"Leaning In: A Prayer of Intention" is a sung prayer of intercession that aims to break down the distinction between the
Poem by Tina Datsko de Sanchez Spanish translation by José Sanchez-H.
Lo Divino nos está llamando The Divine is calling us para liberar a los cautivos, to bring release to the captives,
For forty days and forty nights you wander in the wilderness and face temptation of body, heart, mind and spirit.
Durham Street Methodist ChristChurch New Zealand (Aotearoa) January 20, 2019 service led by Rev. Bill Wallace featuring some of his hymns. Our theme today is Christian Theology and global warming.
Creation’s splendour calls forth praise for Nature’s wealth, for vibrant life. This planet home, a wondrous gift, is threatened now by greed and strife.
I trust One Eternal Presence, God of Scripture, the I am and I will be, Creative force of the universe, the Source of life.
The words and music of this famous German hymn were created by Lutheran Pastor Philip Nicolai at a sad time in his ministry. During the winter of 1597-8, over 1300 people died of the plague in the small village of Unna, near Dortmund, where he pastored. He officiated at many funerals, as many as 30 a day. In a preface to its publication with other hymns and meditations he said he wished “to leave [them] behind me (if God should call me from this world) as a token of my peaceful, joyful, Christian departure, or (if God should spare me in health) to comfort other sufferers whom He should also visit with the pestilence.” The hymn draws richly from biblical sources, including images from the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13) and the Book of Revelation.
When theology unnerves those who seek a mythic past, are there echoes of the Christ shaking faith that it might last?
Based on excerpts from Dag Hammarskjold’s Markings
Our work of peace must begin with the private world of each one of us. To build for man a world without fear, we must be without fear. To build a world of justice we must be just. And how can we fight for liberty if we are not free in our own minds? Dag Hammarskjold
"Las Posadas" is an old Mexican tradition enacting the effort by Mary and Joseph to find a place to stay on Christmas Eve. Actors depicting Mary and Joseph wander from "inn" to "inn" asking for a room, with a singing candlelight procession following them through the town. Here I offer my own words for the tune:
From the Seasoned Celebration Collection
1. Winter is the season of the revelation of basic structure. If I was to strip away all the paraphernalia of my life what form would it have? How many of the things which I do are related to the roots of my spirit. 2. Winter is the season for hibernation. What rhythm do I have for reflection as well as action? What frequency and length of time do I need in solitude in order to facilitate the growth and quality of my spirituality?
From the Seasoned Celebration collection
1. The fragrance of Spring lies not in judgement's intervention but in love's nurturing of the interior goodness. 2. Spring is not so much a moment as a movement, a manifestation of the sometimes hidden but always present life-force of God.
From the Seasoned Celebration collection
The flowering of summer is only eclipsed by the flowering of the human spirit. Flowering has no permanency - only the process remains. Indeed the flowering only exists for the continuation of the process.
Coming home to community, we come home to our better selves.Coming together as community, we can live as our better selves.
From the Celebrating Mystery collection
From time immemorial the circle has been a symbol of inclusiveness and unity.
From the Celebrating Mystery collection
We have come in the midst of life to grieve for the death of ____, to give thanks for his/her life and to bid him/her farewell. Death and life are one in the purposes of love. Jesus said 'if you grieve with all your heart, you shall find healing’.
From the Festive Worship collection
1. Without an overview of the Bible it is very easy to gain an erroneous impression of what the Bible is all about. 2. Look behind the words to the people.
From the Celebrating Mystery collection
1. Every tear is a womb which can birth new life. 2. Grief is the narrow passage through which we pass from death to life.
From the Celebrating Mystery collection
Nothing lasts forever in the same form.
From the Celebrating Mystery collection
Romance is only healthy within the context of our love for life, for the mystery, for the divine.
From the Celebrating Mystery collection
Buried in every beginning is an ending.
From the Celebrating Mystery collection
Each day can be a life time. Time is the enemy only if we let it control our lives. Time is redeemed by timeless moments.
From the Celebrating Mystery collection
Ceremonies are points of cohesion beyond the boundaries of reason, a journey into the shadowy mystical world of the human spirit ...
From the Festive Worship collection
Do not let the Christian doctrine of the Trinity alienate you from the oneness of God; for God is both the many and the one.
From the Seasoned Celebration collection
1. The seasons of the human heart reflect the seasons of nature. 2. For most things there is a right time but for some things such as manipulation, oppression and injustice there is never a right time.
From the Celebrating Mystery collection
Until we discern the riches of the other tradition, any union will simply be a matter of absorption. Uniting two traditions can create a space where a third and more life- giving form of spirituality can emerge.
From the Celebrating Mystery collection
Wholeness is a process rather than a static state: it is not an end to the journey but the journey itself.
From the Celebrating Mystery collection
Remembering our ancestors gives life to ourselves and also to them, for we are our ancestors and they are us.
From the Celebrating Mystery collection
To look into the eyes of your beloved is to experience a mystery which the eye cannot discern. There is no second hand mystery. Descriptions of it are a poor substitute for the experience.