Interfaith Worship

PRESENTATION OF COLORS

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL

O Beautiful for spacious skies,
for amber waves of grain.
For purple mountain majesties,
above the fruited plain.
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
and crown thy good with
brotherhood,
from sea to shining sea.

O Beautiful for patriot dream,
that sees beyond the years.
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
undimmed by human tears.
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
and crown thy good with
brotherhood,
from sea to shining sea.

CALL TO WORSHIP

A Scout is Reverent. A Scout is reverent toward God.
He is faithful in his religious duties.
He respects the beliefs of others. (Boy Scout Handbook)

Many are the names God, and infinite are the forms that lead us to know him. In whatsoever name or form you desire to know Him, in that very name and form you will know Him" (Baden-Powell)

SONG

Morning Has Broken

Morning has broken like the first morning;
black-bird has spoken like the first bird.
Praise for the singing! Praise for the morning!
Praise for them, springing fresh from the Word!

Sweet the rain's new fall sunlit from heaven,
like the first dew-fall on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden,
sprung in completeness where his feet pass.

Mine is the sunlight! Mine is the morning
born of the one light Eden saw play!
Praise with elation, praise every morning,
God's re-creation of the new day!

WORDS: Eleanor Fujeon. 1931 (Lam. 3:22-23)
MUSIC: Trad. Gaelic melody; harm. by Canton R. Young. 1988

A PRAYER FOR THE BOY SCOUTS

O Lord, we thank you for the work of Sir Robert Baden-Powell,
who in his dedication and wisdom founded the World Scouting Movement.
We thank you for the efforts of those thousands of men and women
who have brought Scouting to millions of boys the world over.

We rededicate ourselves to the principles of our Movement --
To do our best -- to do our duty -- to God -- and to our Country.
We ask you, O Lord, to give us the strength and courage -

RESPONSIVE READING:

A SCOUT IS...

Leader: TRUSTWORTHY: To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved.

Response: A Scout is Trustworthy.

Leader: LOYAL: Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. (Ruth 1:16)

Response: A Scout is Loyal.

Leader: HELPFUL: I will instruct you and teach you in the way you shall go: I will guide you with My eye. (Psalm 32:8)

Response: A Scout is Helpful.

Leader: FRIENDLY: Prosperity makes friends and adversity tries them A true friend is one soul in two bodies. (Aristotle)

Response: A Scout is friendly.

Leader: COURTEOUS: There is not a single outward mark of courtesy that does not have a deep moral basis. (Johann Goethe)

Response: A Scout is courteous.

Leader: KIND: Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel in order to be tough. (Franklin Delano Roosevelt)

Response: A Scout is kind.

Leader: OBEDIENT: When a gentleman hath learned to obey he will grow very much fitter to command; his own memory will advise him not command too rigorous punishments. (George Savile, Lord Halifax)

Response: A Scout is obedient.

Leader: CHEERFUL: Wondrous is the strength of cheerfulness, and its power of endurance -- the cheerful man will do more in the same time, will do it better, will preserve it longer, than the sad or sullen. (Thomas Carlyle)

Response: A Scout is cheerful.

Leader: THRIFTY: As generous distributors of God's manifold grace, put your gifts at the service of one another, each on the measure he has received. (1 Peter 4:10)

Response: A Scout is thrifty.

Leader: BRAVE: Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. (1 Corinthians 16:13)

Response: A Scout is brave.

Leader: CLEAN: Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1)

Response: A Scout is clean.

Leader: REVERENT: If I was a nightingale I would sing like a nightingale; if a swan, like a swan; but since I am a rational creature, my role is to praise God. (Epictetus)

Response: A Scout is reverent.

SONG

Amazing Grace

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a soul like me.
I once was lost but now I'm found, was blind but now I see.

Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed.

READING

Psalm 24 from The Book Of Psalm's

SILENT REFLECTION

Let us now silently give time to God, each in our own faith and in our own way.

CAMPER'S PRAYER

God of the mountains and hills, make me tall and strong;
Tall enough and strong enough to right some wrong.
God of the stars, make me steadfast and sure;
God of every lake and stream, flow through my life and make It clean;
Let me do nothing base or mean.

God of the trees and woods, keep me fresh and pure;
God of the rain, wash from my life all dirt and stain;
Pure and strong let me remain.

God of the seed and soil, plant In my heart thy love;
God of the darkness and day, through shadows or light, be my stay.
Guide thou my way.

READING

from The Gospel Of The Red Man

THE SOUL OF MAN IS IMMORTAL. Whence it came into this world or whither it goes when it departs, he does not know. But when his time comes to die, he should remember that he is going on to the next world. What the next life contains for him, he has no means of ascertaining. Nevertheless, he should not approach it with fear and trembling, repenting or weeping over such things as he has left undone, or such things as he should not have done. He should rest assured that he has done his best with the gifts and the limitations that were his, and that his condition there will be governed by his record and his behavior here. (There is no tree in the forest that is straight, though all are reaching up for the light, and trying to grow straight.)

POEM

Take Time To See by Ray F. Zaner

It seems so hard to understand
As I look out across the land
That all I view belongs to me.
I ought to take more to see!

The Distant hills and mountains high,
The rolling clouds and bright blue sky,
No one can take these views from me
As long as I have eyes to see.

A timid deer with haunting look
Who stands refreshed by yonder brook
Knows not that he belongs to me,
Oh, what a thrilling sight to see!

The songs of birds so gay and clear
That fill the morning air with cheer,
And fragrant flowers of every hue,
That stand erect bedecked with dew,
All these and more belong to me,
If I but use my eyes to see.

When Evening shadows gather nigh
and twinkling stars light up the sky
I hear My Master say to me
"I made it all for you to see."
My heart grows warm with faith and pride
to know that He is by my side.

WORSHIP MESSAGE

READING

"Religion", from The Prophet
by Kahlil Gibran

AND an old priest said, Speak to us of Religion.

And he said: Have I spoken this day of aught else?  Is not religion all deeds and all reflection,  And that which is neither deed nor reflection, but a wonder and a surprise ever springing in the soul, even while the hands hew the stone or tend the loom? 

Who can separate his faith from his actions, or his belief from his occupations?
Who can spread his hours before him, saying, "This for God and this for myself; This for my soul, and this other for my body?" All your hours are wings that beat through space from self to self.  He who wears his morality but as his best garment were better naked. The wind and the sun will tear no holes in his skin.  And he who defines his conduct by ethics imprisons his song-bird in a cage.  The freest song comes not through bars and wires.  And he to whom worshipping is a window, to open but also to shut, has not yet visited the house of his soul whose windows are from dawn to dawn.

Your daily life is your temple and your religion.  Whenever you enter into it take with you your all.  Take the plough and the forge and the mallet and the lute,
The things you have fashioned in necessity or for delight.  For in reverie you cannot rise above your achievements nor fall lower than your failures.  And take with you all men:  For in adoration you cannot fly higher than their hopes nor humble yourself lower than their despair.

And if you would know God be not therefore a solver of riddles.  Rather look about you and you shall see Him playing with your children.  And look into space; you shall see Him walking in the cloud, outstretching His arms in the lightning and descending in rain.  You shall see Him smiling in flowers,
then rising and waving His hands in trees.

SONG

He's Got The Whole World In His Hands

He's got the whole world in his hands,
He's got the big round world in his hands,
He's got the wide world in his hands,
He's got the whole world in his hands.

He's got the wind and the rain in his hands,
He's got the sun and the moon in his hands,
He's got the wind and the rain in his hands,
He's got the whole world in his hands.

He's got the little bitty baby in his hands,
He's got the little bitty baby in his hands,
He's got the little bitty baby in his hands,
He's got the whole world in his hands.

He's got you and me brother in his hands,
He's got you and me brother in his hands,
He's got you and me brother in his hands,
He's got the whole world in his hands.

He's got everybody here in his hands,
He's got everybody here in his hands,
He's got everybody here in his hands,
He's got the whole world in his hands.

OFFERING

In support of the World Brotherhood of Scouting

A POEM

The deeds which I shall do and those which I have done ere now,
And the things which are precious to the eye, through Good Mind,
The light of the sun, the sparkling dawn of the days,
All this is for your praise, 0 Wise Lord, as righteousness!

Avesta, Yasna 50.10

PRAYER

from the Qoran

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
Praise belongs to God, the Lord of all being,
the All-merciful, the All-compassionate,
the Master of the Day of Doom.

Thee only we serve; to Thee alone we pray for succour.
Guide us in the straight path,
the path of those whom Thou hast blessed,
not of those against whom Thou art wrathful,
nor of those who are astray.

BENEDICTION

Irish Blessing

May the road rise to meet you
May the wind blow at your back

May the sun shine warmly on your face
May the rain fall softly on your fields

And until we meet again
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

CLOSING

(Cross your right hand over your left, and join hands with the entire congregation)

May the Great Scoutmaster, the leader of all great Scouts, be with thee and me until we meet again.