Contemplation – Page 3 – Wandering and Wondering

Art can open your heart for God

I have found that art is a great way to shut down the noise of life and settle into the arms of God. Recently, I’ve been using art as a way to help others do the same. In my new church setting, I am offering my second series of mid-week meditations. Our first meeting was this morning when we found our center by doodling.

It is funny that when we are young, teachers and others try to get us to stop doodling. “Pay attention. Don’t doodle.” “Why are you just doodling? Draw something real.” As adults though, we need to recapture the freeness of doodling.

Doodling has been associated with all sorts of benefits: everything from improved concentration to better memory, from calmer disposition to reduced cortisol levels. Artistic skill is not a necessity and there is a benefit to its repetitiveness. So doodle, doodle, doodle all day long.

Doodling isn’t as much about the art as it is about the state that you are able to bring your mind into. Different people have different reactions to it based on the mood that they are in, but in general doodling helps us open our heart and quiet our mind. In that state we become more receptive to God.

Today, I shared this practice with several congregants. The workshop was an hour long. We began with a prayer and read a poem. Then for 15 minutes we worked off of a preset doodle to warm up and get used to the process. At the end of the 15 minutes, we reflected on the process and continued on to read another poem. Then we moved to the “scary” idea of a blank sheet of paper. Where participants had another 10 minutes to draw from scratch.

Different people find their connection with God in different ways. For some, they sit in silence. For others, they prefer to pray or sing. These are all ways that we have acknowledged and are included in most worship services. Less accepted are movement and art, but they are also legitimate ways to center ourselves.

May we all be willing to experiment with how we can best hear God speak to our heart.

Resources:

Open my mind to remember
your presence.
Open my mouth to speak
your wisdom.
Open my heart to extend
your love.
Open my hands to serve
you generously.
Open my whole being
to you.

-Joyce Rupp

https://mindfulartstudio.com/art-journaling-for-healing-doodle-and-de-stress/

https://svmoa.org/taxonomy/term/48

We specifically use A.A. Milne’s poem and the one by Dan Albergotti. There was no drinking except water and tea.

Have fun and Enjoy!

May you quiet your mind enough to hear God in your life.

Here was our first Mid-Week Meditation series which was based on spiritual practices. Our next series will be the writing edition where we will focus on the written word.

Seeing things in a new light

As we enter into this Epiphany Season, we are beginning a series about seeing this in a new light: basically, considering alternative perspectives. As I’ve been rattling this theme around in my mind, I have felt compelled to put together a bulletin board using some of my photography in ways that make people think more deeply.

Now one bulletin board isn’t going to change the world, but in conjunction with the remainder of the series, I hope it may affect a few people. I’ve always been amazed at how sometimes old-school ways, like a bulletin board, can really help people connect with a message.

I actually enjoyed putting this particular board together. In fact, I have really come to enjoy photography. I don’t mean fancy photography that requires special lenses or careful development; I mean Contemplative Photography. Contemplative Photography invites me to commune with the sacred and to really pay deep attention to the world. I simply use the camera on my phone to capture places where I see God is still speaking. I have been doing this so often that I began to look for an outlet for some of my pictures.

One of the places you might see some of them is in the UpperRoom’s Sight Psalms. There is no financial reward for these submission, but I find that I get the reward of hopefully opening the world in a new way for others, and it causes me to reflect even more deeply.

Here is the link to the one that I most recently had published and below is a modified picture of it. Interestingly, these blackberries were picked from wild blackberry bushes fresh that day I photographed them. In fact, that is how the photo started. My husband picked one and said that they were delicious and so we decided to pick more. When I saw the lush abundance in my hand, I decided I needed to capture that to remember God’s abundant care for the world. I hadn’t planted these bushes. I hadn’t weeded this garden. I was simply enjoying the harvest on this particularly lovely day. For this, I needed to be grateful, and I suspect we have all had an occurrence like this.

Abundance:

God provides. Let us be thankful for the many ways we receive what we need.

The photography will not ever make it into the Louvre, but that is not where I hope it is displayed. I’d prefer that such pictures help people open their hearts.

What does Tuesday mean to you?

For some, Tuesday brings to mind Tacos. For others, it may mean dance class or Pilates. Perhaps for some, it is payday or the day they regularly go visit their parents. For me and for members of my church community, Tuesday has meant prayer night.

Each Tuesday since the beginning of Covid (circa 2020), I have posted this or a similar post on my personal FaceBook page and that of the church I am serving. Each Tuesday evening I then open a Zoom room where several of us gather to have a moment of devotion and hold the prayers that we have gathered for that day.

Some people may find this an incredibly futile act given the enormity of the issues that people are dealing with, but I believe that our gathering and our regularity makes a big impact on the world. It may not be a “cure”, but simply our gathering and sharing of the prayers give the petitioners the comfort of knowing someone else cares. I think it also softens the heart of those who hold these prayers.

None of us knows exactly what prayers do. They surely do not always work as we expect them to, but that is not to say that they are ineffective or unneeded. In fact, Soren Kierkegaard, Danish theologian and philosopher, is reported to have said, “The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.” To some degree, I have witnessed this first hand in the prayer time that we hold each Tuesday evening. The people in the group have even begun carrying around pads to jot down prayers as they come by them; so that they can be remembered and upheld in the group. We listen and remember those who have asked for prayers over time. Our hearts become more open and more supple to the issues of others and definitively to each other.

This little 1 hour gathering has become the consistent beat in my life for almost 5 years now. Occasionally now I even get a text or private message from people who are afraid that perhaps they may miss the time to get their prayers in and so they send a note to me privately rather than waiting for the “official” post. This makes me realize how much others have come to expect and to appreciate this rhythm..

Margaret Mead once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” She surely did not mean this within the context of a prayer group, but I do think it applies.

It is Tuesday, do you have a prayer that you would like held?

If you ever have a prayer that you would like held, I invite you to email me with it or post it below and you can trust that it will be held and lifted up each Tuesday evening.

And the beat goes on . . .

Here is a poem inspired by yesterday’s poem.

The Sunset

As the pink and blues morph and move,

I think of all who have stopped to watch the sky before me.

I think of all that will come after this night

and all my nights.

I think of all who are in this moment looking up to see God’s glorious artistry.

I think of Ahs and Ohhs and Ooooohs.

I think of the silent watching that stills the soul

and the movement which happens so subtly it’s barely perceptible

until the vision has somehow vanishes before our eyes.

And I think of those who never thought to look

or saw but were not caught up by the beauty.

I weep for those who do not see the wonder in a setting sun

and think that they must go to a museum to see a masterpiece.

May all who breathe be awed by the everchanging and fleeting artistry of God.

The Title & An Offering

The inspiration for the title. of the blog title

Thank You, O Lord – Blessings!

by Rev. Dawn M. Adams

The clouds turn pink

and bow goodnight.

The day is done

but not my work

because before I lay my head to pillow,

I must offer thanks

for the blessings of my day.

Thank you, O Lord,

for the air in my lungs

and for allowing me to wake.

Thank you for the will and

ability to get out of bed.

Thank you for the warmth of blankets,

the comfort of a shower,

and all my meals today.

Thank you for the roof over my head

and for the door which lets me out

and in again.

Thank you for my friends and family,

and all the people

with whom my path crossed.

Thank you for this day, which I know not everyone was afforded.

Let me, this night, fall to sleep in the warm embrace of my many blessings.

Amen.

Reflection and Action

Sometimes it is hard for us to remember that a day need not be spectacular to be a blessing. To just wake up, get up, and be able to interact with others, we are blessed. It is worthy to take time to count our blessings. Sometimes, when we take the time to account for the blessings of our day, we are surprised by the many which we walked by virtually unnoticed and definitively unappreciated.