Meditation Moments: Ellington and Welles

Rod's Prayer for Us

I am leaving you well and whole.  
That is my parting gift to you.*

Lord, Dear Lord of love, God Almighty, God Above,
Please look down and see my people through.
       Come Sunday ~ Duke Ellington**  [1899-1974]


Dear Rod:
       We rest easier in our hearts today knowing your words, your voice remain even as your earthly presence has been reborn as eternal and unbounded. You know that the celebration of you, through the jazz vespers you designed, was as glorious an hour as any of us have ever spent and we know you speak to us from each phrase, each note, each breath - the most joyful noise resounding beyond the barriers of earth and ether, hearts and souls. 
       The prayers, the Scripture (from The Message, of course), and mostly the music and the lyrics have given us the clearest blueprint for all of us to follow til we meet again. Knowing that you put this together in the very last days, as you knew you were leaving this life, is the purest, most ideal, truly inspirational model of how to live and die with the utmost grace, dignity, and peace. 
       Thank you, my friend. All of us who knew and loved you will carry your love for us forever and give it away as often as we can to as many as we can, as you did.  AMEN and HALLELUJAH!

A few of the selections from the Jazz Vespers at the Episcopal Church of Sts. Andrew & Matthew in Wilmington, DE on Saturday, June 28, 2014 designed by and in memory of our dearest brother in Christ, The Rev Rod Welles:

Come Sunday by Duke Ellington
Hold to God's Unchanging Hands, music by Paul Halley

Ecclesiastes 12:6-7 (The Message):
Life, lovely while it lasts, is soon over.
Life as we know it, precious and beautiful, ends.
The body is put back in the same ground it came from.
The spirit returns to God, who first breathed it.

1John 4:7-13 (The Message)

John 14:12-17. 25-27 (The Message)
.....*vv 25-27 speak clearly to me of Rod's directive to us all:
                             I am telling you these things while I am still living with you.
                             The Friend, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send at my 
                              request, will make everything plain to you, reminding you of
                              all the things I have told you.  I am leaving you well and 
                              whole.  That is my parting gift to you.              [emphasis added]

I'm So Glad Jesus Lifted Me, a Negro Spiritual
In That Great Gittin' Up Mornin', A Negro Spiritual
Take the 'A' Train, Billy Strayhorn/Duke Ellington 
       and so much more...


**Duke Ellington, American composer, musician, and jazz orchestra leader for more than 50 years is an icon of American music.  If you need to know more, just listen.

I cannot post the video here but use the link below or go to YouTube and search for Duke Ellington, Come Sunday and click on the link for the version by Kathleen Battle and Brandon Marsalis, oh my!

Come Sunday - Kathleen Battle & Brandon Marsalis
Please feel free to request a prayer or meditation to be composed for a particular person, concern, or topic for posting in this space. You may leave your request in the comments section or contact me directly at Leeosophy@gmail.com All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution as long as they are not sold or charged for in any way. If you would like the weekly Prayers of the People prior to its appearance on the blog, please send me an email. Personal prayer requestors will remain anonymous.

Meditation Moments: Permanently Temporary

photo by Christina Brennan Lee
Buddhist Temple Grounds - Kamakura, Japan

The plants and flowers
I raised about my hut
I now surrender
To the will
Of the wind 
             ― Ryōkan* [1758-1831]






Esteemed Mikado of the Cosmos ~
     I, Your humble human creature, still find myself clinging to the notion that I have control of my life and even my property. Except that the more I try to divest myself of stuff, the more stuff I seem to accumulate (after all, I have room now since I got rid of the other stuff). And then there was that tree that fell in the storm. 
    In terms of my life, well, there's no problem there - I could say that everything I plan happens exactly as I want, except You know better. All that is great, ordinary, or awful in living is really only temporary. 
    The wind blows, the roof leaks, the new car gets old,    ......s/he dies. 
    Help me, Most Supreme of us All, to surrender my illusion of control and find tranquility in the now moment of life. Grant me the insight to know that whatever else was, is, or will be, Your love is eternal, sustaining, and the only part of the Cosmos that is permanent.  amen.
  
  

*Ryōkan was a Japanese zen buddhist monk, poet, calligrapher, and for most of his life, a hermit.  Known for his eccentricities and humor, as much as for his poems, it is in his work that the essence of zen life is presented.    
        




Please feel free to request a prayer or meditation to be composed for a particular person, concern, or topic for posting in this space. You may leave your request in the comments section or contact me directly at Leeosophy@gmail.com All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution as long as they are not sold or charged for in any way. If you would like the weekly Prayers of the People prior to its appearance on the blog, please send me an email. Personal prayer requestors will remain anonymous.

Meditation Moments: Prepare to be Amazed

Amazement
watercolor by Jamie Winter

      Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. ....get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted.       Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed. 

          ― Abraham Joshua Heschel* [1907-1972]

God of gods, Lord of kings, Revealer of mysteries ~

          Being amazed when I get up in the morning isn't usually first on my list of things to do although some mornings it's amazing I've gotten that far. But before I know it the day has gone and I've missed it. The way I'm going, my whole life will be gone and I really don't want to wait until that specific moment to discover what true amazement is all about.

          God of Creation, too much time has passed and I want to experience this life and all that is in it as an act of radical amazement. You have hung the heavens, filled the seas, and planted the earth. Help me see, feel, hear, taste, touch, and know the spirituality of wonder in every possible moment...in the moments that are joyful, in the moments when I am lost, and in the moments that are so ordinary they seem to meld into the next without notice. Grant me, each day, the vision to see the splendor, the ability to savor each breath, and the insight to expand my consciousness of amazement as my spirit absorbs and lives into the essence of You. amen.

*Abraham Joshua Heschel, a Polish born American philosopher, theologian, rabbi and is considered one of the leaders of his disciplines in the 20th century. He authored many books and was a professor of Jewish mysticism at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.  A strong advocate of the American Civil Rights movement, Heschel lost close family members in the Nazi Holocaust of World War II.

Please feel free to request a prayer or meditation to be composed for a particular person, concern, or topic for posting in this space. You may leave your request in the comments section or contact me directly at Leeosophy@gmail.com All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution as long as they are not sold or charged for in any way. If you would like the weekly Prayers of the People prior to its appearance on the blog, please send me an email. Personal prayer requestors will remain anonymous.

Meditation Moments: Finding the Then in Now

      

      When I have something to say that I think will be too difficult for adults, I write it in a book for children. Children are excited by new ideas; they have not yet closed the doors and windows of their imaginations. Provided the story is good... nothing is too difficult for children.    
                     ― Madeleine L'Engle* [1918-2007]

Ruler of the Universe We Know, and All the Ones We Don't ~
          It's amazing to watch children at play. They see the wonder, the color, the surprise, and have the imagination to find excitement in a beautifully creative understanding of life. They accept revelation, move boundaries, and effortlessly disentangle enigmas. They ask why a thousand times without caring how many times they get the same answer and never stop looking for another.
          Lord, when did my world become so limited, fixed, and absolute? How did I lose my curiosity and agree to be constrained by imposed and unexplored assumptions?  Please help me find the child in me that my education, life experience, and trying to prove my worth to others has set aside. Open my eyes to possibilities, potential, insight, and a new experience of You. Let me learn how to play again and to expand my inner vision to rediscover delight, joy, laughter, and un-seriousness in my relationship with You. Grant me the gift to know now what I knew then and the non-sense to live it.  amen.

*Madeleine L'Engle,  an author of many books and articles, among other accolades she was a Newbery award winner for her junior novel A Wrinkle in Time. L'Engle was a strong Episcopalian, and later in life she was a "writer-in-residence" at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City where she is now buried. Because of some of her theological views such as universal salvation and a limit to divine punishment, many Christian libraries and bookstores refused to carry her books while at the same time she was criticized by secular reviewers as being "too religious." On writing for children, she often said that children could understand very complex topics better than adults and she emphasized the importance of being childlike and not childish.  



Please feel free to request a prayer or meditation to be composed for a particular person, concern, or topic for posting in this space. You may leave your request in the comments section or contact me directly at Leeosophy@gmail.com All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution as long as they are not sold or charged for in any way. If you would like the weekly Prayers of the People prior to its appearance on the blog, please send me an email. Personal prayer requestors will remain anonymous.

Meditation Moments: 3 hours? Oh sure...

I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.
             — Martin Luther*  [1483-1546]


Oh sure, God - not a problem, I'll just kick that off every morning! Can I just tell You how much I have to do every day? I'll bet Martin Luther didn't have to shop for groceries or prepare meals! And all the places I have to go? All the expectations others have of me? The pressure to get everything done on time and correctly, the phone calls, email, voicemail, bill paying, mowing the lawn, the laundry, text messages, travel reservations, doctor appointments.
       If I had the time I could go on and on for hours about how much time I do NOT have for prayer.....um, er, well, on the other hand, I guess I could just turn it all over to YOU...sort of like I just did. Hmm, I guess it isn't a requirement to lock myself up in a chapel on a kneeler. So, ok then, I'll just go on and on to You while I'm going around in my day. I already feel a little charged up, and wirelessly.  amen.




*Martin Luther was a German monk and theologian who is credited with the start of the Protestant Reformation. He was ultimately excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church. He challenged the authority of the Pope on several levels and disavowed the Bible as the only source of divinely-revealed knowledge. He believed in "the priesthood of all believers" for baptized people and translating the Bible into the local language made it more accessible from the academic Latin known only by clergy and the very well-educated. He married and introduced singing by the congregation. His later writings were antagonistic toward Jews and remain controversial.  Nonetheless the Lutheran Church, in its various forms, follow the basic tenets of his theology to this day. 




Please feel free to request a prayer or meditation to be composed for a particular person, concern, or topic for posting in this space. You may leave your request in the comments section or contact me directly at Leeosophy@gmail.com All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution as long as they are not sold or charged for in any way. If you would like the weekly Prayers of the People prior to its appearance on the blog, please send me an email. Personal prayer requestors will remain anonymous.

Prayers of the People: The Price of Free, 3rd Sunday after Pentecost

for Sunday, June 29, 2014, Readings:  Gen 22:1-18, Ps 13, Romans 6:12-23, Mt 10:37-42

...the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.     Romans 6:23b NRSV

       This week our first reading is related to one of the four "texts of terror" as author and seminary Professor Phyllis Trible describes several biblical accounts in her book of that name. Even many non-Bible readers are aware of God's call to Abraham to take his son Isaac and make him a burnt offering, to sacrifice his beloved child's life, as a test of obedience. Who hasn't wondered, and worried, if this is what it means to "obey" God? 
        It's easy, and scary, to get caught up in the language of fear but each of this week's readings reinforces the steadfast love of God which will not harm us, and the full reward of Christ by doing what we should be doing anyway, welcoming and caring for others. 
       Free gift? Well, it is free choice and, at the very least, the promise of eternity seems well worth obedience and hospitality as the price.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader:   ~ Lord of Righteousness, God of Grace, from the teachings of Christ we have learned obedience in our hearts and the release of our souls from the death grip of sin. We are thankful and humbled for Your exquisite love that sanctifies and gives us eternal life, through Jesus, Your Son and our Redeemer.

                         O Lord, our God, we trust in Your steadfast love

Response:    Our hearts rejoice in Your salvation

~ Lord of Righteousness, God of Grace, we ask you to endow the leaders of this world, our country, and our state with extra grace and strength of character to discern Your will and wisdom in all that they do for Your people.  We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                       O Lord, our God, we trust in Your steadfast love

                       Our hearts rejoice in Your salvation

~ Lord of Righteousness, God of Grace, grant healing and comfort to those who struggle with illness, recovery, and pain and nourish the stamina of those who support them. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                       O Lord, our God, we trust in Your steadfast love

                       Our hearts rejoice in Your salvation

~ Lord of Righteousness, God of Grace, please embrace those who bear the heavy burden of sorrow for their loss, as we lift up, with love, those who have exchanged this earthly life for peace and eternity with You. We pray especially for: add your own petitions

                       O Lord, our God, we trust in Your steadfast love

                       Our hearts rejoice in Your salvation

~ Lord of Righteousness, God of Grace, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt intentions and petitions, silently or aloud……..

                       O Lord, our God, we trust in Your steadfast love

                       Our hearts rejoice in Your salvation

~ Lord of Righteousness, God of Grace, we ask that You bolster and sustain those chosen to help us navigate the time and tides of this human experience. Impart refreshment in spiritual wisdom to preach Your Word, encourage our understanding, and connect us to You in everyday living. We pray especially for:  add your own petitions

                       O Lord, our God, we trust in Your steadfast love

                       Our hearts rejoice in Your salvation

The Celebrant adds:  God of All that is, Seen and Unseen, create in us the desire to be the welcoming disciples of Jesus, develop in us a spiritual thirst that seeks to be quenched only in You. Grant us the willingness to spend more time with You amidst the busy-ness of daily life, so that all that we are and all that we do is a reflection of Your love and grace. We ask this through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, who live and reign with You as our One God for all times and all places. Amen.

Please feel free to request a prayer or meditation to be composed for a particular person, concern, or topic for posting in this space. You may leave your request in the comments section or contact me directly at Leeosophy@gmail.com All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution as long as they are not sold or charged for in any way. If you would like the weekly Prayers of the People prior to its appearance on the blog, please send me an email. Personal prayer requestors will remain anonymous.

Meditation Moments: Know Myself

Nothing is more helpful to reduce pride than the actual experience of self-knowledge. If we are discouraged by it, we have misunderstood its meaning.
- Thomas Keating, American Trappist monk, Founder of the Centering Prayer movement [1923- ]

The essence of knowledge is self-knowledge.
- Plato, Greek philosopher, student of Socrates 
[ca. 424 BCE - 347 BCE]

Enquiry into the truth of the Self is knowledge.
- Ramayana, Hindu Epic, Indian classic literature [ca. 5th - 4th century BCE] 

When we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.
- Confucius, Chinese Philosopher [551 BCE - 479 BCE]

There are three Things extremely hard, Steel, a Diamond, and to know one’s self.
- Benjamin Franklin, American statesman, politician, printer, scientist, author, etc.  
[1706-1790]

Of all knowledge, the wise and good seek most to know themselves.
- Shakespeare, English playwright, poet [1564-1616]

Note to my Higher Power:  
              It seems that across the centuries and cultures, there is agreement about the importance of knowing myself. How do I really do that? Even Benjamin Franklin said that it's really hard. I already know that I can be my own best friend and my own worst enemy, well at least my harshest critic. And I do wonder, from time to time, what makes me think about things the way I do, and who and what influences me.         
             I could start thinking about basic questions such as: What gives me more energy - staying in alone, or being with a crowd? How do I get information that helps with decision making - just by my intuition or by gathering concrete information? And when I am making a decision, do I rely on what "my gut" tells me subjectively, or do I analyze the facts objectively? How much serious organization do I require in my life or am I more likely to "go with the flow"?
             Please inspire my willingness to find ways to know more about who I am and to seek helpful advice and companionship in the process. And, please remind me to take a few moments regularly to center myself in You, to breathe slowly in and out, and let myself be known better by me and by You.  amen.  



Please feel free to request a prayer or meditation to be composed for a particular person, concern, or topic for posting in this space. You may leave your request in the comments section or contact me directly at Leeosophy@gmail.com All compositions remain the property of the owner of this blog but may be used with attribution as long as they are not sold or charged for in any way. If you would like the weekly Prayers of the People prior to its appearance on the blog, please send me an email. Personal prayer requestors will remain anonymous.