Prayer Room Eight Garden Steps, Step One First-Plymouth Congregational Church United Church of Christ 2000 "D" Street Lincoln, Nebraska 68502-1698 Office (402) 476-7565 Fax (402) 476-8402

   Step One-
                    Hope

Psychosocial Crisis: Trust vs. Mistrust    
Range of Relationship: Maternal Person

Hope is the first psychosocial strength. It is the enduring belief in the attainability of primal wishes in spite of the anarchic urges and rages of dependency.

[Erik H. Erickson, The Human Cycle (1968)]

[Hope; 8½x28 in. Painting by Nadine McHenry. As an infant, one is totally dependent on others for care and love.]

Biblical Reference     The Covenant between God and Noah      

    Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 "As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." 12 God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." 17 God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth."

[Genesis Chapter 9, Verses 8-17]

Taoist Reference

The spirit force is one, with all it brings into being.
The valley is a oneness, and so it flows and renews all things,
Everything is one -- every living thing is one, and alive.

[Tao Te Ching, Chapter 39]

Plant Selection            Pussy Willow

In the shrub border, the red buds of the pussy willow awake.
The catkins resemble fir-lined collars.
We are reminded that winter is still with us.

[Thomas Bare]

Step One: Hope

The Greening of the willow
Is a force that hope now brings.
To downy heads come life and day 
That primal wishes press.
Through urgent eager need
A covenant holy lives,
Bringing to all in oneness spirit. 
The Spirit flowing thus renews.

[Randall E. Dinsdale]

From the program notes for the Abendmusik: Lincoln Eight Garden Steps concert, May 19, 2002.