A congregation of the United Church of Canada
NOTICINGS…
July 21, 2021
This summer we’re hearing the voices of women mystics. I invite you to read each quotation slowly and prayerfully. Do not hurry. Linger. Savour. Pray.
This week we ponder the words of Hildegard of Bingen…
Humankind, full of all creative possibilities, is God’s work.
Humankind alone is called to assist God.
Humankind is called to co-create.
With nature’s help, humankind can set into creation all that is necessary and life-sustaining.
Glance at the sun. See the moon and the stars.
Gaze at the beauty of earth’s greenings.
Now, think.
What delight God gives to humankind
with all these things.
All nature is at the disposal of humankind.
We are to work with it.
For without we cannot survive.
Don’t let yourself forget that God’s grace rewards not only those who never slip, but also those who bend and fall.
So sing!
The song of rejoicing softens hard hearts.
It makes tears of godly sorrow flow from them.
Singing summons the Holy Spirit.
Happy praises offered in simplicity and love lead the faithful to complete harmony, without discord.
Don’t stop singing.
The mystery of God hugs you in its all-encompassing arms.
Hildegard of Bingen lived between 1098 and 1179, and is one of the earliest known mystics. Hildegard was a child when she first began receiving visions of God, though it was only later in life, when she became an abbess, that she began to record her mystic experiences in detail. This collection of divine visions, known as Scivias or Know the Ways, eventually evolved into Hildegard’s philosophies on everything from natural history to music. Popes, bishops, and kings consulted her. A woman of all trades, she was a skilled healer, writer, composer and theological critic.
Shalom,
Rev. Larry
Rev. Larry