Ah, here’s what I take from this: there doesn’t need to be a receiver of our payers and hopes. It is enough that we’re praying and hopeful in the first place. We are the song and that is enough.
For a priest, I'm not very pious. The thing that brings me back to prayer and to the church, really, is the music of it. The quote attributed to Augustine, "He who sings, prays twice" is in my case, perhaps in singing, I actually pray once. I don't "say the office" but when I worked at a seminary, I never missed Evensong. But it's actually the creaky unison singing of the canticles at the tiny, benighted church when I was a kid that most sticks with me--and only that, the everything else about that place was deadly.
My whole motivation in preaching and writing theology is to make sense of that.
Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet - i remember this endless loop playing, and I’m so thankful to pick up these memories through your writing, and learn more about how these memories came into my world to begin with.
Once again what you write is like echoes of thoughts I have had recently. What particularly resonates with me is the relationship with religion- the one exposed in childhood, the imagery, sounds and smells of temples and rituals. The religion that I rejected as oppressive, frightening, austere and still not follow- but its imprint is part of my self and I cautiously return to look at it with curiosity, seeking some comfort in its familiarity. Beautiful piece, thank you
Excellent piece. Thank you for writing it. I think that it is important to have reflective practices that allow us to express our frustrations, gratitude, and hope. The writer Anne Lamott divides prayer into three types: "Help, Thanks, and Wow."
We need to reach outside of ourselves in order to receive support and guidance for life's challenges, both large and small. Hopefully we have loved ones, friends, and a community to rely upon. Drawing practices from different belief systems and cultures is valuable. They provide other perspectives while sending the ultimate message: "We are all in this together."
Wonderful. My earliest memories are of singing (a carol), and people tell me I would pipe up with them when even smaller than I recall.
A copy of John Wesley's original hymnbook arrived today, bought due to curiosity of the 'rules' for singing he entered in its preface, before any of his compositions joined the sound and folk memory waves of the last couple of centuries. But before he wrote those: “I seldom relish verses at first hearing. Till I have heard them over and over, they give me no pleasure, and they give me next to none when I have heard them a few times more, so as to be quite familiar.”
This and your writing will be 'in conversation' within my mind for quite a while now...
To sing in secret
Ah, here’s what I take from this: there doesn’t need to be a receiver of our payers and hopes. It is enough that we’re praying and hopeful in the first place. We are the song and that is enough.
Thank you 🌸
Thanks Martha, this brings up a lot for me.
For a priest, I'm not very pious. The thing that brings me back to prayer and to the church, really, is the music of it. The quote attributed to Augustine, "He who sings, prays twice" is in my case, perhaps in singing, I actually pray once. I don't "say the office" but when I worked at a seminary, I never missed Evensong. But it's actually the creaky unison singing of the canticles at the tiny, benighted church when I was a kid that most sticks with me--and only that, the everything else about that place was deadly.
My whole motivation in preaching and writing theology is to make sense of that.
Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet - i remember this endless loop playing, and I’m so thankful to pick up these memories through your writing, and learn more about how these memories came into my world to begin with.
Once again what you write is like echoes of thoughts I have had recently. What particularly resonates with me is the relationship with religion- the one exposed in childhood, the imagery, sounds and smells of temples and rituals. The religion that I rejected as oppressive, frightening, austere and still not follow- but its imprint is part of my self and I cautiously return to look at it with curiosity, seeking some comfort in its familiarity. Beautiful piece, thank you
Excellent piece. Thank you for writing it. I think that it is important to have reflective practices that allow us to express our frustrations, gratitude, and hope. The writer Anne Lamott divides prayer into three types: "Help, Thanks, and Wow."
We need to reach outside of ourselves in order to receive support and guidance for life's challenges, both large and small. Hopefully we have loved ones, friends, and a community to rely upon. Drawing practices from different belief systems and cultures is valuable. They provide other perspectives while sending the ultimate message: "We are all in this together."
Wonderful. My earliest memories are of singing (a carol), and people tell me I would pipe up with them when even smaller than I recall.
A copy of John Wesley's original hymnbook arrived today, bought due to curiosity of the 'rules' for singing he entered in its preface, before any of his compositions joined the sound and folk memory waves of the last couple of centuries. But before he wrote those: “I seldom relish verses at first hearing. Till I have heard them over and over, they give me no pleasure, and they give me next to none when I have heard them a few times more, so as to be quite familiar.”
This and your writing will be 'in conversation' within my mind for quite a while now...
Thank you for sharing this beauty