Meeting ID: 815 0755 1772
To connect by phone dial: +1 646 558 8656
Opening Song: Be Still And Know by Shaina Knoll
Welcome:
These times are treacherous. All around us we see fear. The terror of war and the death it brings continues to plague so many. Families are being torn apart, people are disappearing.
What we are suffering is not new. It has happened before. It will happen again. Where can we look for hope? From whom might we seek repose and rest from the strife?
Tonight I offer the thoughts and prayers of Julian of Norwich, the English mystic who lived in the mid-1300’s, when the Black Death swept through the cities of Europe, killing up to half of the population.
Opening Prayer: From Julian’s “Revelations,” (adapted)
And so in this sight I saw that God is everything which is good, as I understand.
And in this God showed me something small, no bigger than a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand, as it seemed to me, and it was as round as a ball. I looked at it with the eye of my understanding and thought: What can this be? I was amazed that it could last, for I thought that because of its littleness, it would suddenly have fallen into nothing. And I was answered in my understanding: It lasts and always will, because God loves it; and thus everything has being through the love of the Holy One.
In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it, the second is that God loves it, the third is that God preserves it. But what did I see in it? It is that God is the Creator and the protector and the lover. When we are united to our Beloved, we can find happiness.
Second Reading: From Julian’s “Revelations,” (adapted)
For we are so preciously loved by the Holy One that we cannot even comprehend it. No created being can ever know how much and how sweetly and tenderly God loves them. It is only with the help of this grace that we are able to persevere in spiritual contemplation with endless wonder at his high, surpassing, immeasurable love which our Beloved in his goodness has for us.
Prayers for the Beloveds of the Beloved:
May the hearts of all world leaders be open to the love that the Holy One offers them in abundance, so that they allow that love to overflow in the decisions they make and in the actions they take.
Response: May Love Prevail.
May courage, born of love, fill the hearts of all people, making us prophets in our own time, speaking truth to the powerful.
Response: May Love prevail.
May the love that comes from our Beloved alone fill us with peace, assurance, and kindness as we face the challenges that lie ahead.
Response: May Love Prevail.
Please offer any intentions you may have at this time.
Closing Prayer: (This, the most familiar prayer of Julian, does not mean that everything will be all right. It doesn’t mean that there will be no suffering. It’s meaning is deeper than that. It means that no matter what happens, our Beloved will be present. God will not abandon us. And the Divine Presence, that which makes us, which keeps us whole, is our true life, our inner being, our true self. That part of us cannot be touched by the sin that devours the world. So let us pray):
But Jesus, who in this vision informed me of all that is needed by me, answered with these words and said: “It was necessary that there should be sin; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”
Closing Song: Julian of Norwich by Ann Mayo Muir and Gordon Bok https://youtu.be/oy8mPGJ1TP8
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