Category Archives: doubt

Jul24

Heat, Dry Bones, Dust, and Wind

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Days and weeks of drought affect so many residents of this country, trapped under a heat dome held firmly in place. Sunlight and drought are too much with us. Soothing, refreshing rain is too distant a memory. We are grateful, most of us, that we live in homes with fans and air conditioning. We drive in cool cars on our way to another cool place. Meanwhile, construction and farming, soldiering, policing, firefighting, and emergency work go on as best they can. Ranchers struggle to draw water from deep wells or dig trenches to irrigate. This is merely a taste, a test of solidarity with desert dwellers.

Rain (and drought) fall on the just and the unjust alike. God, is it in your power to send rain to the thirsty, to dry up flooded lands and homes, to extinguish raging wildfires, to keep all living things safe from harm?

No, it is not. It is for all of us to help one another cope. We can’t fix the weather though we can be smart about energy and water use. Some say to pray for rain. I say, pray for life in hard times and good.

Yet now we know about Somalia, where so many are dying of thirst, hunger, and warfare. Thousands have walked for 10 days or more to relatively safe camps in Kenya. Many have been attacked on the way and everything they carried was taken away by thieves. Many have died on the way, especially children. There is no time to grieve; only time to save the living. Dust to dust, bones to dry bones, wind where there is nothing to tame it.

We struggle with problems of our own—keeping ourselves cool and nourished, watching billionaires fight for every dime they can control, indulging our children with possessions, desperately trying to find and keep jobs, cutting budgets at home, and in all levels of  government, into the very marrow, averting our eyes.

Slowly we ourselves become the dry bones, the dust, then nothing but the wind.

Let us instead become the rain.

. . . And there’s more:

A terror attack in downtown Oslo and a related shooting at a youth camp there has taken at least 92 lives. Massive damage to buildings around downtown by the car/truck bomb and a horrific shooting at an annual political camp for young adults has shattered Norway’s peaceful existence. We are saddened, angered, and discouraged about the state of the world and the latest unfolding tragedies.

All these we hold in our hearts with compassion, blessings, and healing prayers.

Amen

Jun20

Prayer Journal

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Thanks to Karl, I’ve started a prayer journal. On a recent Sunday he mentioned having done this for a couple of years, once a week, and sent me samples from his book. Since I keep a journal and I regularly meditate or pray, why not combine the practices? The idea is to spend some time (perhaps an hour) once a week to write to whatever/whoever seems appropriate: Spirit of Life; Mystery of the Universe; Holy One; My Higher Self . . . and just put your inner needs or desires into words. I started with a different journal from my usual one. It had been given to participants of a yoga retreat in April, and seemed just right for my new purpose.

Here’s a sample prayer, fresh off the keyboard:

Mystery Beyond My Understanding,

Be with my friends and parishioners who are hospitalized, in rehab, under Hospice care, and recently deceased. Each of them has been a teacher to me and continues to teach me without a single lesson plan.

They show me that we are frail vessels who might suddenly become ill or injured or in need of surgery. I particularly pray for my neighbor Ken, whose surgery is very soon. He is afraid and anxious, not just of the surgery but of the aggressive cancer. Another neighbor, a nurse, has been a steadfast companion.

They show me what it means to live and die with dignity, how dying brings out both the best and the worst of patients, family members, and friends. That we will die is not a mystery, but we prefer to ignore that fact.

Mystery of Life, Mystery of Death, open my eyes and let compassion guide me into good ministry and loving friendship.

Shanti, Peace, Aloha

Here’s a link to How to Keep a Prayer Journal. It suggests keeping a Bible at hand, but any scripture or book of poetry might be your preference. Let me know if you decide to try this–and check with me to make sure I keep it up!
Keeping a Prayer Journal

May25

Center, Time, and Space

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A Prayer Bead workshop led by Linda and Audrey provided over 20 women with an opportunity to think about prayer and to craft a set of prayer beads. Though some of us consider “prayer” to be a “wounded word” from the past and some of us have no reason to use it in the present, we were presented with alternatives–new ways of thinking about prayer. They are planning another workshop in the fall for children and adults, including families.

I pray on a regular basis now, but for many years it had became a pointless practice.

Maybe prayer felt like a childhood exercise: “Now I lay me down to sleep . . .”; “God is great, God is good . . .”; “The Lord is my shepherd . . .”; “Our Father . . .” At various times these were not just familiar but a source of comfort. (Ironically, they still bring comfort under certain circumstances.) When I left the Episcopal Church as a young adult I walked away from regular prayer, too. Everywhere I looked, prayers were offered for trivial reasons: for OUR team, OUR nation, OUR safety, etc.

These prayer beads serve a tactile purpose of metaphorically touching the spirit of life, the spirit within, and the spirit of connection with others. The entering bead is for Centering, or creating a space within for prayer or meditation. To that Centering bead I added disks for Time and Space. I’m centered in a particular time and space but I am also connected to eternal time and space. Widening my heart makes the Center fuller and richer.

The Rev. Barbara Hamilton-Holway writes of prayer in volume 2 of Evensong>. She describes prayer as:

  • attending to what life gives us
  • listening in the quiet
  • responding honestly and openly
  • hearing the call to a wider perspective, a deeper resolve
  • tending the relationship with our truest, greatest self
  • cultivated when practiced every day, regularly, intentionally
  • a reminder to live with compassion and care for ourselves, others, and creation
  • a rush of thanks for all the gifts of life

Clearly there’s a call to prayer, as simple as “Thanks for Creation” or in whatever form helps you listen to your heart. There’s also a strong call to action when there’s so much that needs human hands to make the world a better place. Let’s pray for that, too!

Peace,

Kathleen

May23

Loose connections | The Christian Century

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Loose connections | The Christian Century.

Very interesting article on church membership vs. not joining.