Light is everywhere and always and eventually.
Even in the dark places,
light seems to have a way of making itself present; through the cracks, by a
candle, by the gentle breeze that moves the shade of the tree.
Great sustainer, we thank you for the light that appears to us daily,
for the warmth of the sunshine that awakens us from our slumber and brightens
our day. For the moonlight and stars that bring restful reflection and
anticipation of the coming dawn.
So it is, I let it be. Amen and Amen
So it is, I let it be. Amen and Amen
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I wrote the above prayer as an articulation of my hearts response to a recent
line of a prayer that a friend made reference to. What struck me so poignantly
was although the "heart" of the prayer was trying to bring about the positive,
it was actually inherently negative.
The following ramble is one of
those tangential thoughts I sometimes have, where one word or phrase takes me elsewhere.
I don’t fully understand the context of where my friend’s prayer was but this
is where my mind went.
Over the recent years my eyes have slowly been opened to how much
Christian prayer language seems to start with the negative. In this case it was
giving thanks for the “cracks in life because by them light can come in” and
also for human brokenness that "helps us depend on God" or you could
perhaps say “something good ‘always’ comes from bad situations”. Although I
agree with the basic sentiment in part, I think the language is unhelpful and
dangerous, or at the very least it has a very limited time and place usage. I
suspect such “negatively orientated” language is perhaps a product of “one”
type of Christianity that has historically consciously or unconsciously had to
make people feel so bad about life and themselves so that they can be given a positive
message and experience to make them feel \ be better. As opposed to celebrating
all of that which is good and helping people experience that same goodness in
better and more meaningful ways, even amongst those parts of life that are
perhaps not always quite what they could or should be.
When we talk or pray or think, how do we word or phrase things? Are we
being creators of the positive and blessing or something less? Is the cup half
full or is it half empty?
I do acknowledge there are times and places for “negatively orientated”
language. Sometimes you need to express grief, anger, hopelessness and loss in
both private and communal settings. I did just that in the opening prayer for a worship liturgy
I created back in 2006 which was inspired from a “Faith and doubt after disaster
service” I’d attended the previous year at Greenbelt in England. I wrote this in a dark and confusing time of my life.
My opening prayer to that sacred gathering went like this:
Call: We claim this time and space
and welcome God and each other, in the
name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Response: We stop and are silent for
we are overwhelmed.
Call: The Lord is Good for his Love and compassion
lasts forever, let us praise the Lord!
Response: I feel so disappointed, disillusioned
and let down, I’m not sure I
know this God anymore?.
Yes - indeed, sometimes life "is shit". Sometimes perhaps
"darkness" is all that is being experienced, but is that where it always
ends forever? I choose and intend to phrase my thinking
and speaking most of the time in a language of the positive persuasion. It's perhaps only a
small reordering of words but over a lifetime I suspect it will in fact shape
my whole life, relationships and experiences. I want to be an attractor of the positive
in my life and the facilitator of the positive in others.
May peace and light always be with you.
Namaste.
