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SACRED READINGS ARCHIVE

UNIVERSAL WORSHIP 7/24/03

EUREKA SPRINGS, ARKANSAS

AND

FORT SMITH, ARKANSAS 7/27/03

 

Theme:

The Messenger

And

The Spirit of Guidance

 

Toward the One,... (after lighting taper)

 

To the glory of the Omnipresent God, we kindle the light symbolically representing the...Hindu Religion, Buddhist Religion, Zoroastrian Religion, Native American Religion, Divine Feminine, Jewish Religion, Christian Religion, Religion of Islam (lighting each candle with the word kindle.)

 

To the glory of the Omnipresent God, we kindle the light symbolically representing all those who whether known or unknown to the world, have held aloft the light of Truth  through the darkness of human ignorance. (lighting the Spirit of Guidance candle)

 

Let us pray.  Saum   Praise be to  thee...(while facing the God candle)

 

We will read from the World Scriptures

 

We read in the Hindu Scriptures

 

<>I [Krishna] am the goal of the wise man, and I am the way.  I am his prosperity.  I am his heaven.  There is nothing dearer to him than I.
 

 Srimad Bhagavatam 11.12

 

We offer to the Omniscient God, our reverence, our homage, and our gratitude for the Light of the Divine Wisdom.

 

We will read in the  Buddhist Scriptures

 

Know then, that from time to time a Tathagata is born into the world, a fully Enlightened One, blessed and worthy, abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy with the knowledge of the worlds, unsurpassed as a guide

to erring mortals, a teacher of gods and men, a blessed Buddha.  He thoroughly understands this universe, as though he saw it face to face....The Truth does he proclaim both in its letter and in its spirit, lovely in its origin, lovely in its progress, lovely in its consummation.  A higher

life does he make known in all its purity and in all its perfection.

 

 Digha Nikaya xiii, Tevigga Sutta

 

We offer to the Omniscient God, our reverence, our homage, and our gratitude for the Light of the Divine Compassion

 

We will read in the Zoroastrian Scriptures

 

To me, Zarathustra, the prophet and sworn friend of righteousness,

Lifting my voice with veneration, O Wise One,

May the creator of the mind's force show, as Good Mind,

His precepts, that they may be the path of my tongue.

 

 Yasna 50.6

 

We offer to the Omniscient God, our reverence, our homage, and our gratitude for the Light of the Divine Purity

 

We will read in the Native American Scriptures

 

"Hear me, four quarters of the world -- a relative I am!

Give me the strength to walk the soft earth,

         a relative to all that is!

Give me the eyes to see and the strength to understand

         that I may be like you…

Great Spirit, Great Spirit, my Grandfather,

all over the earth the faces of living things are all alike.

With tenderness have these come up out of the ground.

Look upon these faces of children without number

         and with children in their arms

that they may face the winds and walk the good road

         to the day of quiet."

 

Black Elk, Life Prayers

 

We offer to the Omniscient God, our reverence, our homage, and our gratitude for the Light of the Divine Nature

 

We will read in the Divine Feminine Scriptures

 

" O friend, understand: the body

is like the ocean,

rich with hidden treasures.

 

Open your inmost chamber and light its lamp.

 

With the body are gardens,

rare flowers, peacocks, the inner Music;

within the body a lake of bliss,

on it the white soul-swans take their joy.

 

And in the body, a vast market --

go there, trade,

sell yourself for a profit you can't spend.

 

Mira says, her Lord is bdyond praising.

Allow her to dwell near Your feet."

 

Mirabai, Women in Praise of the Sacred

 

We offer to the Omniscient God, our reverence, our homage, and our gratitude for the Light of  the Divine Love

 

We will read in the Jewish Scriptures

 

 The Lord said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there, and I will give you the tables of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction."  So Moses rose with his servant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God....  Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.  And Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain.  And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

 

 Exodus 14.12-18

 

We offer to the Omniscient God, our reverence, our homage, and our gratitude for the Light of the Divine Law

 

We will read in the Christian Scriptures

 

I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.  If anyone hears my sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the

world. He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has a judge; the word that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day.  For I have not spoken on my own authority; the Father who sent me has himself given me commandment what to say and what to speak.  And I know that his commandment is eternal life.

 

 John 12.46-50

 

We offer to the Omniscient God, our reverence, our homage, and our gratitude for the Light of the Divine Self-Sacrifice

 

We will read in the Scriptures of Islam

 

Prophet, we have sent you as a witness, and good tidings to bear and warning, calling unto God by His leave, and as a light-giving lamp.

 

Qur'an 33.45-46

 

Say, "Obey God, and obey the Messenger; then, if you turn away, only upon him rests what is laid on him, and upon you rests what is laid on you.  If you obey him, you will be guided.  It is only for the Messenger to deliver

the manifest Message."

 

Qur'an 24.54

 

We offer to the Omniscient God, our reverence, our homage, and our gratitude for the Light of the Divine  Unity

 

We will now have a few minutes of silence (three minutes)

 

Let us pray Salat Most gracious Lord, Master Messiah,...(facing the God candle)

 

At the moment when I shall be leaving this earth, it is not the number of followers which will make me proud; it is the thought that I have delivered His message to some souls that will console me, and the feeling that it helped them through life that will bring me satisfaction.

 

Hazart Inayat Khan, Gayan p. 82

 

We offer to the Omniscient God, our reverence, our homage, and our gratitude for the Light of the Divine Truth

 

Sermon Drawing on Hazrat Inayat Khan's talk on the Spirit of Guidance delivered 1/16/23 in Nijmegen, Holland found in the Complete Works of Pir-O-Murshid

 

Let us pray  Khatum  O Thou, Who art the Perfection of Love, Harmony and Beauty... (facing the God candle)

 

Benediction (facing the congregation)

 

May the Blessing of God rest upon you; may God's Peace abide with you; may God's presence illuminate your hearts now and for evermore.  Amen