Blessing of the Banners

We are so excited today to bless our new principles banners.  The banners now hung in the Athens sanctuary come to us from the UU Congregation of Queens in Flushing, NY. They hung for many years in the children’s RE rooms, made by the DRE Paula Rosenberg. But that was not the first place they hung, they came with Paula from her previous congregation. There’s another banner, which I hung upstairs in the children’s classroom, made by Susan Nykolak, their next DRE.

Then about 8 years ago there was a fire in the Queens building. In recovering from the fire everything came down, The congregation worshiped downstairs after the fire, and the banners were hung there to make it more homey. During the pandemic the congregation was worshiping on zoom, as we all were, and during that time they discerned together that something had to change, that it was time for the congregation to close their doors. Rev. RoseMarie hung the banners in sanctuary for last service. So these banners are already full of history, the spirit of children and teachers learning together and UUs of all ages worshiping together, and they were there on that sacred ending, that last worship in June.

 

Here at UUCAS, used to hold a community trivia night for years in our sanctuary, run by Mike and Judy. They wished aloud that we could have something in the sanctuary that would state clearly who we were and what we believed. So when Rosemarie asked her colleagues if they knew of a congregation who would like to inherit these banners, we jumped at the chance. Not only to fulfil Mike and Judy’s vision, but also to honor the legacy of the UU congregation of Queens.

First a thank you to Queens:
We thank you not only for these beautiful banners that were part of your history, part of your Religious Education program, cheering the classrooms of children and teachers. We thank you for all you did as a UU congregation, all the good you did for those many years, “bringing out the best in people”.

I found this written in honor of the 100 year anniversary of the congregation:

“On June 9th, 1908, 33 people signed the charter of the First Unitarian Church of Flushing, Lewis Henry Latimer, a noted scientist and inventor, who was but one generation removed from the slavery his own father knew, demonstrated as one of its founders, that this particular faith tradition offered them the best hope of realizing the fondest dreams of humankind for peace, love and understanding between all people.”[i]

We thank you, for all the lives you touched, and whom your legacy will continue to touch.

Now we bless these banners for this time they will grace our sanctuary:

Spirit of life, let these banners remind us of our principles, of our highest aspirations
May they inspire to live our lives in harmony with these ideals.
May they also remind us that we are not alone, that we gather in a communion of congregations far and wide,
And that we stand in the great river of history that flows from all those who have come before, through us in this present moment, and to those who will follow.

Amen

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[i] UU Congregation of Queens Receives Centennial Recognition from Queens Borough President (uumetrony.org)

Latimer, Lewis Howard (1848-1928) | Harvard Square Library