Thursday, October 29, 2009

speak the wonders...

Our Unitarian Universalist Principle number seven affirms the "interdependent web of all existence" and we have sought to express this very large notion in thought, sermon, song, poetry and many other ways. Thomas Treadwell Stone put it like this in the introductory chapter of his "The Rod and the Staff" published in 1858. The first excerpt is a statement of his belief in the unity of creation and its ultimate goodness and the second is a prose prayer celebrating that goodness:

"...to fulfil the grand idea of monotheism, to carry out the principles embosomed in the Church which always repelled as a foreign element and a dogmatic heresy the notion of two independent powers, substantial and creative, we must come sooner or later to the distinct acknowledgment, that existence in all its normal developments is purely, wholly, only good; that, as God and his creations include whatever exists from eternity to eternity, so the whole must represent and correspond to his essential and infinite goodness...

Greatest of beings, source of all joy, blessed be thou! For this world so full of riches and beauty, for this body wrought of such fine elements into so goodly form, for the power within me to rejoice in all these gifts, let me thank thee for ever. Thou leadest me forth under thy sky; my heart exults in the vision. Thy sun shineth evermore with thy light, opening all things to mine eye. Thy clouds gather over me, and encircle me with their mists; thine they are, and with them thou softenest the day and makest the earth rich. Thine the earth and the ocean and air; created of thy power, upheld by thee forever, formed by thy wisdom into order. and harmony, filled and overflowing with thy love. I can never count or speak the wonders which each day reveals from thee."

Blessings

No comments: