Taize May 13, 2018: Contemplating God’s Loving Embrace
Instrumental Meditation
(An invitation to rest and contemplation)
Song : # 5 Bless The Lord
“Our Savior is our true Mother in whom we are endlessly born and out of whom we shall never come.”
― Julian of Norwich
As a mother loves her children, “you, are compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” Psalm 86:15
Song : # 50 Nada Te Turbe (Nothing Can Frighten)
Reading
God Likens the (Your) Soul To Five Things
Mechtild of Magdeburg
O you beautiful rose among the thorns!
O you fluttering bee in the honey!
O you unblemished dove in your being!
O you beautiful sun in your radiance!
O you full moon in the firmament!
I cannot turn away from you.
See what great love our Father/Mother has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1a
Song: # 137 Keep Me, O God
SILENCE: We will remain in silence for 10 minutes. Use this time to clear your mind and open your heart and spirit to the voice of God.
“When we come home to the love of God everything changes, beginning with how we pray. Prayer is now at its foundation a contemplative soaking in the infinite love of God.” Elaine Heath, The Mystic Way of Evangelism.
Instrumental Meditation
(Contemplating God’s loving embrace.)
Communion, you are invited to God’s Table
Song #67: Let All Who Are Thirsty Come.
Prayers of confession, gratitude, and concern:
Song : # 37 Jesus Remember Me
God Our Mother, Allison Woodard
To be a Mother is to suffer;
To travail in the dark,
stretched and torn,
exposed in half-naked humiliation,
subjected to indignities
for the sake of new life.
To be a Mother is to say,
“This is my body, broken for you,”
And, in the next instant, in response to the created’s primal hunger,
“This is my body, take and eat.”
To be a Mother is to self-empty,
To neither slumber nor sleep,
so attuned You are to cries in the night—
Offering the comfort of Yourself,
and assurances of “I’m here.”
To be a Mother is to weep
over the fighting and exclusions and wounds
your children inflict on one another;
To long for reconciliation and brotherly love
and—when all is said and done—
To gather all parties, the offender and the offended,
into the folds of your embrace
and to whisper in their ears
that they are Beloved.
To be a mother is to be vulnerable—
To be misunderstood,
Railed against,
Blamed
For the heartaches of the bewildered children
who don’t know where else to cast
the angst they feel
over their own existence
in this perplexing universe
To be a mother is to hoist onto your hips those on whom your image is imprinted,
bearing the burden of their weight,
rejoicing in their returned affection,
delighting in their wonder,
bleeding in the presence of their pain.
To be a mother is to be accused of sentimentality one moment,
And injustice the next.
To be the Receiver of endless demands,
Absorber of perpetual complaints,
Reckoner of bottomless needs.
To be a mother is to be an artist;
A keeper of memories past,
Weaver of stories untold,
Visionary of lives looming ahead.
To be a mother is to be the first voice listened to,
And the first disregarded;
To be a Mender of broken creations,
And Comforter of the distraught children
whose hands wrought them.
To be a mother is to be a Touchstone
and the Source,
Bestower of names,
Influencer of identities;
Life giver,
Life shaper,
Empath,
Healer,
and
Original Love.
-atw, 9.28.17
“May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you.” Psalm 33 :22
Instrumental Meditation: (A sending out to serve.)
Thank you for sharing this space with us.
- Mother with Her Children, 36×36, Acrylic on Canvas, Dattatraya Thombare, Mumbai
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