Morning Prayer Monday, 26 October 2020
Our New Earth Awakening
By Delores Wiltse
There is a new earth awakening, and I am there
For all “my little” secrets will be laid to bare
I am watching my thoughts and feeling my pain
Until I go through it there will be no gain
To stand in presence NOW is all there is to do
To be with my thoughts, emotions and reactions too
Awareness and stillness is the way out of chaos
Bringing joy and peace to share between us
Our new earth awakening through you and me?
Something so simple you ask “How could that be?”
Come along for the ride, you’re sure to have a blast
Enjoy each precious moment, not the future or past
Listen in silence, feeling presence arising
Inner self is glowing, it is so exciting
Who turned on the light? –asks a little voice
You my dear, and you did it by choice
Yes, there is our new earth awakening through you and me
Creating heaven on earth for all to see
For all the little secrets have been made so clear
There is a new earth awakening, and I Am here
© Delores Wiltse 2010
Good morning and welcome to Morning Prayer
The night has passed, and the day lies open before us;
let us pray with one heart and mind.
Silence is kept.
As we rejoice in the gift of this new day,
so may the light of your presence, O God,
set our hearts on fire with love for you;
now and for ever.
Amen.
Breathe in
Breathe out
Be still…
Spirit of Truth
who reveals to us the things of God
we praise your name.
Spirit of Wisdom
who inspires the words we ought to speak
we praise your name.
Spirit of Power
who grants the courage we need to act
we praise your name.
Spirit of Love
who knows our nature and loves us still
we praise your name.
Amen
Presence
I pause for a moment
and reflect on God’s life-giving presence
in every part of my body, in everything around me,
in the whole of my life.
Freedom
Guide me always to do your holy will
knowing that your strength will
carry me through.
Consciousness
I am surrounded by your loving presence, Lord,
But I am aware of my fragility and weakness.
Thank you that I can face my shortcomings
In your merciful embrace.
THE WORD OF GOD
Psalm 25:3–7
Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame;
let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.
Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all day long.
Be mindful of your mercy, O LORD, and of your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love remember me,
for your goodness’ sake, O LORD!
Proverbs 3:5–8
Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own insight.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.
It will be a healing for your flesh and a refreshment for your body.
WORDS OF WISDOM
His silence is a kiss,
His presence an embrace.
But now he is fading, fading.
And I am alone . . .
—Thomas Keating, “Loneliness in the Night”
The sense of joyful, flowing oneness that so marks the final years of Thomas Keating’s life didn’t “just happen.” For most of us—including for Thomas himself—it comes at the end of a painful season of stripping and purification that has classically been called “the Dark Night of the Spirit.”
The name itself comes from the 16th-century Carmelite mystic St. John of the Cross, who up until this point has been the unquestioned authority on this excruciating passage. In this series of poems, Thomas Keating presses boldly into this forbidding terrain.
John’s classic spiritual roadmap actually specifies two dark nights. The first, called “the Dark Night of Sense,” typically comes fairly early in the journey. John saw its purpose chiefly as strengthening our capacity to endure temptation and weaning us from our dependency on spiritual consolations (the sweetness and even sensuous pleasure that often accompanies those early days of conversion). In Thomas’ contemporary psychological rendition, this first dark night relentlessly exposes our “emotional programs for happiness,” the hidden agendas and compensatory needs that drive our “false self system.” It thus accomplishes the first stage in the dismantling of the false self.
The second dark night comes much later in the journey and entails a much more radical and painful stripping that cuts to the very roots of the “false self system,” overturning the fundamental psychological and neurological hardwiring that drives the illusion of a separate selfhood. Its painful cost is that everything goes dark—“for the duration”—as we become increasingly unable to steer by the old binary operating system in our brains that always wound up turning God into an object (albeit a holy object) and in fact prioritized our experience of God over direct, unmediated union. Until the new operating system fills in, we are rather helpless, like chickens in molt, unable either to fly or lay eggs.
Believe it or not, this poem comes from a time far earlier in Thomas’ life. He once joked to me that he hadn’t written a poem since grade school. This is the poem! Even then, he was able to name the experience of the loss of tangible presence and withstand his solitude.
Something at first so concretely, robustly present is suddenly “fading, fading.” The substantial becomes insubstantial, presence fades to absence, and loneliness and longing dominate the emotional color palette. He is already intuiting, even as a young teenager, that the release from the loneliness and longing will not come from fulfillment of the original desire, but rather, through a mysterious inner alchemy that draws apparent opposites into an inner symbiotic unity. These are indeed the classic dark night waypoints, which Thomas returns to again and again—fundamental insights first glimpsed when he was still hardly more than a child.
Cynthia Bourgeault
https://cac.org/the-dark-nights-2020-10-22/
Copyright © 2020 Center for Action and Contemplation. All rights reserved.
PRAYERS AND INTERCESSIONS
We pray for the world…
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
We pray for the universal church of Christ…
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
We pray for one another and all those known to us…
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
The Lord’s Prayer
As our Saviour taught us, so we pray
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.
Silence…
May God the provider
of green pastures
and quiet waters
be the peace in our hearts today
May Jesus our guide
on mountain top
and valley deep
be the hope in our hearts today
May the Spirit of truth
and knowledge
comforter and friend
be the strength in our hearts today
Amen
THE BLESSING
May the beauty of God
be reflected in your eyes,
the love of God
be reflected in your hands,
the wisdom of God
be reflected in your words,
and the knowledge of God
flow from your heart,
that all might see,
and seeing, believe
Amen
Thank you for join us. Have a wonderful day!
Revd. Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga
