Readings week of September 8th.

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Readings from last week's Daily Contemplative Pauses

*All previous readings & reflections can be found here*

Monday, September 8th

Making space for affirming and denying forces inside

Chant: help me open my heart so I can hold/see/do/be all that I need to hold

Tuesday, September 9th with Faye

Reading: 'Spanning the chasm between contradictions' by Rainer Maria Rilke

As once the winged energy of delight

carried you over childhood's dark abysses,

now beyond your own life build the great

arch of unimagined bridges.

Wonders happen if we can succeed

in passing through the harshest danger;

but only in a bright and purely granted

achievement can we realize the wonder.

To work with things in the indescribable

relationship is not too hard for us;

the pattern grows more intricate and subtle,

and being swept along is not enough.

Take your practiced powers and stretch them out

until they span the chasm between two

contradictions…For the god

wants to know himself in you.

Chant: Inner Life of Being, bearing Christ within me, come – John Tavener, lyrics by Alan Krema and Darlene Franz

Wednesday, September 10th

Reading: “Our purpose is to accelerate human consciousness that it may rise with the ascending vibration of the Sun enveloping the Earth. Of course the specific consciousness is my own, the individual always, but also to befriend each other in this task, those seen and unseen, known and unknown, that all may rise in this new day. . .

“We are an old people,

the stories say among the first,

who walked the land

when fresh with the Creator’s touch.

Though scarred with years of trouble

we still sing the blessing songs,

greeting the Sun each day

with the thankfulness it deserves.

And so I sing for you this morning

a song of your belonging,

child of a distant Light

and ancient Mother,

may you walk in beauty

all your days, and if forgotten

may this song remind you.“ – Don Hynes

Chant: With you is the well of life and in your light we see/are light – Susan Latimer

Thursday, September 11th

Chant: Return again, return again, return to the Land of your [Heart]. Return to who you are, return to what you are, return to where you are born and reborn again – Shlomo Carlebach, sung by Cantor Azi Schwartz of Park Avenue Synagogue

Friday, September 12th with Faye

Reading: 'Let your heart break for this world' by Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Do not be afraid to stay there at the wound of the world, 

weeping with those who weep.

There is infinite strength and blessing there.

But bear your sorrow gently;

it is held by the One who weeps for us.

Into hearts broken open the light of love shines

Look clearly on the world's injustice, 

but look with eyes of mercy. 

Take courage. Do not despair at the oppressors,

who are captive to the spirit of pride and violence.

Bear your outrage lightly; do not cling to it. 

Let it lead you toward compassion, not anger. 

Let every breath be an offering.

We have been sent to make gentle this wounded world, 

to dwell as healers among fearful souls,

to shine light in this [challenging time]. 

Don't despair that you are unable. 

It is not you who does this work: it is God in you. 

When you touch the world's pain God enters you.

Let your tears be healing rains that bring life.

You breathe gentleness into the air that all others breathe, 

in the earth we all share you sow peace.

The light shines in the [lightlessness] 

and the [lightlessness] cannot overcome it. 

Amen.

Chant: He’s got the whole world in His hands

Saturday, September 13th

Reading: Prayer of Nicholas Black Elk

Grandfather, Great Mysterious One, you have been always,

and before you nothing has been.

The star nations all over the universe are yours, and yours are the grasses of the earth.

Day in and day out, you are the life of things.

You are older than all need, older than all pain and prayer.

Grandfather, all over the world the faces of the living ones are alike.

In tenderness they have come up out of the ground.

Look upon your children with children in their arms, that they may face the winds,

and walk the good road to the day of quiet.

Teach me to walk the soft earth, a relative to all that live.

Sweeten my heart and fill me with light, and give me the strength to understand and the eyes to see.

Help me, for without you l am nothing.

Hétchetu alóh! (Amen.)

Chant: With you is the well of life and in your light we see/are light – Susan Latimer

Sunday, September 14th

Reading: “The universe is saturated and suffused with a natural holiness that is rising up to meet us. The spiritual realms are not way beyond us, but rather their deep, natural, intelligent energetic support is always available...Your whole body is built to be a sensing antenna for divine realities, to receive the beauty and intricacy and the help that is there all the time...We need to open to sensation, grounded in the earth, allowing the heart to open as the electromagnetic receiver it is meant to be.” - Cynthia Bourgeault

Chant: Awaken o my heart, Awaken o my heart, so I can move into the larger mind, for the kingdom is at hand – Tony Martin

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