{"id":5809,"date":"2012-03-08T16:34:52","date_gmt":"2012-03-08T23:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/andre\/?p=5809"},"modified":"2017-07-01T17:46:43","modified_gmt":"2017-07-01T17:46:43","slug":"poetry-as-a-prayer-catalyst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/andre\/soul-significance\/poetry-as-a-prayer-catalyst\/","title":{"rendered":"Poetry as a Prayer Catalyst"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever seen those frustrating pictures?\u00a0 You know the ones. The kind that if you stare at them long enough and hard enough, from the right angle and you will see a hidden image?\u00a0 I always find these frustrating because naturally, I tend to take things at face value but if I\u2019m not careful, I can fall into a trap where I see from the one perspective and miss something beautiful.\u00a0 This happens in many aspects of life and can happen in the way we read scriptures and even pray.\u00a0 Without being aware, we all have a predominant worldview which provides a context for us to interpret and evaluate information.\u00a0 Our worldview quietly operates in the background of our minds helping us to make sense of the world around us.\u00a0 This forms the basis of what we deem as \u201cnormal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As healthy and as necessary as our <\/span>worldview may be, it can limit the way that we experience life because it sets us in a particular way of seeing, we can miss things which may not present themselves in a way we are accustom to seeing.\u00a0 Sometimes, we will be offended, but as experience confirms, God has no problem offending the mind to reveal the heart!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

For this reason, I like to have a few different tools in my prayer tool box.\u00a0 These include tools to deal with distraction<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span>, different techniques of praying or types of prayer and different postures for different settings. \u00a0 The foundation of it all is my own personal relationship with God but just as you relate in different ways with a dear friend or a spouse - like what is appropriate for a party and what is appropriate for a quiet one on one coffee - so, we too can cultivate our prayer life as appropriate to the setting. Many folks have utilized music to cultivate an atmosphere of prayer.\u00a0 Another very effective way of cultivating prayer is through the reading of poetry. \u00a0Like music and many other kinds of art, poetry has a way of stepping in behind the empirical walls of our worldview and can be an effective and powerful way to engage our hearts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Poetry uses words in a variety of ways which causes us to use different parts of our brain.\u00a0 Good poetry invites us into a picture, into something that transcends mere words and tries to connect us to <\/span>truth, to love, to God and ourselves and each other in a much deeper way.\u00a0 We find that we interact with the words in a different way than we would a \u2018how-to\u2019 manual and often poetry reveals a subtle conduit to the heart.\u00a0 This in turns frees us to pray more freely, more <\/span>heartfelt, to see and experience God in the images created for us in <\/span>scripture and the Word in our hearts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Discovery of poetry, be it in the Psalms or other poetic or prophetic books of the <\/span>Bible when <\/span>read for the beauty and the imagery it creates in our minds, allows us to enter in a deeper way into the mystery of who our God is. \u00a0The ancient fathers of the faith suggest that God is so big that He is a mystery, unknowable and yet we are invited to know God if even as through a glass darkly.\u00a0 St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila would say God cannot be known but by love and to this <\/span>end, we experience and know love not just empirically, academically but experientially. Please remember - this deeper sense of knowing doesn't mean we throw our brains away.\u00a0 Healthy thinking is necessary to inform healthy experience and keep it healthy and vice versa.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is nothing magical about poetry - it is not the poetry that somehow invokes Gods presence.\u00a0 Rather, poetry, like most of the arts, allows us a shift in point of view so we can recognize the reality of the presence of God in the here and now!<\/span><\/p>\n

There are several poets I enjoy, and these <\/span>include:\u00a0Robert \u201cMac\u201d MacKenzie<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span>, T.S. Eliot<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span>, Gerard Manley Hopkins<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span>, George Herbert<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span> and Mary Oliver<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span>.\u00a0 Many of their works are wonderfully rich, beautiful and thought and heart provoking. \u00a0 I also enjoy the poetry of scripture.\u00a0 Most notably the Psalms but many of the prophetic books are rich with poetic imagery.\u00a0 The challenge when reading poetry from <\/span>scripture for prayer is to resist the temptation to 'mine' principles, rules, history- information.\u00a0 Instead, allow it to paint a picture - a picture of their relationship with God, the picture that they are trying to paint with their words and then enter into it. \u00a0When I say enter into it I mean to read it slowly, pausing when there is something that seems extra rich and savor it - or hold it in your heart.\u00a0 Not to evaluate it but to appreciate it for what it is and let it speak to your life.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Shhh!\"\"<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

by Robert \u201cMac\u201d MacKenzie<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I climbed a high hill<\/span><\/p>\n

One day<\/span><\/p>\n

To watch the sunset<\/span><\/p>\n

Breathless<\/span><\/p>\n

But elated<\/span><\/p>\n

When I reached the top<\/span><\/p>\n

I found a grassy spot<\/span><\/p>\n

On which to rest<\/span><\/p>\n

And revel in the festivities<\/span><\/p>\n

Much to my delight<\/span><\/p>\n

I discovered<\/span><\/p>\n

That I wasn\u2019t alone<\/span><\/p>\n

For God had decided<\/span><\/p>\n

To keep me company<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cO my Love<\/span><\/p>\n

I exclaimed,<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking at the scene<\/span><\/p>\n

Stretched out before me<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019ve outdone Yourself<\/span><\/p>\n

this time!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Her eyes twinkled a little<\/span><\/p>\n

Obviously delighted<\/span><\/p>\n

With my enthusiasm<\/span><\/p>\n

And her face radiated<\/span><\/p>\n

With pure childlike joy and wonder<\/span><\/p>\n

Then without a single word<\/span><\/p>\n

She lifted her finger to her lips<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShhh! Let\u2019s just enjoy the moment\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And her Whisper filled and enfolded me<\/span><\/p>\n

With life and peace<\/span><\/p>\n

Though her mouth never moved<\/span><\/p>\n

And the sweetest of smiles<\/span><\/p>\n

Lingered upon her lips<\/span><\/p>\n

So in the stillness<\/span><\/p>\n

With nothing left to say<\/span><\/p>\n

We lost ourselves<\/span><\/p>\n

In a display of rapturous beauty<\/span><\/p>\n

Our hearts as one<\/span><\/p>\n

Lost in a single sliver of time<\/span><\/p>\n

As the heavens expanded<\/span><\/p>\n

Stretched out into eternity<\/span><\/p>\n

And declared the glory of God.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Have you ever seen those frustrating pictures?\u00a0 You know the ones. The kind that if you stare at them long enough and hard enough, from the right angle and you will see a hidden image?\u00a0 I always find these frustrating because naturally, I tend to take things at face value but if I\u2019m not careful, I can fall into a Continue Reading<\/a>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[34],"tags":[421,425],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n