your body, but I can help mend your heart on the hard days and you can do the same for me....
....a few weeks ago after Hurricaine Irene passed, we went down to the ocean in Southampton and saw the mighty churning of the waves as the remnant winds roiled those waters. Another time, years ago I stood as close as I dared to the edge of Niagra Falls as those waters poured over the edge of the Falls. When I'm looking across a flooding river or I'm close by a surging ocean, I can hold on to hope. There is a Bridge. Raising my arms in thanks, even when it hurts, there is a Bridge. Looking deep inside my own broken heart, there is a Bridge. And maybe the most astonishing truth out of this darkness and pain....? The fact that you and I are that Bridge for each other. My look for what's godly in this life finds a good start there....
(cf. Aretha Franklin Live at the Fillmore West on iTunes for her version of "Bridge over Troubled Waters")
