Praying in Color

Image/Drawing by Sybil MacBeth

For those of you who may not know, I'm in seminary. I'm currently taking some summer courses and this week, the course I'm taking gives us the opportunity to explore some alternative ways of worship. What was introduced this morning was something I had never done before, but LOVED it. I encourage you to try something new in your prayer life and maybe this might be the thing to reconnect you with God in a knew and refreshing way.

This idea of worship comes from the book titled Praying in Color by Sybil MacBeth. You can learn more about Sybil and the practice of praying in color by visiting her website at www.prayingincolor.com.

That being said, the following is the exercise we practiced this morning and I would really like to encourage you to continue reading and after reading through the instructions, attempt this new form of prayer. If you do it, I'd love to hear your reflections.

Instructions
1. Draw a shape on the page - a triangle, trapezoid, squiggly line, or imperfect circle. Write the name of a person for whom you want to pray in or near the shape.

2. Add detail to the drawing. This might be dots, lines, circles, zigzags or whatever your hand wants to do.

3. Don't analyze your next stroke too much. Dismiss the art critic from the room. This is not about creating a work of art; it's about creating visual images for the mind and the heart to remember.

4. Think of this as kinesthetic improvisation, a kind of praying in tongues for the fingers.

5. Continue to enhance the drawing. Think of each stroke and each moment as time that you spend with the person in prayer. The written name and the emerging picture may evoke words and thoughts for the person. They add a new layer to your prayer experience.

6. Words, however, are unnecessary. Sometimes, we do not know what to say; the mere act of sitting with this person and keeping them as the focus of our intention can be as powerful as words.

7. Keep drawing until the image feels finished.

8. At some point, your mind will probably wonder. In Seeds of Contemplation, Thomas Merton said, "If you have never had any distractions, you don't know how to pray." Distractions are as much about being human as hair and heartaches. Make no judgments about your ability to pray based on their uninvited appearance.

9. Repeat the person's name to yourself as a way of corralling distracting thoughts. Think about the face or the entire person as if you were sitting with him or her in conversation.

10. Add color to the picture. Choose colors that will stay in your memory, that you particularly like, or that remind you of the person for who you pray.

11. When the drawing and praying for the first person are completed, move to another space on the page. Draw a new shape or design to create a place for the name of a different person.

12. When you move your focus take several deep breaths to release any anxiety.

13. In the process of this wordless prayer form, daydreams and distractions will probably enter your mind and demand center stage. Notice them, but don't dance with them. Refocus on the person for who you pray.

14. A flash of the image in your mind during the day is a reminder that you have committed these persons to the care of God. It is also a reminder that you have chosen not to worry but to pray for them.

15. Whenever worry about a person seeps into your consciousness, picture them in color surrounded by the love and care you offered when you sat with them in prayer. Envision them in the care and presence of God. Act as if you really believe that God will take care of them.

16. I use the word icon with the understanding that an icon is an image that helps us to see God. We do not worship the image; it has a transparency about it that lets us see through it to a deeper experience of God and god's presence.

** The above image and steps come from:
MacBeth, Sybil. Praying in Color. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2007.
Visit www.prayingincolor.com

Restoration, Transformation and the Shattering of Self-Complacency

Heavy title? Yeah, heavy topic. For those of you who don't know, I'm a theologian, missiologist and seminarian. Basically, I love religion, the study of religion, religious thought and even more, I love religion in action. Missiology, for those who are wondering, is the study of mission work and the action thereof. Anyway, I received my calling a while ago, which I won't go into now, but I'm in seminary to become an ordained elder in my church. Gasp...and she's a WOMAN! Yes, I'm a woman and yes, God did call me, and no, this does not mean I'm going to a nether region that will require my family to bury me in something other than a sweater. I love God, I love God's people, God's world and that is my life's work.

Now, the real topic of this post stemmed from a recent assignment I had which was to examine the book of Jeremiah. In doing so, I was to read a couple different commentaries from religious scholar's on the same book and then discern my thoughts. So, here I was reading along in my Global Bible Commentary to contextual comments written by professor and author Renita J. Weems (who just happens to be the first African American woman to earn a PhD in Old Testament studies...which I think is super cool). She made several statements in her 13 page commentary that struck me. In fact, by the time I was done reading it, I felt like I had been attacked by a lightening storm because of the number of things that struck me.

The gist of this reading compared Jeremiah and his life with the life and times of today. Weems talked about self-complacency in American citizens and that though it was shaken up after 9/11, it has, sadly, returned. Jeremiah was also dealing with a culture and a people who were, at best, self complacent. In order to fully appreciate the background on Jeremiah, I'd like to encourage you to read the book and then come back to these thoughts for a more in-depth personal analysis of our world today and what it can learn from the world and ministry of Jeremiah.

Weems states the following, "Jeremiah's career involved two impossible tasks: Leading his people as they mourned the loss of everything they knew and loved and helping them imagine the better future God had for them." Hmmm. Sounds like somebody we could use today. Weems goes on to say that "he urges them to trust that God will bring something new and beautiful out of their misery and trauma. After all, restoration was always the plan." Do you see where I'm going at with this? Don't get me wrong, I don't believe that either Obama or McCain are prophets like Jeremiah was. However, what I do believe is that we need someone who is not afraid to speak up and say NO to the status quo and do it for the betterment of peace. Being a great leader means you're not going to make people happy all of the time. All the great leaders that you and I can think of made people mad...and why? It wasn't because the were given special powers, but because they believed in something and believed in it enough not to back down even when it got hard. They were not afraid to speak TRUTH to POWER.

So many people around us are loosing everything they've gained. Homes are being taken, 401k's are melting away and the stability and security we all long for is nowhere to be seen. How then, do we speak to those who are broken and afraid? How do we restore a country, a world and a people who are so greatly in need of hope?

Self Complacency has cost us enough. We need to make sure we are fully aware all the time of the world we live in and not invest or put stock into a world that cannot fill our voids in the way that God can. God can restore us. God can take our self-complacency, our brokenness and make us whole. God can take this tumultuous time and transform us into new life.

"One of the reasons the ministry of Jeremiah continues to capture the hearts of readers is because the prophet did not shy away from pain. He endured this pain rather than offering smug interpretations of it," Weems. Weems continues on to quote Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and a letter he wrote from a Birmingham Jail. "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." AMEN. King knew then that we were a complacent culture. Jeremiah knew waaaay back when that they were a complacent culture. All we have to do today is turn on the TV and we know that we're a complacent culture. Example: There is roughly 6 Billion people on the planet right now. Of that 6 Billion, 2 Billion people don't have clean drinking water. 2 Billion people drink and bath in water infested with parasites, animal urine, etc. It has been said that it would cost around 11 Billion dollars to completely fix the world's water supply problems...that's it. Our country just spent 700 Billion bailing out banks and only 11 Billion could have insured clean drinking water for 2 Billion people. Now...we all know about our countries financial problems, but how many know about our world's water problems? That's the complacency I'm talking about. We are so busy feeling sorry for ourselves because we have to give up our SUV, that we forget just how mortal and human we are. We forget that at least our basic human rights are being met. As I sit here, drinking a completely clean and safe bottle of water, I think about those who will never get a sip of clean water like this in their entire life...and I, I get to wash my hair in it. I get to sit on a toilet that has cleaner water than these people will ever have to drink. Pretty damning...I think.

So...this is obviously something that is troubling me and I think in times like these, when we have a future a head of us that is dangling in peril, we have to do something. We have to stop talking and actually care enough to do something. We have to pierce through our everyday numbness and for the love of God...do something. And in doing something, in thinking of someone besides ourselves, God will transform us and restore us. It's like Mother Teresa said in my previous post, DO IT ANYWAYS! The kids in my church are collecting pocket change to go to Living Water, an organization who gives 100% of donations to building wells in 3rd World countries so they can have clean drinking water. Think about getting involved and think tonight, about thanking God, instead of asking for more.

R.E.S.P.E.C.T the Communication!

Upon the first day of my Introduction to Ministry course, my new professor handed out a sheet on respectful communication guidelines. As I read over it, I realized just how profound this little bit of writing really was. Recently, I've been faced with some rather unusual encounters of communication. What I mean, is that I've been faced with conflict that I have not experienced before and I've thought a lot about how much easier things could be if everyone just knew how to properly communicate. Anyway, reading this came at just the right time. Maybe this is one of those "God things". I had been praying for weeks that I could just get some kind of validation that I wasn't from another planet for thinking that people should know how and choose to act maturely during a disagreement. Like I said, when I read this, I could have just screamed, "YES!!!! THANK YOU!!! THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT". What do you think about this?

RESPECTFUL COMMUNICATION GUIDELINE
By Eric H.F. Law

R = take RESPONSIBILITY for what you say and feel without blaming others
E = use EMPATHETIC listening
S = be SENSITIVE to differences in communication styles
P = PONDER on what you hear and feel before you speak
E = EXAMINE your own assumptions and perceptions
C = keep CONFIDENTIALITY
T = TRUST ambiguity because we are NOT here to debate who is right or wrong

Maybe if we all take a clue from this, we won't have so many "failures to communicate."