Ginger Hill Unitarian Universalist Congregation

Order of Service

May 2, 2010

May Celebration

1. Song: Spirit of Life

2. Welcome and Introduction

3. Chalice Lighting with Responsive Reading:

Mother of us all, You are the cauldron of wisdom,
From which inspiration flows.

You are the broad Earth,
which gives birth to all life.

You are the circling Moon,
ruling the tides of oceans and women.

You are the endless night sky,
filled with numberless stars.

You are a grove of birth trees,
shining in the forest deeps.

You are the Mother of us all,
and we look to you in wonder and awe.

4. Recitation of UU Principles

5. Chimes for Peace

6. Joys and Concerns

7. Message Part 1: Maia=May

8. Song: For the Beauty of the Earth

9. Message Part 2: Beltane

10. Springtime Prayer:

For flowers that bloom about our feet,
For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet,
For song of bird, and hum of bee,
For all things fair we hear or see,
Spirit of Life, we thank Thee!

For blue of stream and blue of sky,
For pleasant shade of branches high,
For fragrant air and cooling breeze,
For beauty of the blooming trees,
Spirit of Life, we thank Thee!

11. Drumming

12. Closing blessing:

May we live more wisely within our overlapping ecosystems.
May we cherish anew the wonder of clean waters and fresh winds.
May we more wisely tend and respect the animals and plants that nourish us.
May the sacred fires of Beltane guide us into new paths of hope.

13. Congregational reflections

14. Announcements

Today’s Service is led by Amy R. Walters.

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Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring and integrity, they think of you. -H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Prayer for Spring

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in midair stands still.

For this is love and nothing else is love,
The which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfill.

---Robert Frost

Prayer for Sweetness

May the wind blow sweetness,
the rivers flow sweetness,
the herbs grow sweetness,
for the People of Truth!

Sweet be the night,
sweet the dawn,
sweet be earth's fragrance,
sweet be our Heaven!

May the tree afford us sweetness,
the sun shine sweetness,
our cows yield sweetness --
milk in plenty!