Readings week of March 2nd.

Readings from last week's Daily Contemplative Pauses

*All previous readings & reflections can be found here*

Monday, March 2nd

Reading: A Prayer for the World by Rabbi Harold S. Kushner

Let the sun come down and wash away the ancient grudges, the bitter hatreds held and nurtured over generations. Let the rain wash away the memory of the hurt, the neglect.

Then let the sun come out and fill the sky with rainbows.

Let the warmth of the sun heal us wherever we are broken.

Let it burn away the fog so that we can see each other clearly.

So that we can see beyond labels, beyond accents, gender or skin color.

Let the warmth and brightness of the sun melt our selfishness,

So that we can share the joys and feel the sorrows of our neighbors. And let the light of the sun be so strong that we will see all people as our neighbors. Let the earth nourished by rain, bring forth flowers to surround us with beauty. And let the mountains teach our hearts to reach upward to heaven.

Amen 

Chant: Inner Life of Being, bearing Christ within me, come 

— John Tavener, lyrics by Alan Krema and Darlene Franz

Tuesday, March 3rd with LeMel

Reading: Making Peace

A voice from the dark called out,

“The poets must give us

imagination of peace, to oust the intense, familiar

imagination of disaster. Peace, not only

the absence of war.”

But peace, like a poem,

is not there ahead of itself,

can’t be imagined before it is made,

can’t be known except

in the words of its making,

grammar of justice,

syntax of mutual aid.

A feeling towards it,

dimly sensing a rhythm, is all we have

until we begin to utter its metaphors,

learning them as we speak.

A line of peace might appear

if we restructured the sentence our lives are making,

revoked its reaffirmation of profit and power,

questioned our needs, allowed

long pauses. . . .

A cadence of peace might balance its weight

on that different fulcrum; peace, a presence,

an energy field more intense than war,

might pulse then,

stanza by stanza into the world,

each act of living

one of its words, each word

a vibration of light—facets

of the forming crystal.

— Denise Levertov

Chant:

May we find the cadence to

Restructure the sentence of our lives

Word by word

Each vibration crystalizing

Peace

— LeMel's Youtube and Substack (for daily readings and chants)

Wednesday, March 4th

Reading: Tending the Spark

By Heather Houston

And we will care for each other

As the world around us unravels

And we will tend to the spark

Of hope that lives within our grieving hearts

And we are here now, in this present moment

Lifting our voices and hearts

And we are here now, we have come together

We are tending the spark of hope

Oh may it grow

And we will care for each other

Chant: In the center of the center, there’s a light that never ends, shining from the center, a light that never ends (x2), shining shining, a light that never ends, shining from the center, a light that never ends (x2)  — Alexa Sunshine Rose

Thursday, March 5th

Reading: “No matter how devastating the short-range outcome, and for however long this next sleep may be, the one thing that is mine to contribute here and now to that “long arc of evolution” is the quality of that pixel of consciousness that I am temporarily privileged to steward. Even in this tiny space I presently occupy I can strive with all my heart to seed into the future my highest understanding of what it means to “be made in the image and likeness of God”; to hold the highest note I can hold as a human being. I can quietly commit my life to the inner work of catalyzing within myself those higher spiritual substances through which this world is ultimately transformed—love, joy, forbearance, kindness, gentleness, self-control; “the fruit of the spirit,” as St Paul called them. These are not organic substances; they do not come naturally to the human animal; they are produced only through the conscious alchemy of the human heart. That is what we humans are called to bring to the continuing evolution of our planet. And with our next mutation, I believe we will finally be able to deliver it. And then, at last, things will change.

To that hope, and the work entailed to bring it into reality, I will gladly dedicate the remaining years of my human life. It is the one thing I can do, and my heart tells me that it will not go for naught.”

— Cynthia Bourgeault, Substack “And the darkness has not vanquished it…” Becoming seed for the future 

Chant: Christ near to all, the Light in all, the Seed sown in the hearts of all

— Words of Robert Barclay put to chant by Paulette Meier

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