Turning Back - Rev. Barbara Prose

Sermon delivered on Sunday, May 27, 2012, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Rev. Barbara Prose, Assistant Minister. Memorial Day weekend is not just for weddings, weekend getaways, and cookouts. It is a time set apart for remembering. Many of us would rather face forward, bravely going where no human being has gone before, into an undiscovered future. But what can we do when the past haunts us? How do we honor those we have loved and lost, and at the same time acknowledge the conflict and disappointments which are an inevitable part of every life, every family, every religious community? Listen about the origins of Memorial Day – a gift from newly-liberated African American slaves – and consider why it might be a weekend for you to take some time to turn back and look at the past. What stories do you need to remember, retell, and reinterpret?