258 candles-days 261-264

I had nearly forgotten this local (to the hub) feel-good story about a husband's devotion to his wife's love for sunflowers. But it goes beyond the brevity of what's suggested by that phrase "feel-good" because it also reflects the willingness of the man to share his love with strangers who will never know why someone did it. Ultimately, that's the point of doing things like this, to allow others to contribute their own explanation for why it happened and what it means.

c & e xians

I've been interning at a couple hub uu congregations so I haven't been attending my home church--what exactly does that mean, anyway, "home church"?--for the past year until yesterday. the service, the 1st of the new congregational year, was the gathering of the waters. it's not unusual for uu churches to stop meeting for the summer, and the one I often attend in eau claire is no different. I mentioned to my xian wife yesterday that xians may not be able to understand the feeling that this rite tickles in us, having not seen one another for months (save perhaps for a few social occasions). but she suggested it was a similar experience to the one c & e xians--christmas and easter--have and I must agree to an extent. it's probable that xians who only attend church a few times a liturgical year have a comparable sensation of having rediscovered the existence of beloved community, although I don't think it's necessarily a good thing. as for uus, we ought to give up the classicism of pausing summer meetings. while the joke that uus are the only sect god can trust for 3 months on our own is worth repeating, the fact is that fewer of us remain of that uberclass that goes away between june and september and our meeting schedule should reflect it.

commuter congregations

it was still raining and I found myself getting caught up in a political argument, most of it in my head, and realized I needed something fierce to get out of the house. I went to the eau claire uu church to listen to visiting minister scott prinster talk about joseph priestly, a bigwig in the annals of both science and unitarianism, and that was fine. even listening to the kindergarteners sing about searching for treasure--the sort of thing I always associate with xians and that has taken an unfortunate foothold among faiths that aren't--was worth it because I reconnected with my friend tom and we made plans to get together for lunch.

but that's not what I wanted to mention. instead, it was a recognition that I have become a true commuter. like a cowboy who feels he isn't worth a damn off his horse, I've come to feel that wherever I go isn't worth the going if I don't have to drive to it. part of this is the fault of geography--I live out in the sticks, although not as sticky as the place I grew up, and I need to drive miles to pick up milk (although now I've got my bike out, the convenience store and beer is a mere 20 minutes away). but this is my choice, or the choice of my marriage, to live this way, although as I often point out, if I lived 60 miles outside nyc or chicago, I could walk to the train station and ride into downtown.

be that as it may, I've been thinking about the need for driving in order to get to worship, and how this makes as little sense as driving to the mall to walk. a mere 60 years ago I wouldn't have had to drive most places I need to get to, and now I drive places I don't need to get to. this isn't just of concern to uus, it's reflected in the suburbanization of churches, temples, synagogues and mosques. something seems wrong to this and I wonder about it, especially while I'm driving. and I wonder too: does it mean something larger that I drive closer to the hub to work and farther out beyond the rim to worship?