Silent Sunday
The God of I Am
Thomas Merton wrote: 'In response to God’s “I am” we echo “I am” and “we are”'. In this talk, guest speaker Graham Lindegger explores the name of God "I am" and what that means for our prayer as an echo of I am.
Opening music:
Lyrics:
Be still and know that I am God
Be still and know that I am
Be still and know that I
Be still and know that
Be still and know
Be still and
Be still
Be
Be still and know that I am love…
Be still and know that I am peace…
Introduction Talk:
Quiet Prayer
I invite you to rest in being in God's "I Am" being in a time of quiet prayer (you can choose between a 10 minute and a 20 minute time of simple silence using the timers below). If you find your mind wandering, gently let go of your thoughts and return to being present and open, through awareness of your breath or your sacred word.
Listen to the following music as an ending to the time of prayer:
Lyrics:
Every breath is Yours, Beloved,
Every breath is Yours.
I give myself to You, Beloved,
The self that I thought I was;
I give myself to You, Beloved,
The self that was false and lost.
Every breath is Yours, Beloved,
Every breath is Yours.
Who is it moves in me, Beloved,
Whose hands and feet are these?
Who is it moves in me, Beloved,
Whose heart beats, who breathes?
Every breath is Yours, Beloved,
Every breath is Yours.
Sacred Reading:
Read the following reading through twice or three times, with an attitude of open receptivity. Allow a few minutes of silence between the readings. Listen for any words that call out to you, or that draw you into the sacredness of silence that is deeper than your usual knowing:
Reading: Exodus 3 extracts
The angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” Then the Lord said, “I have come down to rescue my people from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land. So now, go. I am sending you to bring my people out of Egypt.” Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you. This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.
For Further Reflection:
Below are the quotes from the talk and some additional quotes for you to take this theme further.
Thomas Merton:
In response to God’s “I am” we echo “I am” and “we are”.
Acts: 17: 28:
In Him, we live and move and have our being.
Psalm 90:
Before the mountains were born or you brought forth, you are God.
Matthew Fox:
The “I Am” is the name for the Divine One. This reminds us that the Divine One, is everywhere and omnipresent. The Divine “I am” is there for the asking. We all carry it within ourselves just as we carry the Christ within ourselves. .
Isness is God. (Meister Ekhart). To see the issness of God is to see the sacredness of everything that exists. To say that “isnness is God” is to see God everywhere and in everything at its innermost core. To say “Issness is God”is to say that the time for experiencing the Divine is now. Isness is the present.
Rupert Spira:
The Pathless Path says, ‘simply be’. Beyond that, there is little elaboration, as being needs no spiritual instruction. We simply start with our true nature, and we stay there. Simply being is the origin, the path and the goal. It is for this reason that I refer to this approach as ‘the Pathless Path’. The experience of simply being may not seem like much, however, it is the highest meditation and the ultimate prayer. It is what the Zen masters point to when they say, ‘Show me your original face before you were born.’ It is what Jesus was referring to when he said, ‘Before Abraham was, I am.’ It is what the Buddha evoked in his wordless Flower Sermon, in which he simply held up a flower. It is the practice of the presence of God.
Sooner or later, all teachings, pathways and practices dissolve into being.
Richard Rohr:
Silence is not just that which happens around words, and underneath images and events. It has a life of its own. It is a phenomenon with an almost physical identity. It is being in itself to which we can all relate. Philosophically, we would say that being is the foundational quality which precedes all. When we relate to naked being, we learn to know life at its core. Silence is at the very foundation of all reality and being. It is that out of which all being comes.
Ending Prayer:
O Lord, eternal mystery
you have always been our home.
Before you created the hills
or brought the world into being,
you were God, the eternal “I am”.
May your “I am” be always echoed in our “I am”
And our shared “we are”
As we discover our deepest identity
In the light of your face
Lord God, Beloved.
Ending music:
Lyrics:
I am the rays of the rising sun
Snow on the mountains of the moon
The far-flung canopy of stars
The shadows of late afternoon
[Verse 2]
I am the wisdom of the sage
I am the refuge of all who weep
I am the mother of all who live
I am the promises I keep
[Chorus]
I am the one who sits with sorrow
I am the one who feels your pain
I am the hope of your tomorrow
When all is lost, I still remain
I am the one who will remain
[Verse 3]
I am the seed that longs to bloom
The river yearning for the sea
The heartfelt hope of every womb
I am thе faith you place in me
[Verse 4]
I am the silеnce and the sound
The gentle rain that breaks the stone
I am the dream of love unbound
I am the way that calls you home
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