Sermon Meditation given at The Temple, Congregation Ohabai Sholom, on October 9th, 2015 as part of a multifaith service to celebrate this year’s Nashville Habitat for Humanity Unity Build.
Out of wood and stone, out of dreams and sacrifice,
the People build a home.
Out of the work of their hands and hearts and minds,
the People fashion a symbol and a reality.
That comes from one of the readings in our Unitarian Universalist hymnal (#733), and as I was praying on what words to offer here tonight, I kept coming back to this verse over and over again. In our modern culture, with high populations in urban and suburban areas, and increasingly specialized careers, it’s easy to forget that once upon a time, the building of each other’s homes was one of the ways humans built community.
Out of wood and stone, out of dreams and sacrifice,
the People build a home.
Out of the work of their hands and hearts and minds,
the People fashion a symbol and a reality.
Today, we celebrate returning to those roots, We have come together to honor that which connects us together despite our religious differences — our mutual desire to support our larger community, and to invest our time and effort into making that community a better place for all, regardless of whether or not they share our individual beliefs.
Out of wood and stone, out of dreams and sacrifice,
the People build a home.
Out of the work of their hands and hearts and minds,
the People fashion a symbol and a reality.
The reality is a house that someone will male the symbol of their home, the place where their heart is. Every piece of wood, every nail, every window, every drop of paint, came together with your hands to build this place of shelter and comfort — an outward expression of what our religions seek to provide inward. Symbols and reality, inextricable from one another, for without one, the other loses all meaning and significance.
Out of wood and stone, out of dreams and sacrifice,
the People build a home.
Out of the work of their hands and hearts and minds,
the People fashion a symbol and a reality.