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 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 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, and methodical thinkers. But praying in color can take that person into a new world of prayer. Those who are more right-brained, creative, imaginative, and 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, decorate, expand, or connect parts to the central figure. This adventure in prayer is recommended for the logical person who is stuck and the artistic person whose prayer life seems dry and colorless.

If you are exploring new forms of prayer, Praying in Color is a gift from Sybil MacBeth to us.

GRATITUDE

Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Rachel Held Evans: Searching for Sunday

Rachel Held Evans: Searching for Sunday

“This is what’s most annoying and beautiful about the windy Spirit and why we so often miss it. It has this habit of showing up in all the wrong places and among all the wrong people, defying our categories and refusing to take direction.”—Rachel Held Evans in Searching for Sunday (Nelson Books 2015), p. 196.

Our world still grieves the death of 37-year-old Rachel Held Evans on May 4th, 2019. She was a spiritual voice for many millennials, their parents, and grandparents. I treasure that we met her on her podcasts, at writing conferences, and at our cathedral in Little Rock, where she was a guest speaker.   

Larry Burton recently reviewed her book, Inspired, on this blog about interpreting some of our favorite Bible stories as Rachel wrestles with some of our most significant questions about suffering and doubt.  

Today’s writing relates to a quote from Searching for Sunday, where Rachel struggles through the liturgical year, trying to find her faith and a church community as she journeys through the sacraments.

At Pentecost, I will remember that Rachel reminds us that the wind, the Holy Spirit Jesus describes to Nicodemus, goes even to this Pharisee. Nicodemus eventually hears the wind, speaks up for Jesus at his trial, and cares for his body when most of the world abandons him.

Rachel reminds us that the Spirit is both inside and outside the traditional church if we only have eyes to see and feel it.  

There is no corner of the world where God has abandoned God’s people, even when it is hard to see God in that place or with that group of people. Rachel reminds us that we will know the Spirit when we know and see the fruit of the Spirit: peace, joy, love, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 

Today, we may honor Rachel Held Evans as we pray that we may keep looking for God and the fruit of the Spirit in every possible place, as we talk about it in community and write about it as much as possible. 

Today, we are reminded of the Spirit so easily seen in all those who cared for the sick during the pandemic, those who care for the dying, those who care for friends with cancer, those caring for the starving in Africa and Gaza, and those caring for children all over the world. Continue to give them strength and courage.

Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Bless you for supporting the ministry of our church and conference center, Camp Mitchell, on top of Petit Jean Mountain, by buying this book in the daily series of writings for the liturgical year, A Daily Spiritual Rx for Lent and Easter. If you like this book, could you briefly write a recommendation on its page on Amazon? More thank-yous than I can say!!!

Joanna. joannaseibert.com

Parker Palmer: Seeking Sanctuary

Parker Palmer: Seeking Sanctuary in Our Own Sacred Spaces

“Sanctuary is wherever I find a safe space to regain my bearings, reclaim my soul, heal my wounds, and return to the world as a wounded healer. It’s not merely about finding shelter from the storm: it’s about spiritual survival. Today, seeking sanctuary is no more optional for me than church attendance was as a child.” Parker Palmer, “Seeking Sanctuary in our own sacred spaces,” On Being with Krista Tippett, September 14, 2016.

Red Doors, an ancient sign of Sanctuary

We still read about churches, towns, and cities that are providing sanctuary to undocumented immigrants who now face deportation, dreamers, many who have been working, living, and raising families in our country for years. Many were our healthcare workers saving the lives of those we love during the past pandemic. They sought a better life for themselves and their families, and now fear losing all that is sacred to them.

Many who come to spiritual directors also seek a sanctuary for their sacred spaces, a spiritual life that once had been vibrant, but now may seem lost. They have lived and followed a road less traveled, but they have come to a spiritual fork in the road or perhaps a dead end.

They fear they have lost the spiritual life they once had. They are now on a path that seems undocumented. Our ministry as spiritual friends is to be a sanctuary for the soul of those who seek our trust and guidance, especially when they feel isolated from their God connection. It can be a lonely time.

We must treat as sacred this precious part of all people, that presence of God within each of us, which we can sometimes see but is blind to them or to others. We must never lose sight of the privilege or the awesomeness of being asked to care for the soul of another, especially at a vulnerable time.

This is a sacred trust, a rare chance to make a difference, just as our churches in years past and years to come have been a place of sanctuary. I am told that the red doors of some of our churches are an ancient sign of sanctuary within. When we meet with a spiritual friend, may we imagine that we are sitting together just within the sanctuary of red doors?

This calls us also to relate to other seekers in the world who need a sanctuary at this time of their life, in prayer and in person, remembering that we are all seekers and often are on an undocumented, uncharted path. We hope we will have the courage to stand, sit, sleep, work, eat, and pray beside all who need sanctuary within the red doors of our churches, minds, and hearts.

Finding a sanctuary during these difficult times is essential for our mind, body, and soul.

Camp Mitchell, a place of Sanctuary

Joanna Seibert. joannaseibert.com