Carleton College Reunion
Multi-Faith Service
June 16, 2024
What is a moment of remembrance? A moment can be the briefest bit of time. Or an exact point in time. Or even the appropriate time for doing something. And in the physics of time, a moment can be expansive.
And remembrance? To remember is to re-member, to take the members of a body and put them back together. A reunion itself is a kind of remembrance, as we gather again as members of a community that once was and reconstitute ourselves into the community of this moment. Carleton alums and friends and family and staff and faculty gathered together, members of one body.
And as we engage in this re-membering, we also bring into the now, into this moment, those whom we have lost. Some of their names are printed in the worship program for this morning. Other names we carry in our hearts. In naming them, we claim them. As part of this community, part of this body, part of who we are. This is the thing about being members of a community; we all impact each other. And that impact cannot really be measured.
What we do here today is important. And not just because we are honoring those whom we have lost, and making space for grief, and recalling friendships. But also because we acknowledge the breadth and strength and love of this community. A community that intentionally reaches into the past and pulls into this moment all of its members in order to be whole. And at some future time, we too will be re-membered and pulled forward.
When I was a Carleton student, you could often--very often--find me in the dance studio. I loved the time I spent there and the lasting friendships created in that space. And I like to think that what we are doing today is participating in an ongoing dance, connecting us to steps that have been laid down in the past, and creating momentum that is already reaching toward all who come next, inviting them to join.
There has been much to stir our memories these past few days. Stirrings that touch our hearts, and stirrings that mix past experiences into a now. And so in this now, in this moment, in this appropriate time, I invite you to light a candle for those you have lost, as together we remember.
