“We have calcium in our bones, iron in our veins, carbon in our souls, and nitrogen in our brains. 93 percent stardust, with souls made of flames, we are all just stars that have people names.” ~Nikita Gill
This is an in-person gathering. It will be live-streamed.
You may view the gathering on our YouTube channel.
Fire Social: Following the morning worship service in the Sanctuary we will hold our Sharing Ours Hearts social outdoors around a communal fire.
Interfaith Community Sanctuary’s Spiritual Discernment for 2022 is:
ENCOUNTERING THE INFINITE
Meeting the Divine Mother in Nature, Humanity, and the Cosmos
A contemplative, exploratory inquiry and discovery
January-April: we will be Meeting the Divine Mother in Nature
May-August: we will be Meeting the Divine Mother in Humanity
September-December: we will be Meeting the Divine Mother in the Cosmos
May’s Discernment is “The End of Patriarchy”
The end of patriarchy happens through the harmonious balance of the Father, Mother, and Child within each of us and within society.
Within this Inter-Spiritual Worship Service we shall explore a spiritual practice which expresses and identifies our wounds, we shall share life-giving healing practices, and together build a communal fire as we Share Our Hearts.
The inspiration:
Our ancestors can help us heal our lineage, help us to transform our inherited traumas. Together we must work through our broken heartedness so our children may thrive, families may flourish, future generations may receive the benefits of a healed global community and a beautiful restored Earth. Also as we balance Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine energies — which is foundational to our spiritual growth and ascension — we imbue a holistic consciousness into the world. This integral mindfulness enables us to optimize our ability to cultivate the repair of the world’s distant past, present. and future.
Acknowledging and expressing our broken-heartedness, our wounds, our grief, our unfulfilled dreams, anguish, pain and sorrow, can repair the entire entire lineage of humanity. This healing is lasting, throughout all time.
After we dissolve our wounds, we next need to bring into manifestation all the beautiful, positive, uplifting energies possible. Together we shall share chants, prayer, song and life-affirming spiritual practices.
First, we explore spiritual practices which expresses and identifies our wounds:
“Keening” is an ancient authentic emotive voice-heart evocation of deep anguish and lament. The practice has the power and blessing to overcome past traumas. When spontaneously expressed Keening can send healing and restoration to the root cause of ailments beyond time and space. This can rebirth us anew. Through the willingness of this expressed vulnerability, Keening benefits not only ourselves, but others too are blessed, healed, and repaired.
Listen to this ancestral Irish Keen. [Male & Female voices Keening together.]
THE KEEN:
“Ah, ah and my darling ….. What will I do You are gone from me… I have no one at all… I had you …ah, my darling… The morning stars are weeping tears.. The skies above are in a cloak of sorrow …my sorrow forever; Until you return again the dew will not lie, forever.” (excerpt)
You may enjoy listening to a meditation: Celtic Lamentations.
In the tradition of Rumi, we have the sounds of the lamentation of the ney (reed flute) evoking the cries of the human being, expressing the desire to return to Source. Listen here to the Mevlevi ceremonial music of the reed flute: Ney Taksim. “Listen to the story of the reed As it laments the pain of separation: Since they have cut me from my reed bed My wails bring tears to both woman and man…”
Read the full poem here.
Second, we share life-giving practices:
Om Namah Shivaya
The meaning of the chant is: Om– Before there was a universe, there was a vibrationless void of pure existence. Out of this void came the vibration which started the universe, which is known as Om. Namah– This literally translate to bow. Shivaya– This, of course, Shiva; but more than that, it means the inner self.
Namaste: Honoring the Divine in Everyone
I bow to the place in you that is love, light, and joy.; My soul recognizes your soul.; We are the same, we are one.; I honor the place in you that is the same as it is in me.
“From Her we come and to Her we return.” Humanity is One
Our experience of Oneness reminds that every individual is simply a speck in a vast and humbling universe. “Say: She is Allah, She is One, She is Eternal She begets not nor is She begotten And there is none equal unto Her.”–The Holy Quran: Surah Ikhlas (Absoluteness), 112
Listen: My Divine Mother by Pramahansa Yogananda
Engrossed is the bee of my mind
On the blue lotus feet of my Divine Mother.
Divine Mother, my Divine Mother,
Divine Mother, O my Divine Mother!
Paramahansa Yogananda’s Chant to the Divine Mother:
“Will that Day, O, Come to Me, Ma?” The Divine Mother is Everywhere
Evocative musical offering from the spiritual tradition of Rumi praising the Prophet (pbuh) offered at the beginning of every Sema ceremony: The Naat-i-Serif of the Mevlevi Whirling Dervishes Sema Ceremony
Third, we will build a communal fire and share our hearts.
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SHARING OUR WEALTH
https://interfaithcommunitysanctuary.org/donate/
Your generous donation allows us to continue offering interfaith worship services, events, classes. Also to continue creating sacred community as well as maintaining a historic building in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. Currently we are in the process of recovering from rain water damage. Thank you for your help!
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What is Interspirituality?
Interspirituality is committed to finding the spirituality both within and beyond religion. What ties us together is a shared desire to connect with the Ground of Being in a way that fully respects our differences. The challenge is to embody what is most true and real for us without seeking to convince or convert others. ~ Joan Borysenko
Interspirituality comes from the work of Wayne Teasdale, who developed this term to reflect commonalities between religious traditions, specifically those that are spiritual in nature. These commonalities across religious practices do not erase differences in beliefs, rather they build community and sharing across practices, leading to the ultimate goal of more human responsibility to one another and the planet as a whole. At its core, this is an “assimilation of insights, values, and spiritual practices” drawn from many different traditions that can be applied to one’s own life to further personal, spiritual development.
Reverend Karen Lindquist is co-founder and co-minister of Interfaith Community Sanctuary, a spiritual community grounded in circular leadership principles. She co-creates interfaith services throughout the year at the Sanctuary and with interfaith organizations in the greater Seattle area. For many years she served as a board member on The Interfaith Council of Washington and The Interfaith Network, now known as Northwest Interfaith. Reverend Karen’s regular spiritual practices include deep immersion within the Mevlevi tradition (as a follower of Rumi) with the Mevlevi Order of America and absorption into the mystic tradition of Ecclesia Gnostica through the Hagia Sophia Gnostic Parish.
Art: “Hearts on Fire” – Sharon Cummings
