Silent Sunday
Chanting as Contemplative Practice
In this Silent Sunday we explore chanting as a contemplative practice. We will begin with a video introduction to chanting, and follow this with a number of chants, a time of quiet prayer and a reading. I invite you to join in and sing along as a way of practicing this form of contemplation. Allow a short time of quiet after each chant to attune to receptivity, presence and silence in the presence of God.
Opening Invitation Chant:
Lyrics:
Stay with me, remain here with me
Watch and pray, watch and pray
Response Chant:
Lyrics:
Here I am (repeated)
Quiet prayer / meditation:
Spend some time in quiet openness to God's presence. (You can choose between a 10 minute timer and a 20 minute timer below, which each have a gong at the beginning and three gongs at the end)
Invocation Chant:
(Use any of these phrases, or your own):
Veni sancte spiritus
Woza moya
Come Holy Spirit
Come breath of Beloved
Reading: Psalm 84
How glorious is your dwelling place, O Blessed Architect of the universe!
My soul longs, yes, aches for the abode of the Beloved;
All that is within me sings for joy to the living Heart of Love!
Even as the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nesting place,
where its young are raised within your majestic creation,
You invite us to dwell within your Heart.
Blessed are they who put their strength in You,
who choose to share the joy and sorrows of the world.
They do not give way to fear or doubt;
they are quickened by Divine Light and Power;
they dwell within the peace of the Most High.
They go from strength to strength and live with integrity.
O Eternal Lover, hear my prayer; give ear, O Divine Comforter!
Forgive what is unholy within me; free me from my illusions!
For a day within the Heart of Love is more to be desired than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a servant in your dwelling place,
than live in riches among those who know not Love.
For the Beloved is as radiant as the sun, as strong as a steel shield,
and invites each one to come, to partake of the Banquet.
(From Psalms for Praying by Nan C. Merrill)
Chant:
Lyrics:
As the deer longs for flowing streams
So my soul longs for you
Devotional Chant:
Lyrics:
O, adoramus te Domine
Prayer for Peace:
To the home of peace, to the field of love,
to the land where justice, forgiveness and right relationship meet,
we look, O God, with longing for earth's children,
with compassion for her creatures,
with hearts breaking for the nations and people we love.
Open us to visions we have never known,
strengthen us for self-givings we have never made,
delight us with a oneness we could never have imagined,
that we may truly be born of You, makers of peace.
May our lives be for healing,
May our lives be for peace,
Amen
(Adapted from a prayer by John Philip Newell)
Ending music:
Lyrics:
Thula sizwe ungabokhala
U Jehova wakho uzokunqobela
Inkululeko, inkululeko
u Jehova wakho uzokunqobela
English translation:
Be at peace, people, be comforted,
Your Jehovah will protect you
Be free, be free,
Your Jehovah will protect you
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Sharon's book that was previously called "Contemplative Living" has been republished by AnamChara Books under the title "Deeper: Finding the Depth Dimension Beneath the Surface of Life". The Kindle version is available from Amazon, and the hard copy version can be ordered from loot.co.za or Takealot, or from your local bookshop through Ingram Distribution.