Silent Sunday Service:
Drink from the Source
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Today the theme of our silent Sunday is the invitation to drink from the Source.
I invite you to begin this quiet morning by slowly reading the following verses from Psalm 42 slowly as an opening prayer:
As a hart longs for flowing streams,
so longs my soul for You, O Beloved.
My soul thirsts for the Beloved,
for the Living Water.
(From Psalms for Praying, by Nan C. Merrill)
Listen to the following as an opening song:
Lyrics:
Oh God, you are my God
Earnestly I seek you;
My Soul thirsts for you,
My flesh yearns for you;
In a dry and weary land
Where there is no water
I remember you at night
Through the watches of the night
In the shadow of your wings
I sing because you helped me
My soul clings to you
And your hand upholds me
You alone
Time: 6 minutes
CLICK HERE IF YOU WOULD PREFER TO LISTEN TO THIS AS A SOUND FILE
The following is a guided practice on the theme of receiving from the Source, leading into a time of silent prayer (you can choose between a 15 minute or a 20 minute time of prayer below, which each have the guided introduction at the beginning, a time of silence, and three gongs at the end).
Listen to the following song as an end to the prayer time:
Lyrics:
In this moment I welcome Thee
Ever giving Thyself to me
Sacred Reading:
Spiritual reading is another way of drinking from the Source. However, in our spiritual reading, we so easily get hung up on meaning, and on who has the right interpretation; but the words are just the entryway, the vehicle of Presence. As Jean Yves Leloup describes, sacred reading invites us to receive the text in a way where we are "not as interested in the colour and form of the water jug" as much as "in drinking at the Source that is accessible through the words." So that is the attitude that I invite you to bring to the reading of scripture today.
John 4:13-14
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Gospel of Thomas Logion 13:
"Yeshua told him [Thomas]: I am no longer your Master, because you have drunk, and become drunken, from the same bubbling source from which I spring."
Spend some time in quiet reflection on these passages (you can use the 10 minute timer).
Listen to the following song as a prayer, All who are thirsty, by John Michael Talbot:
Lyrics:
All who are thirsty
Come to the water
All who now hunger and thirst
Come receive grain and drink, my wine.
Come to me heeding
Come forth and listen
And you shall prosper and live
You shall delight and shall be filled.
Come to the Water of Life
Come eat my Bread and drink my Wine
Call on the Lord
Call on His Name
And He may be found
And the mountains and hills
And all of the trees shall break into song.
Come to the water
All who now hunger and thirst
Come eat my bread and drink, my wine
For further reflection:
Below are some of the quotes for you to reflect on further:
One Whisper of the Beloved
In truth, everyone is a shadow of the Beloved –
Our seeking is His seeking,
Our words are His words.
At times we flow toward the Beloved
like a dancing stream.
At times we are still water
held in His pitcher.
At times we boil in a pot
turning to vapor –
that is the job of the Beloved.
He breathes into my ear
until my soul
takes on His fragrance.
He is the soul of my soul –
How can I escape?
But why would any soul in this world
want to escape from the Beloved?
He will melt your pride
making you thin as a strand of hair,
Yet do not trade, even for both worlds,
One strand of His hair.
We search for Him here and there
while looking right at Him.
Sitting by His side we ask,
“O Beloved, where is the Beloved?”
Enough with such questions! –
Let silence take you to the core of life.
All your talk is worthless
When compared to one whisper
of the Beloved.
- Rumi
Jean Yves Leloup:
"Blessed also are those who are not satisfied with themselves. They are hungry because they refuse to live superficially and they make use of difficulties to go deeper. They will receive a food worthy of their hunger and drink from a spring worthy of their thirst."
Isaiah 55:1-3
“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live.
When the heart is hard and parched up:
When the heart is hard and parched up,
Come upon me with a shower of mercy.
When grace is lost from life,
Come with a burst of song.
When tumultuous work raises its din on all sides,
Shutting me out from beyond,
Come to me, my Lord of silence,
With Thy peace and rest.
When my beggarly heart sits crouched,
Shut up in a corner,
Break open the door, and gather me in your tender embrace.
When desire blinds the mind with delusion and dust, O thou Holy One,
Thou wakeful, come with Thy breath and Thy light.
- adapted from Rabindranath Tagore
Ending prayer:
Breathing, You quieten my heart,
My busy mind fading into Your inner vastness,
I drink Your pure waters,
Washing the fog away - so many years of accumulated thought
Complicated, dissolving,
Becoming clear, endless, awareness;
Love's being-ness, expanding from within.
My heart whispers: Thank You, Beloved, Source of all Being,
Amen
(Adapted from Silent Stay Meditation and Retreat Centre)
Listen to the following as an ending song:
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