Silent Sunday
Winter Fragments
At this time of year in the southern hemisphere we are in the dead of winter, and this holds the invitation for us to stop and really give time to this season, and to hold the sacredness of endings and loss.
Opening music:
Lyrics:
Calm me Lord as you calmed the storm
Still me Lord, keep me from harm
Let all the tumult within me cease,
Enfold me Lord in your peace
Introduction Talk:
Quiet Prayer
I invite you to enter the stillness 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 stillness, to being present, to awareness of your breath or your sacred word. Read the poem by John O'Donohue as a lead into the time of stillness:
Stillness is vital to the world of the soul.
If as you age you become more still,
you will discover that stillness can be a great companion.
The fragments of your life will have time to unify,
and the places where your soul-shelter is wounded or broken
will have time to knit and heal.
You will be able to return to yourself.
In this stillness, you will engage your soul.
Listen to the following music as an ending to the time of prayer:
Lyrics:
It takes some starts and stops
To hold a paradox
All that's boundless and forever
With an ever ticking clock
I am every lonely ache
And all the times I knew to wait
I am all that I did right
And I am every bad mistake
It is love that breaks your heart
Love that tears the world apart
Only love that makes it all worth it in the end
It always love, its always love again
I don't know what to say
But there are no words anyway
Some things a wider than words
That only echo and fade
But there are also sentences and songs
The ones I've always carried on
That I can sing while I am here
And you can sing when I am gone
It is love that breaks your heart
Love that tears the world apart
Only love that makes it all worth it in the end
It always love, its always love again
Its old and yet it's new
Luminous and true
The best that we can love
Is the most that we can do
I keep trying to understand
And to hold it in both hands
How to know what can't be done
And still envision all that can
I am everything I've found
And I am everything I've lost
I am all that I've been given
And I'm everything it cost.
Sacred Reading:
Read the following reading through twice or three times, with an attitude of open receptivity. Allow a few minutes of silence between each reading. 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:
Psalm 57 paraphrase
Be merciful to me, O Beloved!
I return to Your sheltering embrace, opening my heart to You,
For You are the Source of the Love and Wisdom that I yearn for.
In the shadow of your wings I take refuge
Until the fears that bind me are transformed,
Losing their power as I find my home in You.
I cry to the Source of all life,
To the Eternal One who brings wholeness and healing.
Send your Spirit to awaken me,
Put to rest all that keeps me fearful and fragmented.
The Beloved radiates loving kindness and faithfulness.
At night I lie in the midst of terrifying monsters,
Fears that threaten to overpower me;
They tighten the noose around me,
Trying to control my life.
My fears have woven a web around me,
Seeking to entrap me.
They live within me, fuelled by my mind's narratives,
gnawing at my bones,
leaving me in a pit of suffering and despair.
But as I return to the refuge of Your presence,
this pit gives way, opening out into your embrace,
And I realise that I was never not held.
You, O Holy One, are the tender vastness
beyond the destructive fantasies of my mind.
There is no end to your spacious embrace,
And my heart sighs in gratitude and wonder when I remember this.
I am learning to trust your holding embrace,
and so my heart is steadfast and resilient,
learning new songs of hope and courage,
Songs that bubble from within,
awakening a new dawn.
May all of humanity be freed from our small prisons of suffering and isolation,
To grasp the wonder of your endless, boundary-less love,
Filling this whole earth with your radiant presence, and abundant life.
For Further Reflection:
Below are poems, the one from the video and an additional poem, that you could pray with if you want to take this theme further.
I am praying again, Awesome One.
You hear me again, as words
from the depths of me
rush toward you in the wind.
I've been scattered in pieces,
torn by conflict,
mocked by laughter,
washed down in drink.
In the alleyway I sweep myself up
out of garbage and broken glass.
With my half-mouth I stammer you,
who are eternal in your symmetry.
I lift to you my half-hands
in wordless beseeching, that I may find again
the eyes with which I once beheld you. ...
I yearn to belong to something, to be contained
in an all-embracing mind that sees me
as a single thing.
I yearn to be held
in the great hands of your heart--
oh let them take me now.
Into them I place these fragments, my life,
and you, God -- spend them however you want.
~ Rainer Maria Rilke
The Healing Time
Finally on my way to yes
I bump into
all the places
where I said no
to my life
all the untended wounds
the red and purple scars
those hieroglyphs of pain
carved into my skin, my bones,
those coded messages
that send me down
the wrong street
again and again
where I find them
the old wounds
the old misdirections
and I lift them
one by one
close to my heart
and I say holy
holy.
~ Pesha Gertler
Ending Prayer:
I yearn to be held
in the great hands of Your heart--
oh let them take me now.
Into them I place these fragments, my life,
and You, God -- spend them however You want.
Amen
(Rainer Maria Rilke)
Ending music:
Song lyrics:
The crooked line beneath the paint
From faraway it looks straight
Where practiced hands betray a shake
That's where the beauty is
The mark upon your skin revealed
Where injury and pain were sealed
But a scar’s the place where you were healed
That's where the beauty is
Walk with me and hold my hand
There's so much we don't understand
The shattered pieces of a bowl
Filled and fused with dust and gold
in brokenness we are whole
That's where the beauty is
Walk with me and hold my hand
there's so much we won't understand
All that's buried in your heart
The cold and lonely, hopeless part
Dig down deeper and find the spark
that's where the beauty is.
We would appreciate any donations so that we can continue making resources like this available at no cost.
Donate here...
A very warm thank you to all of you who have donated so generously.
To see a list of additional resources click here...
If you are not already on our mailing list you can subscribe here...
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.