St Andrew s on The Terrace

Transcription

1 St Andrew s on The Terrace Advent Contemplations Sensing the Season Listening

2 Welcome Incarnation through presence..being present through our body/senses. Reading: Earth Songs By Joy Cowley The earth is full of songs, some joyful, some angry, others full of tenderness or grief. Everywhere there are songs and singers who are eager to share their melodies. But the world is short of listeners. Yes, my friends, listeners are rare. It s a shame when a singer must pay someone by appointment to hear a song, a listener who counts rhythm on a watch. Wouldn t it be a great old world if we saw each other s songs as treasure? Then we could say Yes, please, sing to me your song of anger, For I too know anger, and perhaps your anger and my anger can hold hands and do something creative. Or we could say Sing out your grief. My heart is open and it will collect the beauty of your tears. Unfortunately, we too, wear watches and often we are deafened by our own songs, tunes that have gone unheard for years. What a pity! What a waste! Oh God, help us to value the songs of earth and to know everyone as a gift of heaven.

3 Listening to music Come and find the quiet centre (Words: Shirley Murray; music: Jillian Bray. From Faith Forever Singing) Come and find the quiet centre in the crowded life we lead, find the room for hope to enter, find the frame where we are freed: clear the chaos and clutter, clear our eyes, that we can see all the things that really matter, be at peace, and simply be. Silence is a friend who claims us, cools the heat and slows the pace, God it is who speaks and names us, knows our being, touches base, making space within our thinking, lifting shades to show the sun, raising courage when we re shrinking, finding scope for faith begun. In the Spirit let us travel, open to each other s pain, let our lives and fears unravel, celebrate the space we gain: there s a place for deepest dreaming, there s a time for heart to care, in the Spirit s lively scheming there is always room to spare!

4 Silence Reading: Did you hear that bird sing? By Anthony de Mello... The disciple was always complaining to his master, you are hiding the final secret of Zen from me. And he would not accept the master s denials. One day they were walking in the hills when they heard a bird sing. Did you hear that bird sing? said the master. Yes said the disciple. Well now you know that I have hidden nothing from you Yes If you really heard a bird sing, if you really saw a tree...you would know. Beyond words and concepts. What was that you said? You have heard dozens of birds sing, and seen hundreds of trees? Ah, was it the tree you saw or the label? If you look at a tree and see a tree, you have really not seen the tree. When you look at the tree and see a miracle-then, at last you have seen! Did your heart never fill with wordless wonder when you heard a bird in song? Listening to music Benedictus from The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace by Karl Jenkins Blessing In birdsong, human voice and the rustle of leaves in the wind, guide us gently to that calm and silent space within, where we can hear and sing our own songs. Amen.

5 Earth Songs The earth is full of songs, some joyful, some angry, others full of tenderness or grief. Everywhere there are songs and singers who are eager to share their melodies. But the world is short of listeners. Yes, my friends, listeners are rare. It s a shame when a singer must pay someone by appointment to hear a song, a listener who counts rhythm on a watch. Wouldn t it be a great old world if we saw each other s songs as treasure? Then we could say Yes, please, sing to me your song of anger, For I too know anger, and perhaps your anger and my anger can hold hands and do something creative. Or we could say Sing out your grief. My heart is open and it will collect the beauty of your tears. Unfortunately, we too, wear watches and often we are deafened by our own songs, tunes that have gone unheard for years. What a pity! What a waste! Oh God, help us to value the songs of earth and to know every one as a gift of heaven. -Joy Cowley

6 Did you hear that bird sing? Hindu India developed a magnificent image to describe God s relationship with creation. God dances creation. He is the dancer, creation is his dance. The dance is different from the dancer; yet it has no existance apart from him. You cannot take it home in a box if it pleases you. The moment the dancer stops, the dance ceases to be. In our quest for God, we think too much, reflect too much, talk too much. Even when we look at this dance that we call creation, we are the whole time thinking, talking (to ourselves and others), reflecting, analysing, philosophising. Words. Noise. Be silent and contemplate the dance. Just look: a star, a flower, a fading leaf, a bird, a stone...any fragment of the dance will do. Look. Listen. Smell. Touch. Taste. And hopefully it won t be too long before you see him - the dancer himself! The disciple was always complaining to his master, you are hiding the final secret of Zen from me. And he would not accept the master s denials. One day they were walking in the hills when they heard a bird sing. Did you hear that bird sing? said the master. Yes said the disciple. Well now you know that I have hidden nothing from you Yes If you really heard a bird sing, if you really saw a tree...you would know. Beyond words and concepts. What was that you said? You have heard dozens of birds sing, and seen hundreds of trees? Ah, was it the tree you saw or the label? If you look at a tree and see a tree, you have really not seen the tree. When you look at the tree and see a miracle-then, at last you have seen! Did your heart never fill with wordless wonder when you heard a bird in song? - Anthony de Mello