Fire &
Grace Contemplative Prayer Service
Living Spirit United Church – January 26th, 2011
Welcome
Opening
Reading (spoken together)
Call forth our strength, O Beloved; stand by us
as we break down the fears that bind us.
Because You dwell in our hearts,
we are strong and live with
courage.
We shall walk among the beasts
that dwell among the weeds,
the doubts that weaken and confuse us.
We shall root our fears out of the darkness
with beams of your Love.
Let all within that separate us beware,
as we stretch out our hands to the
Beloved.
(from
Psalm 68 trans Nan C. Merrill)
Chant:
Changeless and calm, deep mystery,
Ever more deeply, rooted in me.
(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?
“Sometimes, there is a stop between thoughts, and
for a moment I sense the space expand beyond all limits. It is only within this space, a vast space
which the ordinary “I” can’t reach, that the thinking becomes silent. Then I no longer seek an answer, and in
giving my entire attention, I enter the unknown. I do not seek; I perceive. I do not have to seek the good; the attention
is the only good. This attention is the
process of meditation” (Jeanne De Salzman, The Reality of Being)
Chant:
Changeless and calm, deep mystery,
Ever more deeply, rooted in me.
(repeat)
Silent Meditation (15-20 minutes ended
by a bell)
Prayers of the people followed by Our Father.
Chant:
Always and everywhere, All ways and everywhere,
Rejoice, rejoice in the
One who is All.
Always and everywhere, All ways and everywhere,
Rejoice, rejoice in the
One.
(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.
