Reflections in Reverence
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The Light of Faith
O world, thou choosest not the better part! It is not wisdom to be only wise, And on the inward vision close the eyes; But it is wisdom to believe the heart. Columbus found a world, and had no chart Save one that faith deciphered in the skies; To trust the soul's invincible surmise Was all his science and his only art. Our knowledge is a torch of smoky pine That lights the pathway but one step ahead Across a void of mystery and dread. Bid then, the tender light of faith to shine By which alone the mortal heart is led Unto the thinking of the thought divine. — George Santayana (1863-1952)
Character
Tsze-kung asked, Is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's life? The Master said, Is not reciprocity such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others. — Confucius (551-478 BC)
Beholding God
Why should I wish to see God
better than this day?
I see something of God
each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then;
In the faces of men and women
I see God, and in my own face in the glass;
I find letters from God
dropped in the street, and every one is signed by God's name;
And I leave them where they are,
for I know that wheresoe'er I go
Others will punctually come
for ever and ever. — Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
For Religion's Sake
I say the whole earth
and all the stars in the sky are for religion's sake. I say no man has ever yet
been half devout enough, None has ever yet adored
or worshiped half enough, None has begun to think how divine
he himself is, and how certain the future is. I say the real and permanent
grandeur of these States must be their religion, Otherwise there is
no real and permanent grandeur; Nor character nor life worthy the name
without religion, Nor land nor man nor woman
without religion. — Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
Poor Richard's Almanac,
December, 1737
The Wiseman says, It is a Wiseman's Part
To keep his Tongue close Prisoner in his Heart.
If he then be a Fool whose Thought denies
There is a God, how desp'rately unwise,
How much more Fool is he whose Language shall
Proclaim in publick, There's no God at all:
What then are they, nay Fools in what degree
Whose Actions shall maintain't? Such Fools are we.
— Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
The Moral Sense Ever New
The moral sense reappears today with the same morning newness that has been from old the fountain of beauty and strength. You say there is no religion now. 'Tis like saying that in rainy weather, There is no sun, when at that moment we are witnessing one of his superlative effects. We have learned the manners of the sun and the moon, of the rivers and the rain,of the mineral and elemental kingdoms, of plants and animals. Man has learned to weigh the sun. The next lesson taught is the continuation of the inflexible law of matter into the subtle kingdom of will and of thought. The primordial atoms are prefigured and predetermined to moral issues. Those laws do not stop where our eyes lose them, but push the same geometry and chemistry up into the invisible plane of social and rational life, so that look where we will, in a boy's game, or in the strife of races, a perfect reaction, a perpetual judgement keeps watch and ward. That only which we have within, can we see without. If we meet no gods, it is because we harbor none. If there is grandeur in you, you will find grandeur in porters and sweeps. Every man's task is his life preserver. The conviction that his work is dear to God and cannot be spared defends him. — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
Jesus
O thou great friend to all the sons of men
Who once appeared in humblest guise below,
Sin to rebuke and break the captive's chain,
To call thy brethren forth from want and woe, —
Thee would I sing. Thy truth is still the light
Which guides the nations—groping on their way,
Stumbling and falling in disastrous night,
Yet hoping ever for the perfect day:
Yes, thou art still the Life, thou art the Way
The holiest know:—Light, Life, and Way of Heaven!
And they who dearest hope and deepest pray
Toil by the Light, Life, Way which thou hast given.
And by thy truth aspiring mortals trust
To uplift their bleeding brothers from the dust.
— Theodore Parker (1810-1860)
The Way of the Wise
Long is the night to him who is awake;
long is a mile to him who is tired; long is life to the foolish who do not know the true law.
Well-makers lead the water wherever they like;
fletchers bend the arrows; carpenters bend a log of wood; wise people fashion themselves.
As a solid rock is not shaken by the wind,
wise people falter not amidst blame and praise.
Wise people, after they have listened to the laws,
become serene, like a deep, smooth, and still lake.
Not to blame, not to strike,
to live restrained under the law, to be moderate in eating, to sleep and sit alone, and to dwell on the highest thoughts,&mdash this is the teaching of the Awakened. — Buddha (568-488 BC)
Of the Religions in Utopia
There be divers kinds of religion, not only in sondry parts of the iland but also in divers places of every city. Some worship for god the sun, some the moon, some some other of the planets. There be that give worship to a man that was ones of excellent virtue or of famous glory, not only as god, but also as the chiefest and highest god. But the most and the wisest part, rejecting all these, believe that there is a certain godly power unknown, everlasting, incomprehensible, inexplicable, far above the capacity of and retch of man's wit, dispersed throughout all the world, not in bigness, but in virtue and power. Him they call the father of all. To him alone they attribute the beginnings, the encreasings, the proceedings, the changes, and the ends of all things. Nother they give devine to any other then to him. — Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) WELCOME UU SCOUTERS, SCOUTS and FRIENDS Visit the Official UUSO Website: www.uuscouters.org The Unitarian Universalist Scouters Organization develops and promotes BSA-Approved religious award program for Unitarian Universalist Cub Scouts, Webelos, Boy Scouts, Venturers, and Adult Recognition. Songs for a UU Scouts Own (PDF 599K) Three short, well-known readings from Singing the Living Tradition, set with easy melody and chords, print double-sided & fold. 452. Life is a Gift (MIDI) 473. Love Is the Spirit (MIDI) 456. We Extinguish This Flame (MIDI) Scout Law Dodecahedron (PDF 186K) Fun project for all UU scouts and scouters! Special edition with UUSO logo. Just print, cut out, fold and glue. FYI - a complete chronological list of Dr. Jon Turner's UU worship music since 1991. NEW! Invocation at 2009 UUSO Meeting The 2009 annual UUSO meeting took place in Orlando, FL. Here, Howard Guthmann delivers the invocation, by Dr. John B. Wolf, Minister Emeritus, All Souls Unitarian, Tulsa, OK. NEW! Closing Prayer at 2009 UUSO Meeting The 2009 annual UUSO meeting took place in Orlando, FL. Here, Dr. Jon Turner is heard reading the closing prayer, taken from the 2006 International Conference on Unitarian and Universalists (ICUU). With added music: two variations on the UU hymn Spirit of Life. |