Seeking Wisdom

Canticle: A Song of Pilgrimage

“Before I ventured forth,
even while I was very young,*
I sought wisdom openly in my prayer.
In the forecourts of the temple I asked for her,*
and I will seek her to the end.
From first blossom to early fruit,*
she has been the delight of my heart.
My foot has kept firmly to the true path,*
diligently from my youth have I pursued her.
I inclined my ear a little and received her;*
I found for myself much wisdom and became adept in her.
To the one who gives me wisdom will I give glory,*
for I have resolved to live according to her way.
From the beginning I gained courage from her,*
therefore I will not be forsaken.
In my inmost being I have been stirred to seek her,*
therefore have I gained a good possession.
As my reward the Almighty has given me the gift of language,*
and with it will I offer praise to God.”

—Ecclesiasticus 51:13-16, 20b-22.

This “Song of Pilgrimage from Ecclesiasticus” is one of the Canticles offered for Morning and Evening Prayer in Enriching Our Worship 1, as one of the alternative Canticles for the Book of Common Prayer.

Christians inherited a pattern of daily prayer from the Jews, who set aside a time for prayer three times daily. More diligent Christians later took to heart the Psalm 119:164 verse that says, “seven times a day do I praise you”; and by the Middle Ages, monks had developed a tradition of seven daily times of prayer: Matins before dawn and Lauds at daybreak—which were combined into one service; then at sunrise, midmorning, noon, and midafternoon came Prime, Terce, Sext, and None; Vespers was observed at sundown, and Compline at bedtime. This schedule was kept faithfully over the centuries by monks and nuns in monasteries. Lay people could come when possible.

In 1549 in the first English Book of Common Prayer, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer revised the structure so that ordinary people might also follow a prayer schedule and praise God at the beginning and end of each day in just two services: Morning and Evening Prayer. The present 1979 BCP restored Noonday Prayers and Compline. (See A User’s Guide to Morning Prayer and Baptism by Christopher Webber.)

Phyllis Tickle, the theologian, writer, and founding Religion Editor of Publisher’s Weekly, reintroduced a shorter version of daily observation of the Divine Hours in a series of books which many now follow. There is a pocket edition for easy carry. Her shorter versions of morning, noon, evening (vespers), and bedtime (compline) prayers, readings, and Scripture are easier to observe than one would think, and offer a way to stop our work and reconnect to God frequently during the day and evening.

The readings are also online at http://www.explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/hours.php and at http://annarborvineyard.org/tdh/tdh.cfm.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

Praying in Color

Praying in Color

“Here are some reasons to Pray in Color:

1) You want to pray but words escape you.

2) Sitting still and staying focused in prayer are a challenge.

3) Your body wants to be part of your prayer.

4) You want to just hang out with God but don’t know how.

5) Listening to God feels like an impossible task.

6) Your mind wanders and your body complains.

7) You want a visual, concrete way to pray.

8) You need a new way to pray.”

—Sybil MacBeth in Praying in Color: Drawing a New Path to God (Paraclete Press, 2007).

Gifted speaker and retreat leader, Sybil MacBeth, takes our prayer life conceptually from the left to the right brain. This type of prayer is especially easy for doodlers. It can initially be painful to those who theoretically live out of their left brain—those who are more verbal, orderly, logical, analytical, methodical in thinking. But praying in color can take that person into a whole new world of prayer. Those who are more right brained, more creative, imaginative, artistic, will rejoice that they can find a new method of praying that validates who they are.

Sybil offers a multitude of ways to use this kind of prayer: as intercessory prayer; as an Advent prayer calendar; as a way to memorize Scripture; as meditative prayer centered around a word or phrase; as a method for lectio divina; as discernment, and many more. We start with a simple shape; put a name or word within it; and pray as we add or decorate or expand or connect parts to the central figure. This adventure in prayer is a recommended method for the logical person who is stuck, and the artistic person whose prayer life seems dry and colorless.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

Promises and Fruit

Promises and Fruit

Twelve Promises of AA

“1. If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are halfway through. 2. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. 3. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. 4. We will comprehend the word serenity, and we will know peace. 5. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. 6. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. 7. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. 8. Self-seeking will slip away. 9. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. 10. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. 11. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. 12. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.”

—The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous (Alcoholic Anonymous World Services, Inc., 4th edition, 2001).

Do you see any similarity between the promises of a twelve-step program and the nine fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)? Paul writes that we know and feel we are connected to the Spirit, the God within us, if the consequence, the fruit, of what we are doing produces “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” The twelve-step promises and the fruit of the Spirit can both serve as guides—benchmarks indicating to us whether we truly are on the right track—if we are connected to the God of our understanding, the Christ, the Spirit within us. When two disciplines tell me a similar truth, I begin to believe and pay attention to this truth.

We are especially called to look for the fruit of the Spirit as we approach Pentecost this week. The fruit are our guides, our mentors, telling us we are staying connected to the Spirit, the God, within us. The promises also are indicators for those in recovery that they are staying connected to their higher power.

Joanna joannaseibert.com