Monday: We can neither applaud nor tolerate irresponsible
and wholly selfish individual development. Freedom without commitment
is aimless and self destructive. Here is a tension of opposites-to
instill both a vigorous sense of individuality and at the same
time a sense of shared purpose with their fellows. The one I respect
is the one who has humbly placed himself at the service of a vision
of a greater good because he has first achieved a mature individuality.
Tuesday: Freedom then is not the absence of any outside
control it is the acceptance of limitations. His path can
never be as free as that of an airborne bird. He must pick his
waypainfully through a veritable jungle of alternatives, few of
which are satisfactory, none of which is perfect. Man can never
be the unconditional master of himself because he neither has
complete control of himself, nor of his environment. He is at
the mercy of dreams, hopes, fears and lusts. So that selfwill
which poses as freedom will only result in a man putting himself
under the heel of some subtle tyranny more frightening than any
of those from which he fondly thinks he has freed himself.
Wednesday: Experience has taught me that it is never
enough to struggle against specific evils; one must also try to
create an environment which is hospitable to the growth of the
corresponding virtues. All societies are dynamic, constantly in
a state of flux, so that the passing of time can transform today's
virtue into tomorrow's vice. Hence, the battle for justice is
never won once and for all; the same battle has to be fought over
and over again.
Thursday: You will, from time to time, be disillusioned
and even hurt when you are let down; when your trust in another
human being is repaid by treachery. But it is still better to
give another human being the opportunity to rise to your highest
expectations of him than to make it a policy to assume the worst
in order that you may never be disappointed. Better by far to
know both the joy and pain of honest human encounter than to construct
a shell which may make you impervious to hurt but also keeps out
that searching love.
Friday: At all costs have the courage to fail. We
pay a heavy price for our fear of failure. It hinders our growth
and narrows the range of our achievements. The learning process
will either stop or be restricted within narrow limits unless
you are prepared to go on risking failure by trying new things,
putting your trust in people who prove to be unknown quantities
and exploring uncharted ways that may turn out to be dead ends
or else open up new vistas of service and satisfaction.
Saturday: It is one of those obvious and easily ignored lessons of nature which applies equally to human society-that birth is always conquering death; that out of decay there springs renewal. The golden age about which we all dream and for which some of us strive is not a static state of bliss where all human problems will be resolved and mankind will live happily ever after. The golden age never dawns and yet is paradoxically always dawning when individuals are prepared to become agents of renewal and bearers of it.
(Let the Community stand and sing first two verses of the song) Leader: Let us stand before life as those who care for the world. Community: Be it so. | ||
| March Onward Now
ENTRY (Verses I and 2) Oh we awaken the human vision March onward now to the cry of all history Resurgent spirit is now emerging,
Giving form to the new community. We are engagers of human caring. March onward now in the task to set people free Local passion bursts forth in power.
Giving form to the new humanity. EXIT (Verses 3 and 4) We are proclaimers of life's abundance. March onward now placing hope m the mystery. The human drama reveals the wonder Giving form to new possibility. The world before us, the future open March onward now to create the new century. Human structures that forge a life style. To give form and release new destiny. | ACT I: L: Life is never the way we want it.
C: We refuse to accept its promise.
L. Nevertheless we are free. (Let the community be seated) Reading for the Day.
(Let the community stand) ACT II: L: This is the day we have on our hands. C: we givethanks for the life we have. L: This is our decision.
C: Be it so. L: Let us hear the song of joy. Community Left: Let us rejoice with the hardship of work.Communiy Right: And shake off our suffering with patience.Community Left:Let us look straight at the path before us.Community Right: And hear the song of sand and stones. Community Left:When the darkness has warmth and the rain is a joy. Community Right: Let us look toward the day as the light returns. Community Left: When the drums begin the new sound of birth. Community Right: Let us dance before the unsleeping mountains beyond. (Let the community be seated)
Address for the Day
(Let the community stand) ACT III: L: We stand before the world and its need . C: Let us give ourselves to the task. L: It is to build the Earth. C: Be it so. L: When we have gained our full strength. C: We have only one request. L: That we remove the block in the road. C: With the courage that drives us onward, L: Never looking behind or sideways, C: But ever willing to continue our work. L: Let us embrace the vision of the caring C: And all human communities everywhere. L. Let us blend our drum beat to the suffering ones.
C: That their cries may become a song of joy. Leader: Let us go forth to enact our care for the world.
Community: Be it so. (Let the community sing the last two verses of the song.) |