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This is a sample ‘scroll’ from
Out of the Silence … Into the Silence.
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Tuesday, 1 January 2008
In the Season of Christmas

Opening   (Click here to hide the text)

We stand in the presence of the One who is making us.

We stand in the presence of the One who is healing us.

We stand in the presence of the One who is guiding us.

We stand in love and adoration.

Greeting   (Click here to hide the text)

Blessed be the God of wonder and mystery!

Blessed for ever be God’s glorious name!

 

Through the tender mercy of our God

the day has dawned upon us from on high,

to give light to those who sit in darkness

and in the shadow of death,

and to guide our feet into ways of peace.

Living Word of light and love,

taking form as flesh and blood among us,

living the fulness of our humanity,

full of grace and truth, we greet you.

 

A child is born to us, alleluia!

A son is given to us, alleluia!

The dream of the beginning takes shape among us. Alleluia!

The human face of God is ours for ever. Alleluia!

The heart hopes and yearns!

The downtrodden can hardly believe!

The very stones of the earth cry out!

The day of freedom dawns!

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Engaging   (Click here to hide the text)

103 Unfathomable Love

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music

That people of faith may recognize that the God of the Psalms is for all humanity, not only for the like-minded; that we may grow in patience, endurance, faithfulness, and forgiveness.

 

From the deep places of my soul I praise you, O God:

I lift up my heart and glorify your holy name.

From the deep places of my soul I praise you, O God:

how can I forget all your goodness towards me?

 

Pause

 

You forgive all my sin, you heal all my weakness,

you rescue me from the brink of disaster,

you crown me with mercy and compassion.

You satisfy my being with good things,

so that my youth is renewed like an eagle’s.

 

There is no end to your mercy,

enduring and infinite is your love.

 

Pause

 

You fulfil all that you promise,

justice for all the oppressed.

You made known your ways to Moses,

and all the people saw your deeds.

 

Pause

 

You are full of forgiveness and grace,

endlessly patient, faithful in love.

You do not haunt us with our sins,

nor nurse grievances against us.

You do not repay evil with evil,

for you are greater than our sins.

 

Pause

 

As vast as the heavens are in comparison with the earth,

so great is your love to those who trust you.

As far as the east is from the west,

so far do you fling our sins from us.

 

There is no end to your mercy,

enduring and infinite is your love.

 

Pause

 

Just as parents are merciful to their children,

so are you merciful and kind towards us.

For you know how fragile we are,

that we are made of the dust of the earth.

 

Pause

 

Our days are like the grass,

they bloom like the flowers of the field:

the wind blows over them and they are gone,

and no-one can tell where they stood.

 

Pause

 

Only your merciful goodness endures;

age after age you act justly

towards all who hold on to your covenant,

who take your words to heart and fulfil them.

 

There is no end to your mercy,

enduring and infinite is your love.

 

Silence

 

For you have triumphed over the power of death,

and draw us to your presence with songs of joy.

We hear the echo of your angels praising you,

and the whole communion of your saints,

those who have walked in your narrow ways,

and heard the voice of your yearning,

whose food is to do your will,

and in whom you take great delight.

 

Pause

 

From the widest bounds of the universe

to the depths of my very being

the whispers and cries of joy

vibrate to a shining glory,

O God, our beginning and our end.

 

Silence

 

Creator God, as we contemplate the vast universe of which we are so small a part, swamping us with fear and despair and our insignificance, deepen our trust that the meaning of it all is Love, beyond whose reach it is impossible to fall.

Listening   (Click here to hide the text)

Luke 2.33–35

And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, This child is destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed, so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own heart too.

Waymark

The stones of the first cairn in Prayer at Night (p.54) were about being open to the night and to the God of the night. The assumption was that the ‘dark hours’ have something valuable to give us and that we need not be unduly afraid.

 

I remembered a painting in a cottage in Langdale in the Lake District (not far from my Loughrigg Fell). A hooded stranger on horseback is emerging from the mist.

 

Do I expect an enemy – or at least some message of minor doom?

 

The stranger might be a long-lost friend. It might be a moment of recognition and wonder – we have found each other again, even in the darkness which has no visible signposts.

 

Or it may be the ‘strange meeting’ of Wilfrid Owen’s poem, between two soldiers, with the hard dark work to be done after the moment of recognition, “I am the enemy you killed, my friend.”

 

This old cairn seems to me now to have been too sunny an invitation to enter the dark. It bid me pray with open hand, not with clenched fist, but I may have to begin the journey by shaking that fist at the God of the night.

 

The surrender of trust may be a crucial act at some point on the journey, but not at the beginning – and not without hands lacerated by rocks.

 

Betrayals in the secret darkness of the past are not lightly undone.

Delighting   (Click here to hide the text)

A Christmas Canticle

Living, loving God, embracing flesh and blood, delighting in humanity,

delivering us from the dominion of evil, pain, and death,

and bringing us in your Beloved One

into the realm of goodness and healing,

 

you have rescued us from the bands of slavery,

you have forgiven all our failure to love,

you have bound the powers that rebel.

 

For Christ is the image of your invisible being,

the first-born of all creation,

in whom the universe is being made,

the earth and the sun and the other stars,

things visible and things invisible,

through whom and for whom all things were formed,

who is before all things,

and in whom all things hold together.

 

Christ is the head of the body, the Church,

the beginning, the first-born from the dead.

For it pleased you, O God,

that in Christ all fulness should dwell,

and through Christ all things be reconciled to yourself.

Connecting   (Click here to hide the text)

Please choose which prayer to display:

In Solidarity: 1

In solidarity with the body of humankind, and with the body of all creation, we bring into mind’s eye and heart’s care the needs of this planet and its peoples, allowing the energy of our concern to be charged with the Spirit of God and flow out from among us to their and our greater good. And we do so in silence, or whispering on our breath those needs and names that have been laid upon us…

Gathering   (Click here to hide the text)

Praying in Christ

In celebration of the firstfruits

and in anticipation of the gathering

With energy and expectancy

 

1

PapaMama,

2

FatherMother,

3

AbbaAmma,

All

we love you.

 

 

1

Beloved our God,

2

Source of our life,

3

Creator of all,

All

we adore you.

 

 

1

Giver of life,

2

Bearer of pain,

3

Maker of love,

All

we embrace you.

 

 

1

Your name be hallowed,

2

Your name be honoured,

3

Your name be embodied,

1,2,3   

as in heaven,

All

so on earth.

 

 

1

Your justice rule us,

2

Your shalom unite us,

3

Your compassion enfold us,

1,2,3

as in heaven,

All

so on earth.

 

 

1

Your wisdom be our guide,

2

Your way be our path,

3

Your will be done well,

1,2,3

as in heaven,

All

so on earth.

 

 

1

The bread of our need

All

give us today.

2

The manna of enough

All

give us today.

3

The taste of your tomorrow

All

give us today.

 

 

1

Our debts remit

All

as we remit.

2

Our hurts forgive

All

as we forgive.

3

Your mercy show

All

as we show mercy.

 

 

1

In the hour of temptation

All

keep us steadfast.

2

In the times we are tested

All

fill us with courage.

3

In the worst of trials

All

give us fortitude.

 

 

1

From the powers that bind

All

release us.

2

From the coils that trap

All

free us.

3

From the grip of evil

All

deliver us.

 

 

1

For yours is the goodness

All

in which evil dissolves.

2

Yours is the joy

All

which sounds through the pain.

3

Yours is the life

All

which swallows up death.

 

 

1

Yours is the glory,

All

the transfiguring light.

2

Yours is the victory,

All

the triumph of love.

3

Yours is the world

All

at last made new.

 

 

1

For time and eternity,

All

for ever and ever.

2

For age after age,

All

for ever and ever.

3

So be it. Amen.

All

So be it. Amen.

Proceeding   (Click here to hide the text)

Christ has no body now on earth but yours,

no hands but yours,

no feet but yours.

 

Yours are the eyes

through which Christ’s compassion

cares for the people of the world.

 

Yours are the feet

with which Christ is to go about

doing good.

 

Yours are the hands

through which Christ now brings

a blessing.

 

So I promise this day to keep awake,

to live each moment to the full,

to look with eyes of compassion,

and to act with kindness.

 

back cover

You can freely download the preliminary pages of Out of the Silence...Into the Silence as a PDF document by clicking here. These include the Preface, Forewords and commendations, Introduction, a note on the music, and ‘How to use this book’.

 

 

 

Last updated on Friday, 24 August 2007


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