Category: Prayer

Reading as Prayer through Lent & Easter: a book (p)review

We are nearing the beginning of Lent. I love this season! I find the preparatory seasons of the church calendar (Lent and Advent) great times to press into devotional practices which are difficult for me the rest of the time. Wednesday, I will find a church service to attend so I can get the Face-palm of Death (AKA the Imposition of Ashes). I will fast. I will engage spiritual disciplines. This season is sacred time and I enter in eager to see what God will do in me. 

between-midnight-and-dawnOne of my conversation partners this Lent will be Between Midnight and Dawn: A Literary Guide for  Prayer for Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide (Paraclete Press, 2016),  compiled by Sarah Arthur). This is one of three devotionals Arthur has edited following the church calendar (also: At the Still Point: a Literary Guide for Prayer in Ordinary Time, and Light Upon Light: A Literary Guide to Prayer For Advent, Christmas and Epiphany). At the Still Point was the only one of these devotionals I have read any of before, though my Ordinary Time resolve is nowhere near as resolute as my Lenten devotion.

Between Midnight and Dawn pairs suggested weekly Scripture readings with prayers, poetry and fiction readings. There are seven readings for each week of Lent—six poems and one piece of fiction. During Holy Week and Triduum, there are scriptures and 5-7 literary selections for each day, before returning to the weekly format of Scriptures, poetry, and fiction for each week of Eastertide.

The poems and fiction are selected to lead us deeper into the land of Prayer. Arthur suggests reading this literature, applying aspects of lectio divina—lectio (reading), meditatio (reading it again, several more times, slowly), oratio (paying attention to words and phrases) and contemplatio (shifting our focus to God’s presence, p.13). Certainly, this takes a little bit of time. The story sections are longer (because ‘fiction doesn’t work its magic right away’), so Arthur suggests saving the story for a day of the week when we have time to just focus on the story.

Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter (Plough Publishing. 2002) is a similar sort of devotional, using literature as a way into this liturgical season. Arthur’s selection is different in that she is more focused on reading literature as an act of prayer, and the scriptural readings (absent from Bread and Wine) give focus to daily practice.

As of yet, I haven’t really read the book, only scanned the selections, the poems and stories selected.  Arthur has chosen both contemporary and eminent voices from the past.  Poets like Hopkins, Donne, Rosetti, Herbert, Tennyson but also those like Luci Shaw, Katherine James, Scott Cairns, John Fry, Tania Runyan). There are stories from Buechner, Chesterton, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, George Macdonald. There are some favorite poets and poems I am surprised to not see here, but I am interested to read the ones which Arthur has chosen. I am excited to journey with poets and storytellers on my Lenten journey

Notice of material connection: I received a copy of this book from Paraclete Press for the purposes of review.

If you would like to get a copy for yourself for Lent you can purchase it from

Paraclete Press

Amazon (also available on Kindle)

Barnes & Noble

or wherever fine books are sold.

 

Praying on the Hill: a book review.

The Reverend Barry C. Black has served as the 62nd Chaplain of the U.S. Senate since 2003. Prior to that, he spent 27 years in the Navy, achieving the rank of Rear Admiral (OF-7). In February 2017, he provided the address for the National Prayer Breakfast, Donald Trump’s inaugural prayer breakfast as president. His message was inspiring. Go ahead, google it. It is about 27 minutes long and worth your time. It is an inspiring message, powerfully delivered.

978-1-4964-2949-0Make Your Voice Heard in Heaven: How to Pray in Power is an expansion of the themes he explored in his 2017 National Prayer Breakfast address. Black commends a lifestyle of prayer—trusting in God and praying through every circumstance. He asserts that prayer changes things and as we pray, ‘we make our voice heard in heaven.’

Black opens his book with an appeal to pray with assistance, that is, noting that as we gather to pray, Jesus is in our midst (Matthew 18:18-20) and the Spirit of God intercedes for us (Romans 8:26-27). Next, Black points to the Lord’s prayer as our model prayer we should pray. In the remaining chapters of the book, Black exhorts us pray with the right spiritual posture and to pray in every circumstance (e.g. Pray with purity, and fearlessly, pray with effectiveness, pray to escape temptation, pray even when God is silent, when we don’t feel like being good, when we need patience, in times of celebration, pray with intimacy, fervency, perseverance, submission, and pray with a partner).

Black occasionally illustrates his chapters with his experiences praying on Capitol Hill, and sometimes from his daily life Occasionally he throws in a pop cultural reference or something from history. However, for the most part, this pretty straight teaching from the Bible. Black has helpful and encouraging words for us as we each seek to develop our own private prayer practice. Despite the self help-y, title (“Make Your Voice Heard!) and the exhortation to pray effectively, and with power, what Black says is solid, God-honoring and down to earth. He is no prosperity preacher but is confident that prayers do have an impact on our life and nation.

Black speaks against the partisan divide in Washington, and he holds regular bipartisan prayer and Bible study meetings with members from both sides of the political aisle. However, his privileged place in the Senate puts limits on the sort of prophetic witness he is allowed to have.  Chaplains are the custodians of civil religion and as a career naval officer, Black does not challenge the status quo. So, for example, when he recommends the Lord’s Prayer, a prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray in Galilean hill country—a region full of would-be-revolutionaries—Black depoliticizes the prayer. Praying for God’s coming kingdom by necessity challenges the established order. But Black writes:

Because I’m a member of God’s family, his promises become mine. I want my life to advance his Kingdom—not mine—and his Kingdom is not of this world. When my behavior  doesn’t adequately represent his Kingdom, I should desire to change what I’m doing. I make my decisions based on which choices better advances the priorities of my heavenly Father’s Kingdom (22-23, emphasis mine).

So while the Kingdom represents God’s priorities in the world, for Black, praying this prayer is fundamentally about challenging our own personal behavior and self-centeredness. For the first-century disciple praying this prayer, it meant the emperor was not the true king and that the political order was called into question. But Black is surrounded by powerful men and women. So Jesus’ most political prayer becomes primarily a tool for private devotion. Of course, because he exhorts political leaders to pray this prayer in this way, there are political implications. But this offers no systemic challenge.

On that score, this book is similar to a lot of other books on prayer. I am grateful for Black’s presence in the Senate, and the way he mediates God’s presence to our leaders, but I wish this book was more storied and offered a more prophetic challenge. I give this two stars. ★★

Notice of Material Connection: I received a copy of this book from Tyndale in exchange for my honest  review

Two Recent Poems

These two poems are reflections on recent news and the paltry response to sexual violence in the church. If this topic is an open wound and a trigger, please skip reading this. As a follower of Jesus and a man, I want to have a compassionate response toward the #metoo movement and the stories women are telling. Too often, Christian men have failed to really listen and we have also failed to call victimizers to account. 

You see God, but do You hear?

El Roi—the God who sees.
Well, God,
we all see too much.
Open your ears
and hear the
cries of the broken,
scattered mass
crying ‘me too.’
We don’t want,
anymore,
the mercy
which papers over
the sins of victimizers
demanding we forgive
the things that
they’ve
never owned.

Hear us.
Hear us.
Times up,
enough.

Spring, 1998

 [warning: graphic content, press the link above to read Jules Woodson’s story]

That was Savage there,
at the end of
the dirt road,
taking by force
what was yours alone
to give and then,
quaking with chagrin
pleading with you
to pledge
to him your
everlasting
silences.

Later that savage
told a flock of
horny teens:
True Love Waits—
Take the long view!
your future wife
is a Jewel that 
ought to be
 treasured!

Did you feel treasured, Jules?
When he unzipped his pants
and demanded of you: Suck it?
Or when he had you
unbutton your blouse
and jumped from
the driver seat,
aware in
that moment
of the damage
this would do
to (no, not you)
his career?

You were crying in
the church office,
the senior pastor,
conspicuously absent.
He saw your tears,
but Larry,
Cotton in his ears,
wouldn’t hear.
“So you are saying you participated?”
“We’ll handle it.”

 
Twenty years later,
The rich man fatted
with lamb,
No prophet Nathan
came to stand
before the man
and demand
justice
For what
he took.

But you stood—
yourself—
for you
(but not just you),
for the others,
so no more
Cotton men
could
refuse
to hear.

Waiting: Joy (Advent Week 3)

Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, Gaudete¹

I.

“Rejoice! Again, I say rejoice!”
These words penned
in prison—
written by
an old man,
in a cell
on death row.
He was almost
blind but
still hoped
he’d taste
His release.

II.

“Rejoice! Again, I say rejoice!”
Though the
The dark
is long and dusk
devours days,
Behold, a
light shines—
the Sun’s rays—
a joyful rage,
against the
dying of
the night.

III.

“Rejoice! Again, I say rejoice!”
The Theotokos
aching and sore,
her hips hurt.
And back.
She’s so tired now,
she lowers herself down
on the couch,
rests her hand
on her belly,
she smiles and asks:
How Long, O Lord?

IV.

One day soon:
kings will topple
from their thrones,
the poor will rise,
the hungry feast,
and broken mend;
whole and healthy,
the lame leap,
blind see,
and every
prisoner will
be free.
“Rejoice! Again, I say rejoice!”

[1] The Introit to the Latin Mass for the Third Week in Advent, Gaudete Sunday,  is the Latin translation of Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord Always, I will say it again: Rejoice!”  This week is all about joy, the rose candle a joyful reprieve to the season’s penitential purple.

Waiting: Peace (Advent Week 2)

Pass the Peace please!

We’re fed up with fighting,

with struggle, with strife.

We’ve seen lambs devoured by

Wall-street-wolves,

the Bull & Bear attack

mere calflings.

 

Victims & victimizers

 hold in common

the loss of shared humanity.

Come Lord Jesus,

 May your peace

make us whole,

Let us be all

we’re meant to be.

 

Prince of Peace pass to us

peace passing our percipience:

polemology, no more,

(the ISW shutters its doors).

 

“See, Lord, here are two swords.

“That’s enough” . . .

 

for plowshares &

pruning hooks;

Shalom grows,

the fields ready

for the

harvesting.

 

Waiting: Hope (Advent Week 1)

Hope deferred and heartsick,

the waiting begins

again.

How long this time?

 

How long will the wicked—

predators and abusers—

exult?

How long will we

dismiss the wounded?

Or will we ignore

as the chorus cries

#metoo?

 

How long will we

ignore the poor,

evading their gaze,

just in case

they ask for

handouts??

How long will

debits and credits

have more hold

on us than mercy?

Or Justice?

Or Compassion?

 

How long will the blood of Abel

cry from the ground?

Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.

We stop up our ears, offering

Prayers and platitudes.

How long will we describe

freedom as our right to hate,

to rage, and lock others in a cage?

 

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here

 

Hope deferred and heartsick,

we wait.

How Long, O Lord?

 

How Long?

 

HOW LONG?

 

Image result for Advent Wreath 1st Week

Praying Foolish Prayers: a prayer book review

This week, is St. Francis of Assisi’s feast day (October 4th), the Medieval saint and celebrated founder of the Franciscan order. Francis was a holy fool—a self-styled subversive of the wisdom of his age. Drawing inspiration from Jesus, the Apostle Paul (in 1 Corinthians 4:10-13), and the professional fools of the middle ages, Francis, and his early follower, brother Juniper, produced a spirituality that invited ridicule from wise, the rich, and the powerful because it called the values of society into question. In speaking of fools, Jon Sweeney writes:

it was often the hired fool, dressed in motley silliness, juggling and telling stories, who was allowed to make jokes at the expense of the mighty. A common man or woman might not sare to say things that a fool could say with impunity. A fool was one who flouted conventions, poked fun at niceties and got away with it because he was feebleminded (either pretending, or in reality). They were often regarded as medieval prophets who are able to see or understand things that other could not. Francis and Juniper appreciated these fools and emulated them when they became as Francis himself put it, “Jugglers for God” (Introduction, xix).

the-st-francis-holy-fool-prayer-bookJon Sweeney is an independent scholar, publisher and editor. He has written, translated, edited and annotated several volumes about Francis and the early Franciscans, including Francis and Clare: a True Story, Francis of Assisi in His Own Words: The Essential Writings; Light in the Dark Ages: the Friendship of Francis and Clare; The Road to Assisi (annotated edition of Paul Sabatier’s biography of Francis), and The Complete St. Francis.  The St. Francis Holy Fool Prayer Book is the third of Sweeny’s Franciscan prayer books (along with the St. Francis Prayer Book and the St. Clare Prayer Book). What makes this volume unique is the way it picks up on this holy fool, subversive element in the early Franciscan movement.

This is a pocket-sized prayer book, and the heart of it is a week’s worth of prayers—The Daily Office for Holy Fools(Part 3).  However, before Sweeney gets to the Office, he includes an introduction on the concept of holy fool, a section of inspiration, examining the holy fool theme in the life of Francis and Brother Juniper (part 1), and a section introducing the format for the morning and evening prayers (part 2). Sweeney also includes occasional prayers for fools (part 4), and four stories of Brother Juniper from The Little Flowers (part 5).

The Daily Office for Holy Fools is composed of morning and evening prayers, each beginning with a simple prayer of intention, and incorporating silences, readings from the gospels, psalms, Hebrew prophets and the New Testament, an early Franciscan saying and a spiritual practice, relating to the theme of that day’s prayer(16). The themes and intents for the week include:

  1. Sunday: The wisdom of foolishness
  2. Monday: The strength of powerlessness
  3. Tuesday: There is joy in forgiveness
  4. Wednesday: The humble are blessed
  5. Thursday: The pure in heart are blessed
  6. Friday: Folly is another name for righteousness
  7. Saturday: True Wisdom brings peace and justice

I incorporated this prayer book into my devotional life through last week. I thought the scriptural passages chosen were meaningful and I enjoyed attempting the suggested spiritual practices. I failed at day one (the wisdom of foolishness) when Sweeney suggested:

Today, alone, somewhere outdoors, try preaching to the birds. If it happens to be winter and there are no birds to be found where you are, preach to the squirrels. Begin by speaking silently, if you prefer in your mind. But stand before them and express yourself from your heart. Record how it felt. Do it again tomorrow (29).

For several days I saw nothing creaturely I could practice such foolishness on. No birds, no squirrels, nothing creepy, crawly. Only flies, and I didn’t feel as though I could preach to them with a flyswatter in my hand. Commending them to God before ending their lives seemed more Pulp Fiction than Brother Sun, Sister Moon. 

Another example, here was the spiritual practice commended as part of the Tuesday evening prayer:

Some of us are simply not good at allowing joy to fill us. (I count myself in this camp, much of the time.) Perhaps we were taught to be more circumspect, not  to easily show our feelings. For a few minutes, as long as you are able, stretch your arms wide and hold your palms facing out as if you might catch a huge beach ball that’s about to be thrown your direction. Close your eyes. Then, catch it! (44)

I did this while lying on my bed last Tuesday. My wife walked in the room seeing my arms spread wide. This is the conversation we had:

Her, looking at my arms: Are you trying to block me from getting in bed.

Me: no.

Her: What are you doing? Why are your arms out like that?

Me: I’m catching a giant beach ball.

Her: You are like one of our children. 

And that’s how I knew I did it right.

Other practices were more straightforwardly applicable, though not easy (e.g. laying down defensiveness, forgiving and seeking forgiveness, kneeling for prayer, wearing something ridiculous and not taking ourselves so seriously, giving extravagantly to someone you know in need, and going where God’s love compels us). In general, Sweeney’s holy fool practices emphasize the playful more than the prophetic, though clearly there is a connection between the two.

This is a fun little prayer book. Because it is a week’s worth of prayers, it can be used to either augment or replace your regular devotional practice for a week, or prayed through regularly for a season. What I appreciate about the whole holy fool idea, is the way God works through unexpected people, far from the center of power, to subvert the system and bring about the newness of God’s kingdom. These prayers (and stories) poke at that and press us in the holy, foolish direction of the kingdom of God. Francis and Juniper (and Sweeny) commend us toward a style of life shaped by the Beatitudes and the witness of Christ. May we all be so foolish! I give this four stars. ★★★★

Notice of material connection: I received a copy of this book from Paraclete Press for the purposes of an honest review