Silence of the heart

Dear Friends, Here are the questions from Monday night.

Tell me a way your superego reacts to the practice of worship
Worship involves learning to listen and feel into silence or stillness, especially in the heart. Ego/superego blocks us, distracts us. Doubts, unworthiness, confusion, beliefs based on our history or experience of church.  Ego and superego resist vulnerability. It wants an operating manual and it wants things fixed.
What is stillness in the heart. It is a kind of emptiness, a lack of reactivity, an openness that allows a space of receptivity and sensitivity. First we may feel deadness, numbness , emotional turmoil, dissociation into the head, distraction. Or we may feel drawn into the stillness and discover the desire of the heart to worship.  Inevitably we will have to contend with the grasping, avoiding, deadening nature of our emotional heart. It is territory we have to traverse with patience and compassion. This  clarifying or purifying of the heart transforms it  from being a center of emotions into the organ of sensitivity and receptivity that is capable of knowing the silence.
Explore what opens you into silence/stillness  in the heart and what blocks that opening? What does your heart feel like right now?

We will be holding our Contemplative Worship Service this coming Monday, February 3rd from 7.30-9.00pm. 

You may begin to notice hopes and expectations arise.Perhaps you had a lovely time during our previous service. You may notice fantasies about how you want it go next time. You may notice expectations. Welcome to the grasping emotional heart! This is almost inevitable. No worship service is the same. Practicing presence allows us to return to our experience in the now, noticing all the grasping, all the judgements, sensing ourselves into our feet and belly. By allowing and by holding our experience we can rest. This is the doorway. 

Or perhaps you had a miserable time and you believe that you will always be cut off. This too is a grasping. We are grasping at our fixed self, convinced that we know what will happen and beset by the attacks of the superego. It is important to recognize the superego and push it away. We may also have to untangle many beliefs and ideas we hold about worship. These beliefs come from what we learned as a children. But they also include deep seated confusions about the languaging of worship. What does God, Lord mean? Are we worthy of being blessed, of being the beloved of the beloved?

By the way the author of the longer reading was Rumi.

Looks like we may warm up a bit. Don't fall, stay warm. Hope to see you next Monday

worship service

Here is the Monday night service and some notes about contemplative worship.

Contemplative worship.
Worship comes from the old English O.E."condition of being worthy, honor, renown,”  and sciepe, and -scip "state, condition of being," "to create, ordain, appoint." Worship is to lift up what is worthy.
Contemplation: The Latin word contemplatio was used to translate the Greek word θεωρία (theoria). In a religious sense, contemplation is usually a type of prayer or meditation.
Practicing Presence is the gentle focus on the embodied now. Sensing the arms and legs, sensing the belly and breath deepens the  grounded embodiment. Sensing in the heart allows us to become closer, more intimate with this moment of nowness. Sensing in the mind allows an opening into deep stillness and clarity. The practice of presence is simply opening to being awake and aware now.
Silence is not the absence of thoughts. Silence is the nature of presence.
Distraction and resistance are to be expected. Simply gently return to sensing in the body.

Contemplative Worship Service
Opening with 3 bells

Acclamation

Listen deep within yourself
To hear the voice of God
Who shepherds us and leads us forth in life.
Let not our hearts be hardened or grow closed,
As many did when the waters failed
And bitterness became their food.

Chant.
Bless  the Lord, my soul
And bless God's holy name.
Bless The Lord my soul,
Who leads me into life.

Prayer
Oh God of peace, Oh presence of peace, you have taught us that in returning and rest we shall be met, in quietness and  in confidence shall be our strength; by the might of your Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God.

Grounding meditation

Chant.
Bless  the Lord, my soul
And bless God's holy name.
Bless The Lord my soul,
Who leads me I to life.

A short reading
The soul becomes so quiet in ecstasy, so quiet. Love speaks in silence, not in the heights of passion.
Central remembrance

Central chant 
Be still and know that I am God  (x6  Bell)
Be still and know that I am (x6 Bell)
Be still and know (x6 Bell) 
Be still  (x6 Bell)
Be (x6 Bell)

Silence
 (5-10mins)

Longer reading
 Make everything in you an atom of your sensing being. And you will hear, you will sense at every moment what presence is whispering to you, just to you and for you, without any need for my words or anyone else's. You are--we all are-- the beloved of the beloved one, and in every moment, whether you hear it or not, the beloved one is whispering to you exactly what it is you need to  feel  and know. Who can explain such a mystery? It simply is. Listen and sense and you will discover in every passing moment. Listen and feel and your whole life will become a conversation in thought and act between you and the  divine presence, directly, wordlessly, now and always. It was to enjoy this conversation that you and I were created.             
Quiet reflections in threes  Read three times. Explore what draws you. 
Brief sharing in the large circle

Central chant
Be still and know that I am God  (x6  Bell)
Be still and know that I am (x6 Bell)
Be still and know (x6 Bell) 
Be still  (x6 Bell)
Be (x6 Bell)

The Silence
10-15  mins
Returning to the world

Listen deep within yourself
To hear the voice of God
Who shepherds us and leads us forth in life.
Let not our hearts be hardened or grow closed,
As many did when the waters failed
And bitterness became their food.

Closing chant
My peace I give you,
My peace I give you,
Trouble not your heart.
My peace I give you
My peace I give you,
Be not afraid.

Closing bell 3 times.  

contemplative worship

Dear Friends,

 Joe and I are excited by a new direction that is emerging out of our three years of the practice of presence. We feel a call to create a contemplative worship space. As with everything this space will emerge over time. We will be listening, experimenting and with time a form will emerge that will support worship deeply rooted in silence, chanting, readings and the practice ofpresence. We will dip into this every other week. Everyone is welcome. You do not need to attend the other sessions of the practice of presence, although they will certainly support this new opening.

Our ongoing group will resume on January 6th. We will be exploring what it means to worship, what blocks the heart in its natural longing to praise and celebrate our deepest love. You are welcome to join us.

Our first session of contemplative worship will be held on January 13th 2014 at 7.30pm at ECI. All our welcome.

We wish you all a very happy new year. Alison and Joe