ORDER OF SERVICE
Introductory Words - Joyce Spinelli and Angie Thoburn
Lighting the Chalice - Kim Borgmeyer
First Poem by Rumi - Michael Kruse
Persian Music
Second Poem - Rob Anglin
My Love Affair With the Middle East
Presentation - Daphne Selbert
Persian Music
Extinguishing the Chalice - Kim Borgmeyer
Discussion - Angie Thoburn
FIRST POEM -Michael Kruse
Gamble Everything for Love by Rumi (1207-1273)
ON GAMBLING To the frog that’s never left his pond the ocean seams like a gamble. Look what he’s giving up : security, mastery of his world, recognition! The ocean frog just shakes his head. “I can’t really explain where I live, but someday I’ll take you there.”
If you want what visible reality
can give, you’re an employee.
If you want the unseen world,
you’re not living your truth.
Both wishes are foolish,
but you’ll be forgiven for forgetting
that what you really want is
love’s confusing joy.
Gamble everything for love,
if you’re a true human being.
If not, leave
this gathering.
Half-heartedness doesn’t reach
into majesty. You set out
to find God, but then you keep
stopping for long periods
at mean-spirited roadhouses.
In a boat down a fast-running creek
it feels like trees on the bank
are rushing by. What seems
to be changing around us
is rather the speed of our craft
leaving this world
SECOND POEM - Rob Anglin
The Far Mosque by Rumi
The place that Solomon made to worship in, called the Far Mosque, is not built of earth and water and stone, but of intention and wisdom and mystical conversation and compassionate action. Every part of it is intelligence and responsive to the other. The carpet bows to the broom. The door knocker and the door swing together like musicians. The heart sanctuary does exist, but it can’t be described. Why try! Solomon goes there every morning and gives guidance with words, with musical harmonies, and in actions, which are the deepest teaching. A prince is just a conceit until he does something with generosity. A bird delegation came to Solomon complaining, “Why is it you never criticize the nightingale?” “Because my way,” the nightingale explained for Solomon, “is different. Mid-March to mid-June I sing. The other nine months, while you continue chirping, I’m silent.”
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