The Magdalene Community at Grace Episcopal Church

Sunday, October 9, 2016, 4:00pm

Call to Silence and Opening Meditation

Opening Greeting

The Blessed One greeting them all, saying: Peace be with you – may my Peace arise and be fulfilled within you! Be vigilant, and allow no one to mislead you by saying: ”Here it is!” or “There it is!” For the child of true humanity exists within you.  Follow it!  Those who search for it will find it.

Celebrant:  Peace be with you.

All:  Acquire my peace within you.

·         A Reading from the Gospel of Mary

Mary said to them:  “I will now speak to you of that which has not been given to you to hear.  I had a vision of the Teacher, and I said to him: “Lord I see you now in this vision,” And he answered:  “You are blessed, for the sight of me does not disturb you.  There where the mind is lies the treasure.”

Then I said to him:  “Lord, when someone meets you in a Moment of vision, is it through the soul that they see, or is it through the Spirit? The Teacher answered:  “It is neither through the soul nor the spirit, but the mind between the two which sees the vision…”

Prayer – Al-‘Asma Al-Husna, “The Beautiful Names” (all together)

Holy One of One-Hundred Names,

Three of which are Compassion, Love, and Mercy,

We acknowledge our offenses against you and your creation.

In our attempts to be holy, too often we have listened to others

Instead of trusting our own God-given instincts.

We have accepted distorted images of women for so long

That we no longer recognize the godly goodness of our own voices.

We have tarnished the unique God-shaped image that you so tenderly created inside

    each one of us,

Female and male.

We confess that, at times, we have not loved you or our neighbors,

We have not loved ourselves or have we loved Creation.

We are rarely able to receive your all-encompassing love.

Instead of fanning the flames of your love in our midst,

Too often we have quenched the divine sparks.

Instead of allowing your Holy Breath to swirl around us freely, sometimes

We have tried to trap the breeze in a box to be used for our purposes.

We ask you to blow away the cobwebs of temptation and to blot out the stain of our

offenses.

We pray that your light may shine through us, and we may be all you created us to be.

We hope that we may reflect your Glorious Harmony in the world.

We ask this in your many names, O God of One Hundred Names.

Amen

A Celebration of the Divine Feminine

Celebrant:  We gather here to seek a new meaning, an ancient path and a forgotten truth.

We search for the Magdalene as we pray (the celebrant lights the candle):

(All say)

         Our Lady Magdalene, holy and complete,

         Your mysteries are many,

         Apostle of the apostles,

         Blessed among women,

         Kindle in me the spark of wisdom

         Which guides from darkness into light.

Celebrant (lifting the bowl):  we share bread from an earthen bowl – bread, the essential nourishment;

Bread and bowl, gifts from the hearth.  We share it in love:

(All say)

         Love is the key to unlock the secrets

         Of compassion, empathy and life.

         I live to transcend this mortal coil

         Through the power of perfect love.

(The celebrant offers the bowl to the person on the left, who takes a piece.  She/he then takes

The bowl and offers it to the one on her/his left.  Each holds the bowl as the next person takes a

Piece, so serving each other around the room)

Celebrant (Lifting the cup):  We share milk in a glass cup as we seek to honor the feminine within

Our souls, bodies and selves, and for our past, present and future:

(All say)

         From the past, let me learn

         For the present, let me live,

         And for the future, let me strive.

         May today be the holy benefactor of tomorrow.

(The celebrant offers the cup to the person on the left, who dips his/her bread, then takes

The cup and offers it to the next person, again serving each other around the room. All eat.  After a

Short pause, the celebrant lifts the candle)

(All say)

         For so long as the truth burns

         In my secret heart of hearts,

         May I walk the path of faithfulness

         Toward the limitless light.

   

         Peace be with you

(The celebrant blows out the candle)

Let us Pray

Our Mother who art within us,

Each breath brings us to you.

Thy wisdom come,

Thy will be done,

As we honor your presence within us.

You give us this day all that we need.

Your bounty calls us to give and receive

All that is loving and pleasurable.

You are the courage that moves us to be true to ourselves

And we act with grace and power.

We relax into your cycles of birth,

Growth, death and renewal.

Out of the womb, the darkness, the void, comes new life.

For you are the Mother of All Things.

Your body is the Sacred Earth and our bodies.

Your love nurtures us and unites us all.

Now and forever more.    Amen.

Call to Conversation

Closing Prayer

O Gentle, O Kind, O Blessed Sophia,

Thy Children on earth call to thee.

We pray thee, Beloved Mother, to cast forth

Thy net of woven starlight.

Fling it wide across the ocean of the universe

And gather us home to the realms of Light.

May we be as loving and faithful as our venerable sister, Mary Magdalene,

May she never be forgotten, and may her name be eternally blessed.  Amen

Symbols, References, and Influences:

Candle – represents us before God

Flames & smoke – carry our prayers and offerings to Heaven

Earthen bowl – Brigid, Goddess and Saint

Glass cup – glass is made in fire another association with Brigid. The cup is a symbol

  for the feminine

Bread – the essential food

Milk – life itself, the essential feminine

Passing to the left – the left side is the “feminine” side

She Who Changes, Carol Christ

The Serpent and the Goddess, Mary Condren

The Gospel of Mary of Magdala, Karen L. King.

Invoking Mary Magdalene, Siobhan Houston, “Seven Payers to Magdalene.”

Women at Worship, Marjorie Proctor-Smith & Janet Walton

The Women’s Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects, Barbara Walker

The Magdalene Mystique, Betty Conrad Adam

The Book of Common Prayer, 1982, According to the use of the Episcopal Church

She Who Prays: A Woman’s Interfaith Prayer Book, Jane Richardson Jensen & Patricia

    Harris-Watkins

Carol Jung, “Archetypes,” http://www.simplepsychology.org/carl-jung.html

GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH