Wisdom Liturgy
OPENING READING FROM MYSTICAL HOPE
Hope is not imaginary or illusory. It is that sonar by which the body of Christ holds together and finds its way. (p 94 & 98)
The ground of hope is very real and immensely powerful – if you have the courage to yield yourself all the way into it. (p 59)
OPENING CHANT – Light in the Dark by Henry Schoenfield
Lyrics:
Light in the Dark
Dark in the Light
Lead us Oh Lord
By a different Sight
READING FROM MYSTICAL HOPE
Only after the terror of one’s own diminishment and annihilation, after the scraps of clinging to life at any cost have been left behind forever, is it possible to truly live in hope. (p 69)
Hope circulates as a lifeblood. (p 86) ….Abide in the flow of the Mercy. (p 87)
Thomas Merton, speaks about the point vierge which exists in the center of each one of us. Merton says:
It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish altogether. (p 83)
Valentin Tomberg says:
Hope is not something subjective … It is a light-force which radiates objectively and which directs creative evolution toward the world’s future. (p 77)
Hope does have to do with moving us toward where it is going. Ultimately, hope is divine energy and intelligence moving toward the accomplishment of its purposes: it makes use of us rather than we of it. (p 79)
…Inside ourselves is where we need to be to discover the real wellsprings of hope. (p 79)
READING FROM PSALM 23:3
God restores my soul; God guides me in paths of righteousness.
READING FROM MYSTICAL HOPE
If we really wish to change the planet, to become a sign of hope in a broken world, all we really need to do (and it is one simple thing, but it is everything) is to narrow the gap between means and ends: between the gospel we profess and the gospel we live out, moment to moment, in the quality of our aliveness…No unified, consistent energy generated by closing the gap between means and ends ever fails to change the world… (p 94)
No conscious act is ever wasted. Pure acts of compassion or attention always affect something at the planetary level; they always change the course of events subtly but unmistakably. (p 94)
SACRED POSTURE
As we sing this next chant, Be right here, in the heart of God, we invite you to take a posture of cupping your hands, right over left, in front of your heart so that your hands are like two ears, listening to your heartbeat.
We invite you to hold this posture as we chant and sense and feel the vibrations of your body on your heart and hands.
Following the chant our singing bowl will lead us into 2 minutes of silence.
CHANT – Be Right Here, in the Heart of God by Henry Schoenfield
Lyrics:
Be Right Here
In the Heart of God. (2X)
SILENT CONTEMPLATION – 2 minutes
READING FROM MYSTICAL HOPE
In the innermost ground, divine being is communal…the work of prayer [too] is ultimately communal…we are a cell in the lifeblood of something infinitely greater…and prayer in a powerful though mysterious way upholds and maintains the life of this planet at an energetic level. (p 83-84)
READING FROM ROMANS 14:8
If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
CYNTHIA BOURGEAULT READING FROM MYSTICAL HOPE (p 98-99)
CLOSING CHANT – As the Heavens Reach Beyond Earth and Time by Tony Martin
For as the Heavens Reach Beyond Earth and Time, We Swim in Mercy, as in an Endless Sea. (Psalm 103:11)
AMEN
Wisdom Liturgy Credits
This Wisdom Liturgy offering was contributed by Marcella Kraybill-Greggo and Henry Schoenfield. All chants and texts were credited above and used with permission from the authors.
The text for “Be Right Here” comes from “Taking Up a Cross” in Meister Eckhart’s Book of the Heart by Jon M. Sweeney and Mark S. Burrows. Used with permission.
A special note of thanks to our founding teacher, Cynthia Bourgeault, whose teachings and writings have inspired so many across the globe in reclaiming the Mystical heart of the Wisdom Path.