Readings for Sunday, July 1, 2007

-- We kindly ask for your comments/thoughts to continue our conversation.


OPENING MEDITATION:

From you is born all ruling will,
the power and life to do, the song that beautifies all--
from age to age it renews.

To you belongs each fertile funciton:
ideals, energy, glorious harmony-
during every cosmic cycle.

Out of you, the queenship and kinship-
ruling principles, the "I can"
of the cosmos...

Out of you, the vital force
producing and sustaining all life,
every virtue...

Out of you the astonishing fire,
the birthing glory, returning light and sound
to the cosmos...

Again and again, from each universal gathering-
of creatures, nations, planets, time, and space-
to the next.

Truly-power to these statements-
may they be the ground from which all
my actions grow:
Sealed in trust and faith.

Amen.

(from Prayers of the Cosmos:Meditations on the Aramaic Words of Jesus,
Neil Douglas-Koltz, pg.37, HarperSanFrancisco, 1990. Retranslation from the
Aramaic of "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen)



READINGS:

A READING FROM THE PIRKE AVOT 1:18

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said:

The world stands upon three things:

Upon truth.
Upon peace.
Upon justice.

"Speak truth each to the other, establish peace and render honest judgment in your gates" (Zech. 8:16)


A READING FROM THE PIRKE AVOT 2:4

Rabban Gamliel used to say:

Desire only that which has already been given.
Want only that which you already have.

As a river empties in the ocean,
empty yourself into Reality.
When you are emptied into Reality,
you are filled with compassion,
desiring only justice.
When you desire only justice,
the will of Reality becomes your will.
When you are filled with compassion,
there is no self to oppose another
and no other to stand against oneself.

(The Pirke Avot is a collection of rabbinic sayings compiled sometime between 250 and 275. Although little is known about these early rabbis, they speak of the necessity of enacting holiness, of letting go of the illusion of fragmentation and bringing things into harmony with each other.)


A READING FROM ABRAHAM ISAAC KOOK

The Song of Songs

There is one who sings the song of his soul, discovering in his soul everything--utter spiritual fulfillment.

There is one who sings the song of his people. Emerging from the private circle of his soul--not expansive enough, not yet tranquil--he strives for fierce heights, clinging to the entire community of Israel in tender love. Together with her, he sings her song, feels her anguish, delights in her hopes. He conceives profound insights into her past and her future, deftly probing the inwardness of her spirit with the wisdom of love.

Then there is one whose soul expands until it extends beyond the border of Israel, singing the song of humanity. In the glory of the entire human race, in the glory of the human form, his spirit spreads, aspiring to the goal of humankind, envisioning its consummation. From this spring of life, he draws all his deepest reflections, his searching, striving, and vision.

Then there is one who expands even further until he unites with all of existence, with all creatures, with all worlds, singing a song with them all.

There is one who ascends with all these songs in unison--the song of the soul, the song of the nation, the song of humanity, the song of the cosmos--resounding together, blending in harmony, circulating the sap of life, the sound of holy joy.

(All readings are from Chapter 5, "Judaism: The Way of Holiness," The Essential Mystics: The Soul's Journey Into Truth, HarperCollins, New York, 1996)


A READING FROM THE GOSPEL OF MARY MAGDALENE

"What is matter? Will it last forever?"

The Teacher answered: "All that is born, all that is created, all the elements of nature are interwoven and united with each other.

All that is composed shall be decomposed; everything returns to its roots; matter returns to the origins of matter.

Those who have ears, let them hear."

Peter said to him: "Since you have become the interpreter of the elements and the events of the world, tell us: What is the sin of the world?"

The Teacher answered: "There is no sin. It is you who make sin exists, when you act according to the habits of your corrupted nature; this is where sin lies.

This is why the Good has come into your midst. It acts together with the elements of your nature so as to reunite it with its roots."

Then he continued: "This is why you become sick, and why you die: it is the result of your actions; what you do takes you further away.

Those who have ears, let them hear."

CALL TO CONVERSATION

CLOSING MEDITATION AND REMEMBRANCE