A brief ceremony took place Thursday, January 23, 2025, to thank the land and the trees of 400 Louden before our contractor started cutting trees and clearing the land.
A small group gathered at the driveway access and then walked back in through the trees to just about where the new meetinghouse will be sited on the land. We could see the glow of the sun starting to set through the trees and over a ridge line — that will be our view from the sanctuary.
What follows is the text of what was said. There is also a video we put together so that the congregation could take part.
peace,
Rev Joe
Words of E. E. Cummings:
Rev Joe, thanking the trees of 400 Louden
We come here today to thank this land and these trees for the blessings they give us. The whisper of the wind through their leaves and pine needles. The carbon dioxide they take out of the air and oxygen they give and which we breathe. The blessing of their simple presence among us. Their reminder to us of what nature is, and the beauty of the natural world.
We have chosen this site for the building of a new meetinghouse for our UU community. We are glad for this land and we are sad that, in order for us to make our congregational home here, we need to ask the land to give up many of its trees. We need to ask many trees to give themselves up for us.
photo by Dianne Kiernan, January 12, 2025
We proceed with this action with great care and gratitude, determined not to disturb more of this land or to take any more trees than we must.
Our ancestor Henry David Thoreau’s voice speaks to us of the value of trees. He says,
I have been into the lumber-yard, and the carpenter’s shop, and the tannery, and the lampblack factory, and the turpentine clearing; but when at length I saw the tops of the pines waving and reflecting the light at a distance high over all the rest of the forest, I realized that the former were not the highest use of the pine. It is not their bones or hide or tallow that I love most. It is the living spirit of the tree, not its spirit of turpentine, with which I sympathize, and which heals my cuts. It is as immortal as I am, and perchance will go to as high a heaven, there to tower above me still.
Photo by Dianne Kiernan, January 12, 2025. Marked by the green ribbon is one of the trees that we are saving.
Spirit of life and love Spirit of nature and the land Spirits of the trees
We honor the interdependent web of all existence. We revere the great web of life and humbly acknowledge that we are but one small part woven into a larger sacred whole.
We honor the history of this land. We recognize that this land was long cared for by the Mohican, Kanienʼkehá:ka (Mohawk) and Abenaki people who regarded this land as sacred. We acknowledge that these people were forced from their ancestral lands by colonial settlers and removed to reservations far from their homes. We acknowledge that many indigenous people did remain or return to the area to live their lives.
photo by Dan Forbush. January 23, 2025
We pour out this water from our congregation as a sign of our promise to protect and care for this land.
We promise to nurture this land so that nature thrives here. We promise to make this place an example of how people can honor the earth, the land, the trees and the critters who fly, run, crawl and creep here, and build a home. We come to live harmoniously here, an example of balance and mutuality.
And then I sang a song written by Dan Berggren, “Birch Are Soprano”
Photo by Dianne Kiernan, January 12, 2025
Birch are soprano Balsam are alto Cedar sing tenor With white pine on bass
Birds take the solos Duets and trios Wind is conducting To vary the pace
Atonal cicada with river polyphony Woodpecker counterpoint drumming along
Three moons per season Four movements a year From morning to evening A never-ending song
Walking out of the woods where our new UU meetinghouse will be. January 23, 2025
May the song of this land and these trees be never-ending in our hearts and minds and spirits.
To this land and these trees, we give thanks.
May we live into our promises
to nurture this land and
to proclaim and honor the sacredness of this world