(I was so busy protesting Stephen Harper's Crime Bill I forgot to post Thursdays service. (hugs)
Fire &
Grace Contemplative Prayer Service
Living Spirit United Church – November 24, 2011
Welcome
Opening
Reading (spoken together)
O my Beloved, You have searched me
and known me!
You know when I sit down and
when I rise up;
You discern my innermost thoughts.
You find me on the journey and
guide my steps;
You know my strengths and
my weaknesses.
Even before words rise up in prayer,
Lo, You have already heard
my heart call.
You encompass me with love where’er
I go,
And your strength is my shield.
Such sensitivity is too wonderful for me;
It is high; boundless gratitude
is my soul’s response.
(from Psalm 139
trans Nan C. Merrill)
Chant:
Spirit of Truth, enter my mind,
Soul of Wisdom, enter my heart.
(repeat)
Readings…
1st
reading – listen, what word or phrase draws you.
2nd
reading – listen, for an image that relates to your life.
3rd
reading – listen, what might God be calling you to?
“As our idea of God expands, there is no word, no
way, no gesture that can articulate it anymore.
Hence, we fall into silence, the place we should have been in the first
place…
Through contemplative prayer, we are moving into a
realm of reality that influences the past and the future perhaps more than
anything else we could do.” (Fr Thomas Keating)
Chant:
Spirit of Truth, enter my mind,
Soul of Wisdom, enter my heart.
(repeat)
Silent Meditation (15-20 minutes ended
by a bell)
Prayers of the people followed by Our Father.
Chant:
If you will, if you
will, if you will, if you will.
You can
become all flame,
become all flame, become all flame.
You can become all
flame… become all flame!
(Darlene Franz, Seattle)
(repeat)
Closing: (spoken together)
“I
have a capacity in my soul for taking in God entirely. I am as sure as I live that nothing is so
near to me as God. God is nearer to me
than I am to myself; my existence depends on the nearness and the presence of
God.” (Meister Eckhart)
Namaste.
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