Thursday, April 28, 2011

Contemplative Worship April 28th 9:30am

Welcome
Please enter quietly
 and join with us to hold this silent space for all.

Jesus answered them, “The hour has come, for the Son of man to be glorified.   Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.                                                     (John 12: 23-24 NRSV)   

   

Fire & Grace Contemplative Worship Service
Living Spirit United Church – April 28, 2011

Welcome 


Opening Reading  (spoken together)

Come and find the quiet centre
          In the crowded life we lead,
Find the room for hope to enter,
          Find the frame where we are freed:
Clear the chaos and the clutter,
          Clear our eyes that we can see
All the things that really matter,
          Be at peace, and simply be.     (#374 Voices United)

Chant:
Listen, listen, wait in silence listening,
For the One from whom all mercy flows.
 (Psalm 130 ) (repeat)
Lectio Divina 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?

Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.
(Frederick Buechner)


Silent Meditation (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)

Lift up your hearts to the Most High!
Let the earth ring with songs of praise!

Be glad O people of the Light!
Let your life be impregnated by Love’s gifts.

Discover in the Great Silence the mystery
of who you are, and be true to your self.

For wherever you dwell, there is beauty;
Infinite Love is everywhere.

Know that the beauty hidden within your soul,
Is seen by the eyes of your heart.

Let the still small voice of the Beloved
Guide you by day and comfort you at night;

Then will you be blessed and, in turn,
You will be blessing to the world.
                             (Psalm 129 trans Nan C. Merrill)


Namaste.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all from whatever faith, who reject Hatred and practise LOVE !

"Holy Week is the most sacred & most mystical passage in the Christian year.
It is when we ritually relive and reclaim the very epicentre of Christianity as Jesus
reveals the depths of love, and wages his very life for the reality of the premise he staked
his whole ministry on ... that Love is stronger than death -- the strongest power in the world --
stronger than fear, stronger than hatred, stronger than division, stronger than violence. 

"Despite the venerable input of tradition, inclusivistic, judgemental and punitive theologies
are no longer luxuries the world can afford.  The epicentre of Christianity is Love, has always been love,
and in Holy Week we enter that Epicentre."

Rev. Dr. Cynthia Bourgeault, Palm Sunday Sermon, Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver



Listen, if you will, to Rev Cynthia's podcast

later man, jan
www.cathedral.vancouver.bc.ca/2011/04/18/bourgeault-sermon

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

It's a Small World...

It's a Small World and with Kiva.org you can be in almost every corner of it!

I sit here at home and reach out into the world.  And everywhere, I am among friends.  I feel a sense of connection in every direction.  My heart feels so large and warm and full of God's energy to share.  I have been given so much love and joy and friendship.  Please use some of mine. I have extra.  And as your life gets better, send it back so I can pass it out again.  That's the joy of Kiva.  The way to use and re-use small amounts of money to help someone help themself.

When you lend, you know you are truly creating dignity and hope and joy and friendship.  You may not get to see it first hand but it's real.  Every picture on the Kiva website is someone whose whole life is in the process of getting better.  And you -- *you*  --  are the person making that more possible every day.

I hope as you read this you feel so much love.  There truly is so much out there. If you haven't made your first $25 loan on Kiva, try it today.

later man, jan

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Contemplative Worship – April 14, 2011




Fire & Grace Contemplative Worship Service
Living Spirit United Church – April 14, 2011

“Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair.”
(G. K. Chesterton)

Welcome

Opening Reading
(spoken together)

Praying in Silence is an act of sacrifice.
We must relinquish for a time our usual powers and sensibilities to undergo a kind of transubstantiation of our being.
We relinquish our usual powers of sensing and knowing and acting.
This element is crucial, for otherwise we are engaging in an act that is essentially self-centered.
(Robert Sardello)


Chant:
Listen, listen, wait in silence listening,
For the One from whom all mercy flows.

(Psalm 130 ) (repeat)

Lectio Divina 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?



“The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.” (Romans 8: 26-27)

Chant:
Bind my head and my heart in You,
Holy One, O Holy One.

(repeat)


Silent Meditation (15-20 minutes ended by a bell)

Prayers of the people followed by Our Father.

Chant:
Bind my head and my heart in You,
Holy One, O Holy One.

(repeat)

Closing: (spoken together)

It is written
no eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love Him…
But God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.

(1 Corinthians 2:9)

Namaste.