Here is a fun and interesting writing prompt that you can take into any book or character in the Bible. Frankly, you can use it in secular ways as well.
Take a word – Book of the Bible, Character, Value. I suppose even a short verse.
Write it vertically like you want to create an acrostic poem
Then write a story / poem being sure to include words that begin with those letters.
This is a fun and interesting way to engage with the text.
Here is an example of one that I wrote for Genesis (specifically Genesis 1:1-2)
Generally, in the beginning, we believe, is where things started, but our beginning begins in the deep. A deep that
Existed before time: a place of void and darkness, but also of possibility and
Newness. Nothingness is not nothingness if it is describable, if it is navigable, if it
Exists. So what was before there was? What was this vast
Sea that the wind blew on? How was it born? How did it begin? Was there something before that melted
Into the primordial soup? Or was this the beginning of God’s
Soup recipe? Set one part chaos to simmer. Stir lightly with the movement of the Spirit. Wait. Watch. And voila– Life!
All Rights Reserved. Permission to used in educational or religious settings with citation.
This week in our Mid-Week Meditation: the Arts Edition we did collage. Most people associate collage to the vision boards that we all made in Jr. High where we pasted pictures from magazines on a board as a way to try to capture our hopes and desires. This session was a little different than that although the basic artistic process of cutting and pasting was the same.
I put out a plethora of materials, but only a few magazines (and the magazines that I read are not very picture oriented). I had glue sticks and created some modge-podge type glue through a 50/50 blend of white glue and water. I had both straight edge and design edge scissors out, but had considered not putting them out so that they would have to rip and tear the materials. I had old maps, bags with designs on them, excess materials from my scrapbooking days, and other odds and ends (I encourage you to trust that what you put out will be enough)
We opened as always with lighting the candle. Then, I then offered three short readings. One a quote from Pablo Picasso about taking a lifetime to create like a child. The second a quote from Rilke about living the questions. Then finally, this passage from Journey of the Universe by Brian Thomas Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker:
In a simple but elegant form, awareness appears in unicellular organisms. The capacity for discernment resides in a thin outer layer of each cell, called its membrane. The membrane, through its receptor and hannel protiens, selects what is of interest and what is not, what will enter and what will not. Each cell encounters a wide spectrum of atoms and molecules and otehr ogranisms floating alongside it. Each time the cell makes contact, primitive discernment emerges.
In the vast majority of these interactions, the membrane remains tightly sealed in order to block a novel molecule form its inner life. However, in encounters with molecules of particular configurations, the cell responds very differently. the molecules of the cell’s membrane latch onto this new molecule. The cell then alters the structure of its own membrane so that this molecule can be drawn in. Because of this discernment, the new molecule becomes part of the cell’s internal milieu. In this way the cell finds and captures its “food” – the energetic molecules it can digest.
Discernment is crucial. Mistaken decisions can lead to death because the inner coherence may be broken by the strange new guest-molecule. Thus, at the edge of its body, each cell makes an elemental choice. Is this a risk worth taking? Is this food nourishing? Will this increase the chances of remaining alive?
I then tried to offer as little direction as possible so that those that participated might look deep into their own heart. The two pieces of guidance that I did offer was:
Try to engage. At least, move yourself over to the materials and see what shimmers.
Don’t try to “make” something. Let you mind, heart, and the materials do the creating. Later we will look to see what may have been said through them.
They then got to it. We could have used a much longer expansive time, but due to our limitations and our desire to share about the process and our insights, we only had 30 minutes to create. (One benefit to a shorter period of time is that it encourages quick decisions that rely more on our gut than our mind that often gets high-jacked with judgement.)
When they finished creating, we took 2 minutes to listen to what God and / or our own inner being might be trying to say to us. Then we thanked God for this opportunity to create. We talked about what we learned in the process of creating and then about what we noticed in our own creations.
It was amazing, as always, how different they all looked.
One of the interesting responses that I have been getting from these workshops is how not only are they a place of peace, but that the peace they find in the moment also carries with them throughout the day. I noted that this is important. There is definitely a lot of work to be done in the world AND we must balance that we self-care, time for reflection, and worship. The rhythm between the two becomes sustaining rather than depleting. It also helps us with our discernment about where to put our energy and invites us to think about problems from a more creative perspective. Activist, Attorney, and Author Valerie Kaur likens the balance we should find in life to giving birth. You cannot keep pushing. Periodically, you have to take a breath.
May we each find our balance and in our balance, may we offer the world a more grounded and compassionate perspective.
I usually try to create alongside the participants as best I can given the other things I am focusing on. Here is my creation that day.
If you take time to give it a try, I’d love to see what you create.
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.
Wandering and Wondering 