Order of Service
July 16, 2023
“Among the Trees”
Gathering Music
Welcome and Announcements
Centering
Prelude
“Methuselah”
By Mary Bopp
Chalice Lighting
Opening Words:
Excerpt from “The Overstory” by Richard Powers
For there is hope of a tree, if it
goes down, that it will sprout again,
and that its tender branches will not cease.
Though the root grows in the earth,
And the stock dies in the ground, at the scent
of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs.
Opening Song
“Standing Like a Tree”
Plum Village Song
Musicians: Mary Bopp, piano and Jeannine Westbrook, vocals
Standing like a tree
With my roots dug down
My branches wide and open
Come down the rain
Come down the sun
Come down the fruit to a heart that is open to be
Standing like a tree
Reading:
“When I am Among the Trees” by Mary Oliver
When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, “It's simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”
Guided Meditation: Lynn Dove
Reading: George Jacobi, untitled, 2023, from the Joshua Trust newsletter
Musical Interlude
Joys and Concerns
Musical Interlude
Offering
Offering Music
“The Loveliest of Trees”
By John Duke
Musicians: Mary Bopp, piano and Jeannine Westbrook, vocals
Introduction of the Speakers
1st Speaker: Emery Gluck
Musical Interlude
2nd Speaker: John Hankins
Closing Hymn
#21 “For the Beauty of the Earth”
Words: Folliott Sandford Pierpoint
Music: Conrad Kocher
For the beauty of the earth, for the splendor of the skies,
for the love which from our birth over and around us lies:
Source of all, to thee we raise this, our hymn of grateful praise.
For the joy of ear and eye, for the heart and mind’s delight,
for the mystic harmony linking sense to sound and sight:
Source of all, to thee we raise this, our hymn of grateful praise.
For the wonder of each hour of the day and of the night,
hill and vale and tree and flower, sun and moon and stars of light:
Source of all, to thee we raise this, our hymn of grateful praise.
For the joy of human care, sister, brother, parent, child,
for the kinship we all share, for all gentle thoughts and mild:
Source of all, to thee we raise this, our hymn of grateful praise.
Extinguishing the Chalice
Closing Circle
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