Veriditas

Today marks the summer solstice, the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. It is a time of vibrance and growth. Psalm 85:12 says, “God gives Goodness and Beauty; our land responds with Bounty and Blessing.” This kind of green bounty and beauty can also be described by the Latin word Veriditas, a word associated with Hildegard von Bingen, a 11th century German abbess and theologian.

At our forest church gathering, before our wandering time, we listened to the words below, written by Hildegard, and then went off on our own to notice signs of the "Greening Force."

Where are you noticing the Greening Force around you in this summer season?

​O most honored Greening Force,
You who roots in the Sun;
You who lights up, in shining serenity, within a wheel
that earthly excellence fails to comprehend.
You are enfolded
in the weaving of divine mysteries.
You redden like the dawn
and you burn: flame of the Sun.