Come, O You Who Are Come ...

An Advent Service of Silence & Beholding

an unhurried time in which to dwell at the heart of the Eucharist

Sunday November 27th

8am St. Mary's Church, 

Sullington, RH20 4AE

O Wisdom:

I cannot think unless I have been thought,

Nor can I speak unless I have been spoken.

I cannot teach except as I am taught,

Or break the bread except as I am broken.

O Mind behind the mind through which I seek,

O Light within the light by which I see,

O Word beneath the words with which I speak,

O founding, unfound Wisdom, finding me,

O sounding Song whose depth is sounding me,

O Memory of time, reminding me,

My Ground of Being, always grounding me,

My Maker’s Bounding Line, defining me,

Come, hidden Wisdom, come with all you bring,

Come to me now, disguised as everything.

Advent Antiphons

Malcolm Guite

https://malcolmguite.wordpress.com/tag/advent-antiphons/

Peace be with you

the energies of love ...

As leaves fall, evenings darken and the temperature drops, it seems to me that there is a withdrawal of natural energy into the depths of the earth's being, not into passivity but into the quiet inner activity of preparation, resourcing and renewal. So it is with contemplative practice ...

So, for this month of remembrance of the saints of the ages and of all those fallen in the wars of this world, past and current, I offer these words from The Unbearable Wholeness of Being by Ilea Delio for meditation and reflection.

Without religious convergence, evolution cannot go forward because we cannot harness the energies of love for greater unity and being. Religious convergence is not by way of doctrine but of what we hold together across languages, cultures, and religions: earth, community, peace and justice. We must enter into communion 'with the very source of all interior drive' (Teilhard de Chardin). The convergence of religions must be centred on love, as each religion expresses love and union with the divine in its own particular way. To live from the inner depth of love, as persons in evolution, is to live with purpose and direction not as an 'I' but as a 'we', a collective whole. To know God as the wholeness of love is to enter into oneness at the heart of all life. That is why prayer and contemplation are essential for the next stage of evolution. Without the eye of the heart or the inner space to welcome the new ways love shows itself in others, we cannot love toward greater unity. God is the ultimacy of love, the heart of life, and the power of the future. Any religion that attempts to grasp or control God kills cosmic hope. To recognise the face of God in the face of the other liberates the other ... Rather the other becomes a brother or sister, bound together by the luminous thread of love. 

May our practice be graced with love for one another 

across time, distance and difference.

The peace of Christ be with you