M3M: September 18, 2008 Theme: Let Go, Let Be
OPENING: #9 Awaken Me
PRAYER: #36 Holy one, Holy & Mighty1
TABLE: #21 Come to the Circle
SANCTUS: #32 Holy, Holy, Holy One 2
CLOSING: #73 We Are In God
A Reading from the Christian Gospel: Mark 8: 31-37
Jesus began telling his disciples what would happen to him. He said, “The nation’s leaders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law of Moses will make the Son of man suffer terribly. He will be rejected and killed, but three days later he will rise to life.” Then Jesus explained clearly what he meant. Peter took Jesus aside and told him to stop talking like that. But when Jesus turned and saw the disciples, he corrected Peter. He said to him, “Satan, get away from me! You are thinking like everyone else and not like God.” Jesus then told the crowd and the disciples to come closer, and he said, “If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross and follow me. If you want to save your life, you will destroy it. But if you give up your life for me and for the good news, you will save it. What will you gain, if you own the whole world but destroy yourself? What could you give to get back your soul?”
Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
Thanks be to God.
A Reading from the Taoist Tradition: Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, #48
In the pursuit of learning, every day something is acquired.
In the pursuit of TAO, every day something is dropped.
Less and less is done
until non-action is achieved.
When nothing is done, nothing is left undone.
The world is ruled by letting things take their course.
It cannot be ruled by interfering.
Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
Thanks be to God.
A Reading from the Continuing Revelation of God to People of Faith: The Butterfly (Internet)
A man found the cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no further. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of cocoon.
The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with its swollen body and shriveled wings. It was never able to fly.
What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle were necessary for the butterfly to experience. Getting through that tiny opening was God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly and into its wings, so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.
Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
Thanks be to God.
