Wisdom Liturgy
All readings are from The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind– A New Perspective on Christ and His Message by Cynthia Bourgeault, unless otherwise noted.
OPENING CHANT – We Were Born of the Light by Susan Latimer
Lyrics based on The Gospel of Thomas Logion 50:
We were born of the Light
There Where Light is born of Light
READING FROM THE WISDOM JESUS
“…If what we are really seeking is to come into a living relationship with this Wisdom master… how do we see through Jesus’ eyes? How do we feel through his heart? How do we put on the mind of Christ? (p. 29)
READING FROM THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS
Logion 108
Whoever drinks what flows from my mouth will come to be as I am,
And I also will come to be as they are, so that what is hidden will become manifest.
READING FROM THE WISDOM JESUS
“The Kingdom of heaven is within you (that is, here) and “at hand” (that is, now). It’s not later, but lighter – some more subtle quality or dimension of experience accessible; to you right in the moment. You do not die into it; you awaken into it.” (p 30)
READING FROM THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS
Logion 50
Yeshua said, If they ask you from where you come, say: We were born of the Light, there where Light is born of Light.
READINGS FROM THE WISDOM JESUS
“The kingdom of heaven is really a metaphor for a state of consciousness; it is not a place you go to, but a place you come from. It is a whole new way of looking at the world, a transformed awareness that literally turns this world into a different place.” (p 30)
In this transformed state of consciousness there is no separation between us and God. Rather, there is …“a complete mutual indwelling. I am in God, God is in you, you are in God. We are in each other”. There is a “Mutual interabiding.” (p 31)
The heart as an organ of spiritual perception – the heart picks up signals from all levels of reality, from emotions, from our sense of proportion, from intuition, from images and archetypes. It keeps us aligned with what we truly know. (p 36)
SILENT CONTEMPLATION – 2 minutes
CHANT – We Were Born of the Light by Susan Latimer
Lyrics based on The Gospel of Thomas Logion 50:
We were born of the Light
There Where Light is born of LIght
READINGS FROM THE WISDOM JESUS
The word metanoia usually translated as repentance, literally means to go beyond the mind, or “into the larger mind.” It means to escape from the orbit of the egoic operating system, which by virtue of its own internal hardwiring is always going to see the world in terms of polarized opposites, and move instead into the knowingness of the heart which can see and live from the perspective of wholeness.
This is the central message of Jesus. This is what Christ’s Kingdom of Heaven is all about. Let’s get into the larger mind, Jesus says. This is what it looks like. This is how you do it. Here, I’ll help you. (p 41)
MOMENT OF SILENCE
Cynthia reframes the beatitudes and parables:
“[Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled”]. Jesus promises that when the hunger arises within you to find your own deepest aliveness within God’s aliveness, it will be satisfied – in fact, the hunger itself is a sign that the bond is already in place. (p 44)
As we enter the path of transformation, the most valuable thing we have working in our favor is our yearning. When we yearn, we come into sympathetic vibration with a deeper heart-knowing. The heart is an organ of aliveness, it connects us. Yearning is the vibration of that connectedness.” (p 44)
QUOTE FROM MEISTER ECKHART
“The Eye with which we see God, is the eye with which God sees us.”
CHANT: What you are Looking For – by Henry Schoenfield
Lyrics:
What you are looking for
is what is looking
READING FROM THE WISDOM JESUS
“If what we are really seeking is to come into a living relationship with this Wisdom master… how do we see through Jesus’ eyes? How do we feel through his heart? (p. 29)
CLOSING CHANT – We Were Born of the Light by Susan Latimer
Lyrics based on The Gospel of Thomas Logion 50:
We were born of the Light
There Where Light is born of LIght
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.
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.