Reflection:
Mercy not Sacrifice
The theme for this reflection is to explore what it means to have an attitude of mercy, not sacrifice.
Opening music:
Listen to the following as an opening prayer.
Reflection Talk:
Reading:
Read the following passages through twice or three times, and listen for any word or phrase that seems to be inviting you to linger with it.
Reading 1: Psalm 85:8-12
Listen, O people, in the silent chapel of your heart;
and the Beloved will speak of peace to you,
to the seekers of sacredness, to all who turn your hearts to Love.
Surely new life is at hand for those who reverence Love;
O, that harmony might dwell among the nations.
Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will embrace one another.
Flowers of faithfulness and wisdom will spring up from the ground
and radiant truth will look down from the sky.
The Eternal Giver grants gentle rain and nourishment,
and the soil of the earth responds in joyful generosity.
Mercy and compassion are Love's way,
and will guide our footsteps upon the path of peace.
~ Based on Psalms for Praying by Nan Merrill
Reading 2: Out Beyond Ideas, by Rumi
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
There is a field. I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
The world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
Doesn't make any sense.
Quiet prayer
I invite you into a time of quiet prayer, using the ten minute timer below which begins and ends with the sound of a gong. If you notice that you are caught up in thinking, gently let go of your thoughts and return to being present, resting in the quiet vast embrace of God's oceanic Presence, using your awareness of your breath or your sacred word.
End the time of quiet prayer by listening to the following song:
Lyrics:
Open my heart,
Open my heart
For further reflection:
Below are the readings from the talk for further reflection on this theme.
Matthew 9:13 "But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’"
Rumi:
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
They may be clearing you out for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.
Matthew 5:7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."
Cynthia Bourgeault writes that the mercy of God does not come and go, granted to some and refused to others, "Because it is unconditional—always there, underlying everything. It is literally the force that holds everything in existence, the gravitational field in which we live and move and have our being. Just like a little fish swimming desperately in search of water, we, too—in the words of Psalm 103—“swim in mercy as in an endless sea.”"
Cynthia Bourgeault describes that in contemplative prayer, at the foundation of the soul "something of our being presses deep into the heart of God and begins to swim in the infinite ocean of God’s mercy. That ocean is our source and substance, the ground of our own arising, the foundation of hope."
Ending prayer:
Into your arms, loving God, let us fall,
upheld by the infinite ocean of your mercy.
Secure in your embrace,
show us how to love without condition,
how to show mercy without reservation,
and so to be your heart and healing in this broken world.
Amen
Ending music:
Lyrics:
Out beyond ideas of right and wrong,
There is a field where I will meet you.
When the soul lays down in the grass,
The world is too full to talk about.
When the soul lays down in the grass,
The phrase each other doesn't make any sense.
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