Sunday, February 10, 2008

Opening Music

In the Beginning

"In the beginning was the word…and the word was…God”

word…logos…light of the world…creative force…living presence…ordering principle…underlying harmonic pattern of creation…universal vibration…sound?

Is everything connected by the threads of sound
Intertwining interweaving here and now?

Is every cell and every pulse
Every heart in each of us

Vibrantly connected by the waves of sound?

Is everything connected in the here and now
Intertwining interweaving threads of sound?

Is every breath and every thought
Every found and every lost

Perfectly connected by the light of sound?

Is everything connected some way some how
Intertwining interweaving here and now?

Is every spark and every beam
All the dark and all the dreams

Vividly connected by the ways of sound?

Is everything connected in the here and now
Intertwining interweaving lost and found

Is every tear and every being
Every single living thing

Harmonically connected by the God of sound?

“In the beginning was the word…and the word was…God”

word…logos…light of the world…creative force…living presence…ordering principle…underlying harmonic pattern of creation…universal vibration…sound?

Anita Kruse © 2005

Call to Silence and Opening Meditation

O God of Life and Creation,
Hear our Prayers of Silence, Sound, and Word.
And We Continue to Pray:
For the Peace of the World
And a Spirit of Respect Among All Nations
That our Divisions May Cease
That We All May Be One
That We All May Be One
That We All May Be One. Amen.

Readings

A Reading from The Wall Street Journal, Friday, February 8, 2008

Mitt Romney's campaign for the presidency brought more attention to the Mormon Church than it has had in years. What the church discovered was not heartening.

Critics of its doctrines and culture launched frequent public attacks. Polling data showed that far more Americans say they'd never vote for a Mormon than those who admitted they wouldn't choose a woman or an African-American.

A Wall Street Journal/N C News poll in late January revealed that 50% of Americans said they would have reservations or be “very uncomfortable about a Mormon as president. That same poll found that 81% would be “enthusiastic” or “comfortable” with an African-American and 76% with a woman.”

The Mormon religion “was the silent factor in a lot of the decision making by evangelicals and others,” says Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who conducted the poll. The Romney campaign ran into a “religious bias head wind,” Mr. Hart and his Republican polling partner, Bill McInurff, wrote late last month.

A Reading from Luke 10:29-37

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”

He said, “The one who showed mercy on him.”

And Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

A Reading From the “New Testament of the Tao Te Ching”

“Love your neighbor as yourself,” said the Way.

Through love of neighbor do we enter into love of the Way:
For our neighbor is the image of the Way;
And thus the Way accepts what we do for our neighbor as if it were done for Him[Her].

When this realization is kept constantly in mind,
It become the source of the purest love for our neighbor.

“And who is my neighbor?” the Way was asked.
Our neighbor is whomever the Way puts before us:
Insider or outcast,
Faithful or unfaithful,
Friend or foe,
Help or burden,
Encourager or reviler,
Rescuer or murderer.
Therefore, said the Ancient Sage,
“Even if people be bad, why should they be rejected?
The holy man takes care of all people,
And in consequence there is no rejected person.”

Love for neighbor, then, is love for all equally,
And equally with ourselves.
Perfect love is the summit of detachment;
It knows no distinction between one's own and another's,
Between male and female,
Between black and white.
Such single, simple love has a single cause:
The Way Who is honored and loved in every neighbor.

Through love of neighbor do we enter into love of the Way:
And as the former grows in us, so does the latter,
Until at last the Way is all in all,
And we forget ourselves.
Then love becomes a depth of illumination,
A fountain of fire inflaming the thirsty soul.
Growth is added to growth.
Love is the progression of eternity.

Hieromonk Damascene's Christ The Eternal Tao (Valaam Books, 2004) 174-175

Call to Conversation