March Theme Passion

3-30-08
Most gracious Spirit
Mother, Master, Messiah, and Savior of humanity
We greet You in all humility.
You are the First Cause and the Last Effect
The Divine Light and the Spirit of guidance
Alpha and Omega
Your light in all forms
Your love in all beings
In a loving mother, in a kind father,
in an innocent child,
in a helpful friend,
and in an inspiring teacher.
Allow us to recognize You in all Your names and forms,
known and unknown to the world.
We adore Your past,
Your Presence deeply enlightens our being ,
and we look for Your blessing in the future.
O messenger, Christ, Eve, the Rasul of God!
You whose heart constantly reaches upwards,
You come on earth with a message
as a dove from above when Dharma decays,
and speak the Word which is put into Your mouth as
the light fills the crescent moon.
Let the star of the Divine Light, shining in Your heart
be reflected in the hearts of Your devotees.
May the Message of the Divine reach far and wide,
illuminating and making whole humanity as
one single sister/brotherhood in the Mother/Fatherhood of God.
Amen
Rewritten from a Sufi prayer








To worship is to gather in one strong body, affirming that each of us is part of the body that is beloved community. To worship is to bring our deepest yearnings, our highest aspirations and our most cherished dreams together to share them, to proclaim them worthy to one another, so the truth they contain might support and nourish us as we strive to work for a better, more compassionate world for all beings.

Let us worship, then, with minds and hearts and hands and voices, knowing we are not isolated beings but connected, in mystery and miracle, to the universe, to this community and to one another.
Unitarian Universalist service



Sufi story as told by Andrew Harvey:
Once a young lion was frolicking in the long grass, chasing his tail when suddenly he discovered that all the other lions had left. He was a small cub who didn’t know much. When a flock of sheep came along, he tagged after them. The sheep took him in, brought him up, and taught him to walk, talk, snore, and baaaa like them, to chat about real estate, and pour derisive scorn on all things sacred. He became just like the best-educated sheep.

One day another lion happened to be striding though the mountains and saw this ludicrous sight a lion cub walking, talking baaaa-ing and sniveling like a sheep. With a great roar the lion ran down the hillside scattering the flock of sheep. He grabbed the lion cub and dragged it to a pond where he forced the cub to look at himself in the water. “Look, you are not a sheep, you are like me, you are a lion. You are a lion and you have the truth and the sincerity, the passion, and the majesty of a lion.” Then the lion gave an immense and glorious roar. This both terrified and excited the cub. “Now you roar” said the lion. The cub’s first attempts were pathetic rumblings, halfway between a baaaa and a shriek. But slowly, under the tutelage of the lion, the cub grew into claiming his lionhood and began over many years to learn how to roar.


Decide what is sacred to you, and put your best life energies at its service. Make that the focus of your studies, your work, the test for your pleasure and your relationships. Don't ever let fear or craving for security turn you aside. When you serve your passion, when you are willing to risk yourself for something, your greatest creative energies are released. Hard work is required, but nothing is more joyful than work infused by love.
~ Starhawk, The Spiral Dance




Reflections in the way of the Quaker – our reflections are part of our worship together. They are not ongoing conversation, but rather something that wells up from deep within. As we worship together in community, and in communion with one another, we share those things that have a profound meaning for us. We do not need to comment on or even acknowledge one another’s sharings, but simply offer them as a gift of worship. This might seem strange at first, but it will change and sanctify our energy together.









Divine MysteryDeliver me to my passion.Deliver me to my brilliance.Deliver me to my intelligence.Deliver me to my depth.Deliver me to my nobility.Deliver me to my beauty.Deliver me to my power to heal.Deliver me to You.
Amen






May there be peace in the higher regions
May there be peace in the firmament
May there be peace on earth
May the waters flow peacefully
May the herbs and plants grow peacefully
May all the divine powers bring unto us peace
The Supreme Being is peace
May we all be in peace, peace and only peace
And may that peace come into each of us
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti
The Vedas (1500 BCE)