Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto

Temporarily Yours

March 14, 2010
Rev. Sean Parker Dennison

It was the artist Paul Gaugin who made three questions famous, “Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?” These three questions make up the title of his most famous work and the lyrics of one of the songs in our new teal hymnal supplement.

Gaugin first encountered the questions in the catechism his teacher created for the private school he attended as a boy. Later in life, Gaugin became quite anti-clerical and irreligious, but these questions stuck with him. Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?

Where do we come from? We come from stardust. We come from our ancestors. We come from the dreams of people who came before us. We come from our home town. We come from our religious and cultural heritage(s). We come from planet Earth. We come from the mystery. We come from beauty. We come from our communities. We come from the spirit of life.

I recently read that religion is really just made up of three very human activities: eating together, telling stories, and saying “thank you.” As we explore the question “Where do we come from,” I hope the congregation will discover connections to our personal roots, our historical roots and to each other.

Knowing where we’ve come from is a great first step to understanding our identity and being intentional about moving ahead with a sense of gratitude and mission.

Love will guide us,
Rev. Sean