Denton CUUPS presented the Sunday service at the Denton Unitarian Univeralist Fellowship this past Sunday, something we do a few times every year. It fills the pulpit on one of the Sundays when our minister is off, it reinforces that CUUPS is a part of the congregation and not just a group that uses the building eight times a year, and it presents a viewpoint that while included in “regular” Sunday services, is rarely emphasized.
Cynthia Talbot led this service, titled “Weighing the Work of the Harvest: Have We Gathered Enough to Go Forward?” For our ancestors, the Final Harvest (whether known as Samhain or as a Christian observance) was more than an end to the agricultural cycle for the year. It was a time to literally weigh the work, to see if enough had been grown and harvested and preserved to feed the community not just until Spring, but until new crops started coming in even later in the year.
Cyn began by reciting a nursery rhyme she learned from her great aunt, who was a farmer:
Sow four seeds as you make your row:
one for the mouse, one for the crow,
one to rot, and one to grow.
Farming is hard work. It’s also risky work. No farmer plants their crops intending to feed the mouse and the crow, but they know mice and crows will take some of them. Better to plant too much than too little.
Recent harvests (and here I speak metaphorically, not literally) have been small, unpleasant, and bitter. We’re approaching another harvest on November 8 – to say I’m anxious would be a gross understatement. Have we done enough? Are we doing enough? Will those who perpetuate the Big Lie be defeated, or will they be returned to power? Will reproductive rights be restored, or will half the population remain second-class citizens?
I don’t know, any more than a farmer knows what the harvest will look like before its time.
I know I have done and am doing what I can do. I hope and pray it will be enough.
I gave the morning prayer in this service. I pray four times every day, but most of my prayers are between me and the Gods I worship. Other prayers are offered in the context of Pagan rituals, where everyone who hears them is Pagan, or at least Pagan-friendly.
It’s different praying in a setting that includes monotheists, pantheists, and non-theists, in addition to polytheists. The challenge is to be inclusive without watering things down.
In the context of a theologically diverse audience, and with the coming harvest weighing heavily on my mind, I offered this prayer.
This morning we pray to our Gods, to our ancestors, to Nature and the spirits of Nature, and to the values and virtues that inspire our higher selves.
We know that our petitions may be granted, or they may not be granted. But it is good to express the desires of our hearts, and so we pray.
Mighty spirits, we are honored to do the work of building a just world. We are honored to be a beacon of compassion and acceptance in a place that is often harsh and sometimes cruel. This work is necessary and good and it brings meaning to our lives.
But we are tired.
And so we pray for strength, that we may complete the tasks set in front of us.
We pray for courage, that we may do what must be done even when it’s hard.
We pray for discernment, that we may choose what should be first, and what must be last.
We pray for skill, that we may work effectively and efficiently.
We pray for perspective, that we remember the journey is long.
We pray for humility, that we remember we are human and mortal and our efforts will never be perfect.
We pray for wisdom, that we remember to care for the needs of our bodies and the needs of our souls.
We pray for community, that all who will may share in the work, and in the joys of community.
This is our desire,
This is our prayer.
May it be so.
This prayer was written and presented by John Beckett for the Denton Unitarian Universalist Fellowship on October 16, 2022. You are welcome to use or adapt it in your own services, with attribution. All other rights reserved.
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