Day 7: Ancestral Earth and Deep Time & The Love of Thousands

OPENING PRAYER
We are descended from thousands of generations of people, but also from the beasts and birds, the mountains and forests, the seas and sky. This morning we remember that we are of this Earth, kindred with everything alive. Ancient One, remind us of this thread we carry within, weaving us together with all that is and ever was. Help us continue to walk in beauty.

OPENING SONG: Let the Land Sing
Where are we going to?
Where did we come from?
What does it mean to all be bones under the same ol’ sun?
I’ve always been, always been right here…

Refrain: So let the land sing through you,
Like the rolling holy.
Let the land sing through you,
Like the rolling holy.

Trees my lungs, mist my breath,
That moon is blooming in my chest.
Courage, my love, your roots grow deep,
Down deep.
Scrambled stardust and mud
make up my own bones and blood
I’ve always been, always been right here…

Refrain

And then they came with their torches and their guns,
And so my friends gathered one by one by one by one.
I asked the spider how she weaves her web,
And she replied my dear, “Thread by thread by thread by thread.”
Like ancestors with songs in their packs,
And they became us track by track by track by…
What is the mud that made you?

I love the mud that made you.
What is the mud that made you?

Refrain 2xs

FIRST READING: Thich Nhat Hanh
Each time my feet touched the earth I knew my mother was there with me. I knew this body was not mine alone but a living continuation of my mother and my father and my grandparents and great-grandparents. Of all my ancestors. These feet that I saw as ‘my’ feet were actually ‘our’ feet. Together my mother and I were leaving footprints in the damp soil.

From that moment on, the idea that I had lost my mother no longer existed. All I had to do was look at the palm of my hand, feel the breeze on my face or the earth under my feet to remember that my mother is always with me, available at any time. . . Pay attention to all the leaves, the flowers, the birds, and the dewdrops. If you can stop and look deeply, you will be able to recognize your beloved one manifesting again and again in many forms.

SUNG PSALM OPENING
O Beauty, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. (Repeat)

PSALM 148, 149, 150: May We Rise
Alleluia, praise our Maker
Alleluia, one and all
May God fill our lives with pleasures
May we rise and never fall
Gather round and sing together
All God’s people, where you are
Sun and moon and stars about you
Heaven and earth will praise our God
Alleluia, praise our Maker
Alleluia, one and all
May God fill our lives with pleasures
May we rise and never fall
Play your pipes and play your whistle
Play your harp and string and drum
Raise your voice with grateful singing
Every breath shall praise our God
Alleluia, praise our Maker
Alleluia, one and all
May God fill our lives with pleasures
May we rise and never fall
From the depths and from the heavens
Fiery storms and bitter snows
All creation will adore you
You are God forevermore
Alleluia, praise our Maker
Alleluia, one and all
May God fill our lives with pleasures
May we rise and never fall
Sing a new song with thanksgiving
To the God who’s with us now
Praise our God with joy and dancing
For God loves us, one and all
Alleluia, praise our Maker
Alleluia, one and all
May God fill our lives with pleasures
May we rise and never fall
May we rise and never fall

SUNG DOXOLOGY
Glory to the Maker, Lover, and Keeper; as ago, in this breath, and will be ever. Amen, Amen.

SECOND READING: Job 38:4-7
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone
when the morning stars sang together
and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?

SILENT CONTEMPLATION

PRAYERS OF CONCERN
God in and of All, a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay says, “I can push the grass apart, and lay my finger on thy heart.” How beautiful it is to find you both in the dark earth, and in the dark matter of the universe. How excellent to know that you are in all things, and I am in you. I praise you for your magnificence, on earth and in the heavens.

Sung Response O God of Love, you shimmer in the stones.

You Who Shimmers, when you said love one another, you meant for us to love each other without exception. None are excluded from your love, therefore we must love without exception, including those we don’t like. We must love those whose ideologies differ from ours, those whose lifestyles we don’t understand, and whose behavior we don’t approve of. If we can know you are All in All, help us to see the shimmer in each other and all beings, even when the shine is dull to our eyes.

Sung Response O God of Love, you shimmer in the stones.

Ancient Spirit, we are the dream of the ancestors. We are the ones they waited for. What opportunities are available to me that they were denied? A world of knowledge is at my fingertips. The old ways reimagined with technology and hindsight are available to me. It seems too much at times. Despite the many gifts we have available to us, we have made a mess of things. We have injured the planet, our animal and plant kin, and ourselves. Most of all we need to love each other and recognize we are all connected, and bring your healing grace.

Sung Response O God of Love, you shimmer in the stones.

Please add the prayers you are longing to express.

Sung Response O God of Love, you shimmer in the stones.

CLOSING SONG: Now I Walk in Beauty (Diné Navajo Prayer)
Now I walk in beauty
Beauty is before me
Beauty is behind me
Above and below me.

CLOSING BLESSING
A Blessing for Deep Time
This blessing shimmers across the ages,
from the ancestors of stone and stars
there is a sacred thread connecting us
to the first moments of everything.
Millions of years
of unfolding, shaping, emerging, adapting,
you are made from the embers of galaxies.
Limestone holds remains of ancient seabeds,
fossils embedded in stones beneath us.
You are part of the Earth lineage,
your body an ecosystem of ancestors
forming a web of ancient life.
See your loved ones
still speak in leaf and loam,
in gills and granite,
in water and on the uplift of wings.
This blessing is an anchor in eternity,
in the ancient wisdom arising
from everything that is alive,
primordial fire pulsing through us,
the origin of love.

SUNG AMEN