Script
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Welcome to this short prayer exercise, ‘Enkindling Love for Creation’.
This session is designed to bring the imagination to life by noticing how love drives out fear.
Christian mystic Meister Ekhart said, “Apprehend God in all things, for God is in all things. Every single creature is full of God and is a book about God. Every creature is a word of God.”
As we enter imaginatively into this time of prayer, allow God to speak to you in and through the beings and images of the Book of Nature
Imagine yourself in a rainforest, notice the sounds, the smells, the sights, what you can feel and touch…What creatures do you see and hear?
Notice the predators; and see the smallest creature growing still and quiet.
Listen to how the singing birds, trilling frogs, and chirping insects become prey to fear.
Sense the way in which silence becomes a camouflage for these gentle living beings; notice where the life goes.
In the stillness, do you still hear the wonder of creation? Do you feel its richness lighting up your imagination?
How often is the life in us prey to fear?
Perhaps you mourn the extinction of creatures and fear for the world we are handing over to the next generation.
But can you stay present to the abundant life dwelling in the still and quiet – life that wants to come out!
How can you bring your wonder of creation out of hiding?
St John says, “Perfect love drives out fear.”
Love dispels fear, and something comes out of hiding. Something is awakened in us. Creation sings a new song.
In the beginning, God walked with our first parents in the Garden. They knew God’s voice. God’s voice was the sound of consolation and there was no fear in them.
And the same God is with us here, now, walking with us in our common home. Imagine this for a moment. Allow yourself to be touched by God’s loving presence. Notice what happens in you; notice the difference that God’s loving presence makes in creation.
The silence breathes, and sings! What does creation sound like when God’s loving presence draws out every creature to express its voice without fear?
Stay with this loving God in the forest of your imagination or linger where God can find you. Notice any other creatures coming out of their hiding (hear their voices). Is there anyone else you can hear?
Notice Jesus walking to join you. Talk to Jesus about all that you can see and hear. Ask for the deepening of his love, allowing it to cast out any fear in you and open you to become more alive to the wonder and voice of creation.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.