Wisdom Liturgy
READING FROM THE WISDOM JESUS
“I am one with the Source insofar as I act as a source by making everything I have receive flow again, just like Jesus”
– Raimon Panikkar
OPENING CHANT – In Love Alone by Kristy Christian
Lyrics based on Psalm 4:8
In love alone I take my rest
I dwell unafraid.
READING FROM THE WISDOM JESUS
“There is another route to center: a more reckless path and extravagant path, which is attained not through storing up that energy or concentrating the life force, but through throwing it all away, or giving it all away. The unitive point is reached not through the concentration of being but through the free squandering of it; not through acquisition or attainment but through self- emptying; not through up but through down. This is the way of kenosis, the revolutionary path that Jesus introduced into the consciousness of the West.” (66)
“0ver and over Jesus lays this path before us. Everything can be embraced, but the catch is to cling to nothing. You let it go. And grounded in that fundamental chastity of your being, you can then throw yourself out, pour yourself out, being able to give it all back, even giving back life itself. Very very simple. It only costs everything.” (70)
“Understood in a wisdom sense, The Trinity is really an icon of self-emptying love. The three persons go round and round like buckets on a watermill, constantly over spilling into one another. And, as they do, the mill turns and the energy of love becomes manifest and accessible.” (71 & 75)
“We humans prefer a manageable complexity to an unmanageable simplicity.” – Bruno Barnhart (75)
“Jesus’s path was a radically unmanageable simplicity – nothing held back, nothing held onto. It was almost too simple for his followers to bear.” (75)
CHANT – What Is Forged in the Alchemy of Love by Henry Schoenfield
What is forged in the alchemy of love is beyond the ravages of time.
All else may dissolve. This alone remains.
In your transfigured heart, you will find it always.
SILENT PRAYER
READING FROM THE WISDOM JESUS
“If you do the work of transforming your being, moving beyond the egoic mind, then you become a living spirit. For Jesus, Mary Magdalene was clearly a living spirit.” (81, 84)
“Mary Magdalene…was able to rally the terrified disciples with her words of reassurance:
‘Do not weep or grieve or let your hearts remain in doubt, for his grace will be with you all sustaining and protecting you.’ She had completely integrated what Jesus was about.” (84)
“Easter begins with the energy of this encounter…Jesus calls MM by name…and she recognizes him. DO NOT CLING. Rather go forth and announce the good news to the disciples.” (85)
SILENT PRAYER
OPENING CHANT – In Love Alone by Kristy Christian
Lyrics based on Psalm 4:8
In love alone I take my rest
I dwell unafraid.
READING FROM THE WISDOM JESUS
The Jesus Trajectory – by Rumi
Love is recklessness, not reason.
Reason seeks a profit.
Love comes on strong, consuming herself, unabashed.
Yet in the midst of suffering
Love proceeds like a millstone,
hard-surfaced and straight forward
Having died to self-interest,
she risks everything and asks for nothing.
Love gambles away every gift God bestows. (68, 69)
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.
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.