A Heartful Prayer

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compassion, John Philip Newell, oneness, Peace, stressful, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, visions

In this stressful season for so many, I take comfort in the offering of John Phillip Newell for this Saturday. I hope you feel the same.

“To the home of peace, to the field of love, to the land where forgiveness and right relationship meet, we look, O God, with  longing for earth’s children, with compassion for the creatures, with hearts breaking for the nations and people we love. Open us to visions we have never known, strengthen us for self-givings we have never made, delight us with a oneness we could never have imagined, that we may truly be born of you, makers of peace.

A New Day

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John Philip Newell, life, light, oneness, Praying With the Earth, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today we take a breath. Some return to work. For some it is enough to put away gifts received and put out the trash, saying goodbye to loved ones and checking the calendar to keep appointments straight. Regardless of the events of yesterday and how we celebrated Christmas (or not at all), the tumult of the holiday fades today as we return to “normal life.” We might well use the Wednesday morning prayer from John Philip Newell to guide us along into renewed awareness that we can be somehow changed for the better each day, whether a grand holiday or a stitch in ordinary time.

All things come from you, O God, and to you we return. All things merge in your great river of life and into you we vanish again. At the beginning of this day we wake not as separate streams but as countless currents in a single flow, the flow of this day’s dawning, the flow of this day’s delight, the flow of this day’s sorrows, your flow, O God, in the twistings and turnings of this new day.

All things are born of you, O God. We carry within us your light and your life. In the mystery of matter and deep in the cells of our souls are your longings for oneness. The oneness of the universe, vast and vibrating with the sound of its beginning. The oneness of the earth, greening and teeming as a single body. The oneness of the human soul a sacred countenance in infinite form. Grant us your longings for oneness, O God, amidst life’s glorious multiplicities. (Praying With the Earth, p. 26, 28)

The Gift of Frost

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breathe, Earth, forgiveness, heal the world, heaven, John Philip Newell, land, love, love of life, love of neighbors, Peace, prayer, Praying With the Earth, self, souls, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

7:40AM. There’s something about the drop to just beyond freezing temperatures outside (26 F.) that silences me as if the earth put a finger to her lips saying, “Shh…Pay attention. Don’t move from where you sit. Just drink in the moment!” I would love to open my window and breathe in the freshness but I’m afraid that would be just a little too extreme for such an exercise right now. So I sit ensconced in the comfort of the chair that is slowly molding itself to my body, feeling the air around me. It’s cold enough to make me know I have made the right decision but warm enough to give thanks for the heat that rises from downstairs and allows me to concentrate on the prayer for Saturday morning in John Philip Newell’s book, Praying with the Earth: A Prayerbook for Peace. Won’t you join me?

To the home of peace, to the field of love, to the land where forgiveness and right relationship meet we look, O God, with longing for earth’s children, with compassion for the creatures, with hearts breaking for the nations and people we love. Open us to visions we have never known, strengthen us for self-givings we have never made, delights with a oneness we could never have imagined, that we may truly be born of You makers of peace.

May the love of life fill our hearts. May the love of earth bring joy to heaven. May the love of self deepen our souls. May the love of neighbor heal our world. As nations, as peoples, as families this day may the love of life heal our world.

Standard Time

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daylight saving time, heart of life, John Philip Newell, light, Praying With the Earth, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, time

Sometime in the night my cell phone pulled back an hour to afford me another hour of sleep. Just like that…done…and now we are on Eastern Standard Time here. It’s a bit of a lesson, sounding like “God said ‘Let there be light and there was light'” — but not really. We have no power over the elements or the “space/time continuum,” as it is called. And most of us won’t be quite as satisfied when it is dark at 5:00EST today, rather than at 6:00 like yesterday. There’s a very long article on Wikipedia today explaining the origin and practice of Daylight Saving Time – as well as the places which have exempted themselves over the years. There is, of course, a legal process to follow in order for a state – or territory of the U.S. – to change or not to change and reasons given for the choice. Still, it remains a bit of a conundrum for me, seeming like it is just one more thing that we complicate to serve our own needs.

I must admit, however, it was very comfortable to lie in bed this morning, dozing in and out and watching the light come…So here’s a prayer for the morning to accept and be grateful for what we’ve been given in this glorious universe!

Light within all light, Soul behind all souls at the breaking of dawn, at the coming of day we wait and watch. Your light within the morning light, Your Soul within the human soul, Your presence beckoning us from the heart of life. In the dawning of this day let us know fresh shinings in our soul. In the growing colours of new beginnings all around us let us know the first lights of our heart. Great Star of the morning, Inner Flame of the universe, let us be a colour in this new dawning. (Praying with the Earth by John Philip Newell)

Oneness

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John Philip Newell, Life Is a Verb, lightning, oneness, solace, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

When things in the world seem dark and dreary and fragmented, we seek encouragement from any source available to us. Today it will be sunshine – if the predicted weather gives us one of those amazing October days. We hang on to “October’s Bright Blue Weather” as we know that winter will surely soon be upon us. As on the outside, so we hope for solace for our inner selves. I find it in the words of John Philip Newell today in Praying with the Earth.

All things are born of you, O God. We carry within us your light and your life. In the mystery of matter and deep in the cells of our souls are your longings for oneness. The oneness of the universe vast and vibrating with the sound of its beginning. The oneness of the earth greening and teeming as a single body. The oneness of the human soul a sacred countenance in infinite form. Grant us your longings for oneness, O God, amidst life’s glorious multiplicities. (p. 28)

Morning Blessing

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grateful, John Philip Newell, love of earth, love of life, love of neighbors, love of self, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

This morning, a short blessing prayer from John Philip Newell as I prepare to go and serve breakfast for a bright, kindly group of women here at the Spiritual Center for the last of our season’s workshops. It is a privilege to be in the presence each weekend of such seekers of a deep spiritual experience and I am grateful as I pray:

May the love of life fill our hearts. May the love of earth bring joy to heaven. May the love of self deepen our souls. May the love of neighbors heal our world. As nations, as peoples, as families this day, may the love of life heal our world.

Monday Morning Stillness

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courage, heart, humility, John Philip Newell, Praying With the Earth, reverence, strong, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, treasure, wait

The lovely book by John Philip Newell entitled Praying with the Earth: A Prayerbook for Peace is set up in such a way that the reader not only finds – in addition to the prayers for the life of the world – prayers of awareness and blessing twice a day but also quotes from the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures and the Quran. That sounds like a lot of words but, in fact, it is not. Here are the three Scripture quotes for Monday morning that in their brevity moves one, perhaps, to a deeper, wordless place of peace.

Wait for God. Be strong and let your heart take courage. (Psalm 27: 14)

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:21)

Remember God deep in your soul with humility and reverence. (Quran – The Heights 7 .205)

Praying with the Earth

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gift, John Philip Newell, love, Peace, Praying With the Earth, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The meteorologists acted as if Hurricane Dorian was finished wreaking havoc when it barreled through North Carolina. Not so! I saw the footage of Nova Scotia’s damage last night and wondered how much longer it could go on. So this morning I am again Praying with the Earth the words of John Philip Newell in hope that the world will soon be righted again.

For the gift of this new day, for waking again from the dreams of the night, for our bodies strengthened and our minds renewed thanks be to you, O God. You are the stillness of the night, You are the genesis of the morning, You are the moistness of new conception. Let there be peace in the human soul. Let there be wakings to new consciousness, let there be tears of love. In the life of the world this day and in our own hearts let there be fresh tears of love. (p. 4)

Prayer for Awareness

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blessings, Dorian, God's presence, John Philip Newell, Praying With the Earth, the first Breath of day, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As I wait for new information about hurricane Dorian and its slow process of destruction, I pray for God to be with all those affected by this unprecedented event. No, that’s not exactly true. What I am praying for is that those affected will be aware of God’s presence in the midst of the storm. John Philip Newell companions me in the waiting and in the hope of this new day.

It is in the depths of life that we find you/ at the heart of this moment/ at the centre of our soul/ deep in the earth and its eternal stirrings./ You are the Ground of all being/ the Well-Spring of time/ Womb of the earth/ the Seed Force of stars./ And so at the opening of this day/ we wait/ not for blessings from afar/ but for You/ the very soil of our soul/ the early Freshness of morning/ the first Breath of day. (John Philip Newell, Praying with the Earth)

Earth in Crisis

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crisis, disturbing, Earth, earthquakes, Holy One, John Philip Newell, Prayer of Awareness, Praying With the Earth, recycled, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

We who live in this blessed region of our vast country watch with concern this week the news of earthquakes in California (Are they the harbinger of “the Big One?”) and flash flooding in the nation’s capital, while at the same time giving thanks for the minor inconveniences that we encounter close to home. “Disturbing” is certainly a word that we might use to describe our feelings about what is happening to the Earth, our home, but we should next be asking how we are complicit in the degradation and what we are doing to counteract it.

There has been a commercial on television lately about Rothy’s shoes, made out of recycled plastic. A person twists a plastic water bottle in her hands and it turns into a shoe and then there are all sorts of pictures of shoes. I couldn’t imagine that the message they were conveying was actually about plastic becoming wearable shoes so – of course – I went on the internet to do some research and, believe me, whoever had the idea certainly did their homework. Not only shoes but now clothing is being made from the huge amount of plastic that we discard each day. Statistics are mind-boggling as are the concepts of what can be done with what we throw away.

The lack of concern for the earth is monumental and shame should be our only reaction as we see pictures of the debris being scooped up from the oceans and littering our highways. I am somewhat calmed by the efforts of creative people like the Rothy’s company leaders but the earthquakes this week have (pardon the word) shaken me awake and hopefully have done the same for many people.

I know that much work has to be done and I can only hope I will enter the realm of the active reformers, doing my part in conscious and responsible citizenship. This morning, however, I have decided it might also be time to use John Philip Newell’s book, Praying with the Earth, as a consciousness-raising tool for my morning and/or night prayer. Today’s offering includes the following Prayer of Awareness. (I write it as a stream with few stops to accentuate the urgency of its message to the Holy One.)

It is in the depths of life that we find you at the heart of this moment at the centre of our soul deep in the earth and its eternal stirrings. You are the Ground of all being the Well-Spring of time Womb of the earth the Seed-force of stars. And so at the opening of this day we wait not for blessings from afar but for You the very Soul of our soul the early Freshness of morning the first Breath of day. (p. 18)