The Rev. Forrest Church died yesterday evening after a three year battle with cancer.  Galen Guengerich, who has succeeded Forrest as Senior Minister at All Souls, tells us that he died peacefully at home, surrounded by family and friends.  All Souls is open today and tomorrow (Friday and Saturday) for anyone who wants to go there to reflect on Forrest's life and light a candle.  The memorial service will be on Saturday, October 3, at 4 p.m.

I first met Forrest more than 20 years ago when he came to St. Louis to do a lecture at First Church, where I was a member and an office assitant.  I went to dinner with him and the committee that organized the lecture.  I'm pretty certain that in that lecture I first heard Forrest's metaphor of the "Cathedral of the World," an image expanded in A Chosen Faith, which remains for me an important part of our evolving UU theology.

Of course, Forrest brought much to our theology and to our life as Unitarian Universalists.  His books on history, theology, and practical living are priceless.  And he was writing those books while serving a large congregation and also paying close attention to the details of life:  he always answered my e-mails and sent thank you notes for small things.  I don't know how he did it.

He had his flaws, and some members of this congregation may remember the time when many were angry about choices he made in his personal life.  But, in a life odyessey he gave for ministerial colleagues in April, 2007, he talked about the hard work he had done to change direction and make amends.  We can learn much from the road he has traveled, and as I preach on forgiveness in this Yom Kippur season, Forrest's journey will be much in my mind.

But the most important idea he brought to that odyssey presentation and to his life in the past three years has to do with the core belief he has always claimed:  that "religion is the human response to the dual reality of being alive and having to die."  Forrest received his cancer diagnosis as a test of that idea.  Would our UU religion remain a comfort and inspiration when suddenly death becomes a reality rather than an abstraction?  His UU grounding had passed that test, he told us in 2007.  He has written about that since and his life and actions have underscored it as well.  He is at rest now, but his inspiration will continue.