Poetry as Meditation

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Rev. Meg Barnhouse
November 29, 2020
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

Join Rev. Meg as she explores the idea of meditation through poetry. We will explore lines, writers, and work together to better understand how to find our center through the art of words.

Chalice Lighting

This is the flame we hold in our hearts as we strive for justice for everyone. This is the light that we shine upon systems of oppression until they are no more. This is the warmth we share with one another as our struggle becomes our salvation.

Call to Worship

WILD GEESE
Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting-
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Affirming Our Mission

Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.

Learn more about Beloved Community at this link. – The King Center

Medition

CAN YOU DO CONSTRUCTION IN THE RAIN?
by Sage Hirschfeld

Can you do construction in the rain?

Will screws sewn into softened wood hold up,
when earth turns to dry?
When pliable hardens,
and stakes take shapes in unexpected ways.

Will you become brittle when we leave this place?

How does a name forged in open-hearted uncertainty sound
In the light of day
At the grocery store
In your mothers voice.

How will it temper in the open air
When everyone,
and no one at all,
Is listening.

Will it crack?
Or kindle

When moments wedge decades into fractured foundations
Steel whines under weight unexpected
Wind whipped stained glass windows,
turned windchimes

Will you become brittle when we leave this place?
Or simply changed.

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