LESLIE’S LOGOS – November 2025

Last summer, while I was in Ohio visiting my uncle, I walked about the campus at Oberlin College. A large oak tree spread its arms over a scenic pond with a sign saying that they have been there for more than 200 years. I thought about all that tree had seen. I wonder if it had seen my parents in their courting days and then I wondered who had planted the tree or allowed it to remain standing, who had tended it and made sure it was pruned. And who had put up the sign so newcomers such as myself could reflect on the legacies represented. This tree had seen so much and was still around to be a witness because of all who had helped it survive.

I think of those kinds of legacies all the time when I am on our campus as well. We have so many people who do so many things so that we can have the place and space of sanctuary among us. The people who had the original idea for the congregation 75 years ago, who were willing to risk the approbation of their neighbors at a time when religion meant one thing, who taught, led, gave, volunteered, cooked, sang, painted, cleaned, led and on and on.  All of their legacies are here among us—both in the strength of the traditions we inherit and in more tangible places such as in our rooms, walking our labyrinth, in the plants of our memorial garden and in the stained glass, the seats, the floor boards, etc.  I particularly enjoy looking at the bricks on the brick patio since that reflects many generations sof legacy—those who originally volunteered to lay that patio and the family who generations later during a global pandemic, made it into an Eagle Scout project for their son whose friends took up and cleaned all those bricks and then put them down again.

We truly are warmed at fires we did not light and we are held by care from people we will never know—they made possible the care we DO know here. Next time you are on campus—or in a Zoom meeting for our technology prowess is a legacy as well—take a moment and be grateful for the generosity which has and continues to fuel this place.

May our investments in the future be solace in these present days of heartbreak.