Missionary Renegade: Progressive Christianity of Gigs Harbor, Washington, United States "Weekly Recap" for Tuesday, 12 May 2015

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Progressive Christianity of Gigs Harbor, Washington, United States "Weekly Recap" for Tuesday, 12 May 2015

Progressive Christianity of Gigs Harbor, Washington, United States "Weekly Recap" for Tuesday, 12 May 2015
What are your thoughts on savings humanity - listen to Prince Ea below for his. Thank you for your support and interest!

Last Week At ProgressiveChristianity.org...
We delved into the topics of Saving Humanity, Peace of Mind, Church Wellness and Immigration.
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Can We Auto-Correct Humanity? Prince Ea
Prince Ea has a sound unlike most artists. Possessing a great song writing ability and stage presence, he combines both creative and thought-provoking songs that neatly tie-in humor, wit, passion, and hard hitting punch-lines.
Can We Auto-Correct Humanity?

Born and raised on the North Side of St. Louis Missouri, Prince Ea has a sound unlike most artists. Possessing a great song writing ability and stage presence, he combines both creative and thought-provoking songs that neatly tie-in humor, wit, passion, and hard hitting punch-lines.
From his YouTube videos, which have garnered millions of hits, Prince Ea has developed a loyal fan base. Along with Prince Ea’s internet success, he has also been featured in both national and local publications. In 2009 VIBE Magazine declared him Vibe Verses Grand Champion and he received a full page article in Vibe’s June 2009 edition. That same year, Prince Ea went on to found and form an organization called “Make SMART Cool” (SMART being an acronym for Sophisticating Millions and Revolutionizing Thought). The organization seeks to promote positive social change in various concrete ways from speaking at schools, organizing community events, benefit performances, partnering with community organizations and setting up educational mentorship programs.
Prince Ea was also featured in the 2010 December issue of DISCOVER magazine for his academically provocative single “The Brain,” where he was dubbed “The King of brainy hip-hop.” In 2011, Prince Ea graduated Summa Cum Laude from a full scholarship at the University of Missouri St. Louis, with his BA in Anthropology. In late 2011 Prince Ea released his “Backwards Rappers” video; the video was picked up by the Huffington Post, CBS, FOX, Yahoo Music and was ranked number 1 on content aggregator sites such as Reddit. In 2012 Prince Ea began to connect with his fan base on a more visceral level and focused on more than just music. Since then he has released several extremely popular spoken words that have been featured or referenced on countless morning shows, schools such as Harvard, and daytime talk shows such as the Queen Latifah Show, the Blaze with Glenn Beck and several others.
As Prince Ea continues to make strides in education with the Make SMART Cool movement, the music industry and in people’s lives, one thing is for certain— he is definitely someone to look out for in the near future.READ ON ...

Worship Materials: Peace of Mind and PrayerWilliam L. (Bill) Wallace
From The Celebrating Mystery Collection
Theme: A Way of Thinking – a Way of Mindfulness
Worship Materials: Peace of Mind and Prayer From the Celebrating Mystery collection by William L. (Bill) Wallace
THEME A Way of Thinking – a Way of Mindfulness
THOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION
Peace of mind does not come through struggling to stop thinking, but through focusing the mind on some particular thought or object, and especially on the rhythm of our breathing.
Prayer is not as much a particular activity as a frame of mind.
True prayer is using our imagination in a way that focuses on love.
The way we direct our positive and negative energies in prayer is more important than theform of words.
The prayer that transforms is the prayer that gently embraces; not the prayer that seeks to manipulate or direct.
Prayer is a way of connecting with the rest of life.
Do not let other people decide what is the best form of prayer for you.
No one knows better than you what is best for you.
You are your own best guru.
Do not let the discipline of prayer become a drudgery, nor one’s freedom an excuse for not setting aside time for the spiritual journey.
We access the mystery through letting go, not through filling our minds with thoughts.
When I allowed love to enter my life it gently touched me on the shoulder and beckoned me to follow. This I did with hope and trepidation not knowing where it should take me but resting in the aura of well-being which it cast around me.
Deeper than the ‘to be or not to be’ is the I AM.
There is nothing more wonder-filled than the awesomeness of the present moment.
Search for the stillness and it will elude you.
Go with the flowing and you will become your stillness.
Positive thinking is not enough in order to tackle the world’s problems.
We need reflective action if we are to avoid creating our own apocalypse.
Peace lies not in the absence of conflict but in the still point at its heart.
The silence between our thoughts is the fracture in the clouds that reveals the azure peace of eternity.
Being fully alive comes from immersion in the river of the Cosmos rather than remaining trapped within the stream of one’s consciousness.
If you attempt to capture the moment you loose it but if you let the moment capture you, you find it.
Come out of the silence and take it with you.
To only have positive thoughts is to deny life itself for life is always a mixture of the positive and the negative. It is what we discern beyond these that gives life its fullest meaning.
The process of enlightenment is not one of denial but of bringing to the light of day what we previously could not face in ourselves. However, this process is not in order to pour judgment upon our shadow but in order to surround it with transforming love.
May I not be so enchanted by still waters that I do nothing about the injustice and oppression of this world.
In my solitude I am at one with all things.
In my loneliness I am not even at one with myself.
You are the seer who can observe your thoughts.
To trust in future hopes is not nearly as secure as to dwell in the certainty of the inner heaven of the NOW.
There is no peace with sharing.
When I stop struggling to be I discover I AM.
The secret of praying lies not so much in talking but in listening for then a whole new world of sacredness can impinge upon us.
PRAYER
O God, who can be approached in a thousand ways, may the form of prayer we choose contribute to our mental health and not to the undermining of it. May it help us to affirm ourselves and other people and to increasingly open our lives to your love.
HYMNS
Not in grasping or in holding. (BL)
God of Sky and God of Earth. (BL)
God wake us from illusion. (BL)
I am greater than my thinking. (BL)
An awakening is beginning. (BL)
When we find beauty in our depths. (BL)
There’s a beautiful place in our minds. (BL)
When I pray to you for help, O God. (BL)
When we have moved. (BL)
How liberated are those. (BL)
I will talk to my heart.
www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/boundlesslife
Help us O Christ.
www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/boundlesslife
Between our thoughts.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
O God of Earth and God of Sky. (STS1)
Out of the stillness. (STS1)
Help me to pray as Jesus prayed. (STS2)
If my heart grows icy cold. (STS2)
Christ Jesus praying from the cross. (STS2)
May the peace of God. (STS2)
That of God within us all. (STS2)
Singing the Sacred Vol 1 2011, Vol 2 2014 World Library Publications
SONG FOR TEENS
Great Life-force, God of all nurture. (Modern Lord’s Prayer) (SYSJ)
RESPONSES AND CHANTS
Prayer / Meditation Responses.(BL)
Intercessory Responses. (BL)
I am Dancer. (BL)
Beyond the rain.(BL)
Between the stillness of the rock.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
RESPONSIVE READING
A paraphrase of the Beatitudes (SE/MU)
POEMS / REFLECTIONS
WHEN I SIT
When I sit in the mall or the park
and watch all the world go by
I am no longer the victim
of my concerns, limitations and frustrations
but I am the true uncluttered me.
O that I might make more time to sit and watch
and become one with all that is.
A PARAPHRASE OF THE LORD’S PRAYER
O God of Sky and Earth
We reverence your presence
Both within us and beyond.
May what we eat sustain us
In the Way of compassionate sharing.
Help us to be forgiving –
Forgiving others, forgiving ourselves.
Liberate us from guilt
That learning from our mistakes
We may move beyond self-centeredness
To that depth of being
In which we are one with all things.
This Way of love, peace and justice
Is for the Earth, for human beings and for all living creatures
Both now and forever. AMEN
WHAT I THINK
What I think in my mind can destroy me,
What I think in my mind can fulfill me,
Therefore I will watch what I think.
KNOWING AND SHARING ONENESS
When our minds and hearts
have grown beyond
infantile conformity
give us, O God,
analysis that does not kill respect,
certainty that reaches beyond arrogance,
awareness of manipulation that responds with compassion
and the knowledge that the drumbeat
our deepest psyche would march to
is the pulse of the universe.
Help us to know that individual and community needs
coincide at our spirit’s omega point,
that connectedness is not blandness,
nor is community anonymity.
Enable us to see that oneness lies
in the integrating enrichment of diversity,
that diversity which is the very earth
out of which unity flowers.
May I, O God,
cease to evaluate myself in isolation
but sacramentally, sacrificially, sensuously
offer my inner wealth to the whole
and in that offering open myself
to the multitudinous gifts
which the complex known and unknown
forever awaits
my willingness to accept
from the hands of its
gracious hospitality.
A PARAPHRASE OF PART OF THE PEACE PRAYER OF ST FRANCIS
O loving Christ may I become an instrument of your peace:
Grant that I may learn
To strive but not compete,
To be empowered without seeking to oppress,
To stand tall without looking down on others,
To be aware of my inner wisdom without attempting to inflict it on anyone else.
For it is in letting go that we find peace,
In abandoning arrogance that we find truth
And in taking risks that we find love.
I EXPERIENCE GOD
In every act of creating
I experience God.
In all that is truly human,
In the midst of pain and destruction,
I experience God.
In new life,
in nature,
in other human beings
and in the recesses of my own spirit,
I experience God.
In victory and defeat,
In power and humility,
In the action of forgiveness and reconciliation,
I experience God.
In community and in solitude,
In history and in the present moment,
I experience God.
Whenever there is the spirit of life, love and empowerment,
I experience God.
But above all in the mystery beyond all other mysteries,
I experience God.
PATHWAY
May we move beyond the path of negation,
the path of guilt and self denial,
the path of self-imposed crucifixion
and division and warfare,
to the space of the holding together of pain and joy
the fragmentation of images,
the oneness of vision,
the connectedness with all things,
the darkness of the mystery
and the delight in the Inner Christ
within the ever expanding circle of love
that from that space we may gracefully glide
down the spiraling path of wisdom,
down to the rhythmic curves of the interweaving of Earth and Sky,
Mother and Father,
Sage and Lover,
down to the centre of things
where the smallest grain of sand
stands side by side with the furthest galaxy,
where human beings and the rest of nature intertwine
and the endless ages
rest within each sacred moment.
FOCUS FOR ACTION
Introduction.
When a person suffers from mental illness, a common description is that they have ‘gone out of their mind’. In fact nothing could be further from the truth. They are often consumed in an endless cycle of thought which feeds on itself like the forms of anxiety that fall within the so-called ‘normal’ range. What such a mentally ill person seems to lack is the ability to stand to one side and observe their thought processes. Each of us needs to affirm that we are greater than our thoughts.
People who are comparatively ‘healthy’ psychologically do have the power to control their mind and can change the way they think. St Paul said, “Have that mind in you which was in Jesus Christ” or in other words, let your ‘Inner Christ’, your ‘I am’, your ‘that of God’ observe and take control of your thought processes. This in effect is a way of praying.
1. What method of praying do I predominately use:
talking with ‘a God out there’?
talking to the ‘God within’, the Inner Christ, the I AM, ‘that of God’?
meditation (meeting God in the silence)?
reflection (thinking in the presence of God)?
contemplation (focusing on a particular thought about God or image of God) ?
observing my thoughts from the perspective of the Inner Christ
(see introduction above)?
simply concentrating on the now, for to be fully alive in the present moment is to participate in a ‘heaven’?
2. Would it be useful for me to use some of the other ways of praying outlined above as well as the one I am currently using?
Note: A useful exercise at the beginning of prayer is to relax the body and become aware of the rhythm of breathing. On the in breath say ‘let’ and on the out breath say ‘go’ or ‘love’ then ‘God’, or ‘en’ then ‘joy’, or ‘for’ then ‘give’ etc.

LOGO NOTE: At the heart of the mystery all the separate boxes disappear and all is one, all is love.
Text and graphic © William Livingstone Wallace but available for free use.
READ ON ...

Church Wellness – 5 Real-World Lessons in Membership DevelopmentTom Ehrich
Since starting to attend the Episcopal Church nearest to our new home in Upstate New York, I have learned five real-world lessons about membership development.
Church Wellness – 5 Real-World Lessons in Membership Development by Tom Ehrich

Since starting to attend the Episcopal Church nearest to our new home in Upstate New York, I have learned five real-world lessons about membership development.
Lose the cluster of assigned greeters
I repent of every time I trained ushers to greet visitors. Upon entering this new church, I wanted a service bulletin and ready access to a pew. Give me a table holding bulletins rather than four greeters who interrupt their conversation to scrutinize me, as if assessing my worthiness. I know this isn’t what they intend. I’m just saying how it feels on the receiving end.
Offer something solid
I haven’t needed the service to match any previous experience or to suit my preferences or to be flawlessly executed. I just want them to “sin boldly,” that is, to do what they do with a sense of purpose and urgency. I want to know that God matters to people here. I don’t expect instant friendship. I just want to know that they are serious about being a faith community and not just “playing church.”
Lose the Peace
Seriously. The pendulum has swung far enough away from being “God’s frozen chosen” to being a maelstrom of people going up and down the aisle looking for anyone they haven’t greeted. The maelstrom’s message: we put socializing first.
Don’t force me into conversation
Same need to repent of every time I trained greeters to engage visitors after worship, get their personal data, and shepherd them to coffee hour. I have wanted to move at my own pace. I worshiped with them for five weeks before I requested a name tag. The next week I made my first venture to coffee hour. I had a nice conversation and left. From week one, though, I wanted them to have my email address. I would happily have put it on a pew pad if they dared to use this simple device.
The pastor’s contact means everything
I know many clergy don’t enjoy mixing it up with visitors. Get over it. There is no substitute for the pastor’s reaching out. I had a delightful lunch with my new pastor. She greets me warmly each Sunday. I just attended a 12-person dinner party at her home. There’s a reason why we remember Jesus in the breaking of the bread — that is, actual meals where people can connect.
Please don’t take any of this as fussing. One promise I made to myself when I began attending this church was, “No fussing.” I will take what they offer, be grateful for it, and, in time, add what I can. I don’t expect them to adapt to me.
I am just intrigued that my actual experience of being a newcomer doesn’t follow all of the scripts that I once taught.

READ ON ...

Weekly Liturgy Week of: May 3rd - 9th
Immigration
Pulled forward by hope, often pushed from behind by desperation, no immigrant leaves his or her home country without powerful emotions in play. Their arrival evokes equally powerful emotions. But since most of us have immigration stories somewhere back in our family tree, it behooves us to remember the old Celtic rune of hospitality that ends, “Often, often, often goes the Christ in the stranger’s guise.”

Immigration
Week of May 3, 2015
Pulled forward by hope, often pushed from behind by desperation, no immigrant leaves his or her home country without powerful emotions in play. Their arrival evokes equally powerful emotions. But since most of us have immigration stories somewhere back in our family tree, it behooves us to remember the old Celtic rune of hospitality that ends, “Often, often, often goes the Christ in the stranger’s guise.”

Worship Materials: Pilgrimage
THOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION
1. Evolution is a law of life not just of biology.
2. Only the mystery is permanent. All other apparent permanence is illusion.

Worship Materials: Pilgrimage
From the Celebrating Mystery collection by William L. (Bill) Wallace
THEME The endless journey – The heavenly moment
THOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION
Evolution is a law of life not just of biology.
Only the mystery is permanent. All other apparent permanence is illusion.
To move from trusting the known to trusting the unknown is the ultimate spiritual liberation. It enables the pilgrim to live lightly and not grimly.
There are no degrees of enlightenment only frequencies of the experience.
To move from the many to the One is the journey of integration. To view the many from the perspective of the One is to see the One in everything and every body. This is the journey of illumination.
To dance lightly is far better than to march heavily.
The most important guru to listen to is the one within your own heart.
The way of two-ness (duality, either / or) is an unhelpful diversion from the main path.
The easiest way to confusion is not to trust your own heart.
The all powerful guru is an agency of dependency.
True wisdom lies in mutual sharing not in a one way imposition.
The marriage of power and spirituality can be destructive if it is not matched with humility.
How enriched are those who embrace their spiritual pilgrimage with joy; for they shall find peace even in the midst of suffering, hope even in the midst of disaster and light even within their darkness.
We may have to walk our pilgrimage alone but at the center we meet all things.
It is far better to flow in the tearful stream of pain and joy than to attempt to build a ladder to Heaven out of self imposed crosses.
To pilgrimage without rest is to consign oneself to a world of inner grayness.
The journey is joy, the journey is pain, the journey is Christ. Alleluia!
Pain and joy are twin sentinels of the journey but are not the journey itself.
The first step on the spiritual journey is to be aware of and believe in your own spirituality.
Wisdom invites us to discern where we are on our pilgrimage but warns us of the dangers of attempting to judge where others are on theirs.
Travel with an open mind helps you realize how much you don’t know.
The sufferings of the past are as nothing compared with the wonder of the divinity of the present moment which is an eternity of love and peace.
Be gentle to your immaturities and they will dissolve. Be harsh on your immaturities and they will calcify.
Wholeness lies in the quality of the journey not the pursuit of rewards at the end.
At the end of each journey there can be a new beginning for those who refuse to be trapped by the past.
The person who has never made a mistake has probably never made anything!
To have travelled hopefully is better than to have arrived
It is not a question of whether I have been somewhere,
nor whether I shall get somewhere,
but whether I am somewhere.
Pain can be the beginning of liberation.
Where you came from is not nearly as important as where you are going to.
A major obstacle to pilgrimage is the belief that there is a future that we cannot change and a present that we must endure.
When I turn my face from the Sun I become my own shadow and merely retread my past.
God’s call is an invitation to become an explorer, a person who explores the heights and depths of love.
PRAYER.
O God of the pilgrims, Abraham and Sarah, Mary and Joseph, may we look beyond the discomforts and adversities of our pilgrimage to the joys of your companionship and the knowledge that in the end all will be well.
HYMNS
An awakening is beginning. (BL)
God wake us from illusion. (BL)
Knock, knock, knock. (BL)
When we find beauty. (BL)
Spirit of all freedom. (BL)
What can the prophet Jesus teach us? (BL)
At each journey’s ending point. (BL)
When we have moved. (BL)
O God the great all-knowing one.
www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/boundlesslife
The call of the Christ is to inner growth.
www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/boundlesslife
O help us most loving.
www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/boundlesslife
The Way of God.
www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/boundlesslife
In the first stage of seeking.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
Come, let us dwell.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
At the start of life’s great journey.
http://www.methodist.org.nz/resources/hymns/the_mystery_telling
From Nazareth to Calvary. (STS1)
The Inner Christ still questions us. (STS1)
The Way of the Christ. (STS1)
Enter the stillness. (STS1)
The Way of life. (STS1)
What is the pattern. (STS1)
What image shall I use? (STS2)
God now calls us each to seek. (STS2)
We follow the God of Noah. (STS2)
That of God within us all. (STS2)
Singing the Sacred Vol 1 2011, Vol 2 2014 World Library Publications
SONGS
We go forward and around. (BL)
I’m on the road to nowhere. (BL)
Which code can assist us? (SYSJ)
REFLECTION/POEMS
TO BE LINKED
To be linked with the past
is to be embossed with gold
and tainted with dross
for our heritage
is both
jewel and millstone.
PILGRIMAGE
From dependency to empowerment –
individualism to community –
puritanism to celebration –
captivity to liberation –
static to dynamic –
compartments to the whole –
square to circle –
straight line to curve –
mechanical to organic –
known to mystery.
THE PATTERN OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH
The Motivation: – Dissatisfaction / Confidence
The Information: – Sacred Texts e.g. The Bible, Institutions e.g. The Church, People, Nature.
The Reflection: – The Letting Go.
The Illumination:- Conversion / Awakening.
The Verification: – Action, Suffering, Awareness.
The Celebration: – Ecstasy, Unity.
A LIBERATING PILGRIMAGE
A liberating pilgrimage is
to be instead of longing,
to dance instead of marching,
till the puzzle becomes a mystery
and the mystery becomes our alleluia
the alleluia of our deepest being,
the alleluia of all space and being,
the alleluia beyond all space and being,
the alleluia beyond all alleluias.
So be it, ALLELUIA.
THE PILGRIMAGE OF LOVE
My beloved is myself – “selfish love.”
My beloved is another person – “romantic love.”
My beloved is God out there, Christ out there – “intervening love.”
My beloved is God within me, Christ within me – “interior love.”
My beloved is in all things and all people – “inclusive love, cosmic love.”
My beloved and I are one – “unitive love, mystical love
I HAVE TRAVELLED
I have travelled a long way in my mind
and sometimes my heart was left
far behind
but now
I observe my mind
from the sanctuary
of my heart,
the source of the hope
that is beyond
all understanding.
PAST PILGRIMAGE
There are two ways of viewing past pilgrimage.
One is destructive, the other empowering.
Filling one’s heart and mind
with painful memories of hurts and mistakes
condemns one to a life of debilitating misery,
a life that is imprisoned by the past.
On the other hand to treat failure as an opportunity for learning
is to embrace an evolving spirituality
that views all of the past,
both its constructive and destructive elements,
as being an apprenticeship which enables pilgrimage
to proceed with love and with hope.
A HEALTHY RELIGION
A healthy religion helps people to
Relate with joy, openness and reverence to
ourselves
other people
the Earth
all life
the mystery we call God.
Become more inclusive.
Focus on the journey rather than the arrival.
Value cooperation, sharing and community.
Be empowered rather than dependant.
Accept the reality of suffering and injustice but also motivates them to do all they can to alleviate these problems and to see within these experiences possibilities for personal and communal growth.
Be free from guilt, fear and denial of their sexuality. Develop flexibility and security based on awareness, silence and stillness.
ICE OR MELTDOWN
Flying over Siberia
In the Spring
I perceived
Through a chasm in the clouds,
A magic world of grey and white,
A world of frozen rivers
And partly snow-clad mountains.
It all seemed reminiscent
Of the world of human morality –
The black and white world
Of the frozen heart
Or the slushy freedom
of melting mores.
O God,
May I neither
Live a life of ice
Nor of chaotic moral meltdown
But gradually and purposefully
Move into a new ethical Springtime.
THE CALL TO PILGRIMAGE
As Christians we are called to pilgrimage, to growth. Sometimes we are called to move on from something that in destructive, at other times from things that are inadequate, sometimes from things that need something else to be added to them if we are to become more complete persons.
The goal of our pilgrimage is God, but people see God in different ways; so it can be said that “The God you worship is the person you will become.”
Here are some areas of growth which will enable us to become more Christ-like –
right belief to right attitude and action
right words to right celebration
morality to love
monopoly to sharing
guilt to graciousness
individual piety to cosmic worship
individual rights to global responsibility
isolationism to interdependency
arid puritanism to beauty and wonder
suffocating solemnity to Christ-like humor
authority to questioning i.e.
blind acceptance to perceptive analysis (Church, society and self)
certainty to faith
conformity to creativity
repression to responsible emotional expression
viewing the Bible from the perspective of the rich and powerful to viewing it from the perspective of the poor and powerless
life denial to life affirmation
self denial to self affirmation
We affirm ourselves and honor Christ when we
reverence our body
stimulate our mind
and nurture our spirit.
THE CONFUSED PILGRIM
There was within me once
a confused pilgrim
whom I hope I have outgrown –
Confused because I imagined
that the path to life
was the path of denial.
So sexuality and creativity
were bathed in black guilt
and the psyche warred against itself.
Confused because I laboured
under the destructive illusion
that denial removes the offending
part of personality!
How wrong I was
for denial only suppresses
what continues to be there
and guilt creates
depression’s suicidal night.
If only he had known
what I now know –
The way of letting go
Where the hell of disjunction
becomes the heaven of the present moment.
ELDERLY WISDOM
If you who are young were able
To look deeper than our elderly wrinkles
And with imagination bring to mind
Our diverse histories
You would be able to see
Within these aged frames
The parade
Of childhood inquisitive creativity
Adolescent experiments with love,
Parenthood joys and travails
And the skills some of us developed to survive
Through grief and ecstasy
And to rejoice in all of this.
Surely it would be easier
To tap into elderly wisdom
Than to have to reinvent
The psychological wheel
With all the struggle that involves.
I SAW THE MOON
I saw the moon floating on the dawn
Basking in reflected glory
And wondered whether my spirituality
Is but a reflection
Or whether it knows
The inner brightness
Of the cosmic radiance.
O God of the cosmic brightness
May I commit myself to the journey
From reflected divinity
To embracing the Inner Christ
In whom all daughters and sons/suns
Are one.
FOCUS FOR ACTION
What are the sociological and contextual factors which may act as a straight jacket for my pilgrimage? How easy do I find it to walk in the company of other pilgrims but also to be able to walk to the beat of my own drum? What compromises should I make without undermining my own integrity?
Where would I place myself within the process of spiritual development? (See section Worship, Mystery and our Cosmic Setting)
How do I relate to the previous levels which I occupied? Am I able to be charitable to them and accept that there are some things in them which I can incorporate into my current level? Can I also accept that at times I may revert in part or in whole to a previous level or levels?
Does our worship provide an environment which encourages people to accept those at other levels of spiritual development?

LOGO NOTE: At the heart of the mystery all the separate boxes disappear and all is one, all is love.
Text and graphic © William Livingstone Wallace but available for free use.

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Small Group Prayer
Each one of us, O God, is burdened with the sheer weight of our private worlds: our health, that of a loved one, our jobs, our relationships.

Small Group Prayer by Claralice Wolf on May 2, 2015 | 0 Comments
Each one of us, O God, is burdened with the sheer weight of our private worlds: our health, that of a loved one, our jobs, our relationships.
Each one of us is living with the burden of a public world: the hungry, the homeless children, injustice.
We know our need of you, for without you our private burdens and our public ones are desperate fury; our attempts to make changes are meaningless gestures.
O God, meet us in the wilderness of our daily lives. Let us see the bush of glory burn. Bring us each to that deep place where we can say, “I and Thou,” and know with assurance that you are with us.
O God, You have given us eyes to see the light that fills this room, light for seeing the faces around this table. Now we ask, give us inner light. May we see You here in our midst; see Your purpose for our lives; see the vision Jesus saw – all of us united as one in our reconciliation with You, and all of us filled with the Light of the World.
Amen.

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Migration Hymn
Idyllic beaches break the waves
as bathers line the shore
This view of peace is now disturbed:
an aftermath of war.

Migration Hymn by Andrew Pratt
Idyllic beaches break the waves
as bathers line the shore
This view of peace is now disturbed:
an aftermath of war.
The ones who fled from lives they knew
have gone in fear and dread,
the ships that offered hope to them
are sunk with many dead.
And where is God amid the swell
where tides still ebb and flow,
unfeeling of this loss of life,
as others come and go?
The commerce of the world goes on.
Can we ignore the pain?
It is as though we’re blind to see
Christ crucified again.
The ones who drown are ones we own
as neighbours we should love,
how can we turn our eyes away,
avert our gaze above?
For when our politics conspires
to shut the door to grace
it is as though we turn away
from Jesus’ tortured face.
© Andrew Pratt 22/4/2015
Tune: ELLACOMBE (I Sing the Mighty Power of God)
The challenge of migration:
In response to reports of more than 800 people drowned off Libya’s coast on Sunday 19th April 2015, bringing the number of deaths this year to 1,750.

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Events and Updates
Creating Sanctuary for Ourselves and Others
Take a moment to recall the places that replenish you, where you have gone or still go to find serenity, safety, and the sacred. This e-course offers you an opportunity to bask in the gift of such places, to foster creative new ideas about how to design a sanctuary, and to receive inspiration for offering sanctuary to others.Creating Sanctuary for Ourselves and Others

Take a moment to recall the places that replenish you, where you have gone or still go to find serenity, safety, and the sacred. This e-course offers you an opportunity to bask in the gift of such places, to foster creative new ideas about how to design a sanctuary, and to receive inspiration for offering sanctuary to others.
You will be well supported in your explorations by two teachers, Terry Hershey and Patricia Campbell Carlson, team-teaching for the first time together at S&P. They will share their experiences and respond to your concerns and celebrations in the course’s online Practice Circle.
May 25 – June 19, 2015
$49.95

4 CEHs for chaplains available
In this exclusive e-course developed for Spirituality & Practice, Terry and Patricia view sanctuary as both a personal boon and a cultural need that we all have a responsibility to fulfill. The course will run for four weeks from May 25 – June 19 and will focus on these themes:
• The Need for Sanctuary
• Creating Our Own Sanctuaries; Elements of Design that Make Sanctuaries Effective
• Religious Tools for Establishing Sanctuary
• Offering Sanctuary; Creating Public Spaces that Invite Others to be Replenished
For more Information

Terry Hershey, an inspirational speaker, storyteller, ordained minister, and landscape designer, focuses much of his ministry on helping people nurture their spiritual lives. He presented a prior S&P e-course on pausing and has a new book, Sanctuary: Creating a Space for Grace in Your Life.
He is joined by Patricia Campbell Carlson, who developed S&P’s e-course on praying the hours and helmed three courses on the teachings of Br. David Steindl-Rast. Her insights into gratitude, grief, and reverence have reached thousands through the online vehicles of Gratefulness.org and Cornell University’s “Dear Uncle Ezra” column, a forerunner in online counseling.
Terry and Patricia overflow with enthusiasm about the renewing power and relevance of sanctuary, having seen its benefits in their own lives and in the lives of people they serve. They are honored to have the opportunity to guide and learn from you and other participants as you share your questions, hopes, needs, and inspirations.
Images

Start:
May 25, 2015
End:
June 19, 2015
Location:
Online E-Courses
Contact:
Mary Ann Brussat
Organization:
Spirituality & Practice
Website:
http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/ecourses/ecourses.php?id=192&key=tcpc
Email:
brussat@spiritualityandpractice.com