This year I am ruminating on the subject of Prayer.
Here is George Herbert's poem called 'Prayer (1)', taken from the Poetry Foundation Website
Prayer the church's banquet, angel's age,
God's breath in man returning to his birth,
The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav'n and earth
Engine against th' Almighty, sinner's tow'r,
Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
The six-days world transposing in an hour,
A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear;
Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss,
Exalted manna, gladness of the best,
Heaven in ordinary, man well drest,
The milky way, the bird of Paradise,
Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul's blood,
The land of spices; something understood.
As a starting point this provides plenty of choices! At the moment I am wondering what prayer as 'the church's banquet' might mean - choices, who is there, sharing, being fed,
picture from creative commons
Action - I will make a donation to a charity which provides food at Christmas to those who would otherwise go without.
Prayer is somehow not in our compass. However we do respect the fact it empowers others. Also we like poetry based on the concepts-so are busy practicing Christmas Carols. Good King Wenceslas summarises the idea your action embodies. We ware going to Motomikolaj on Sunday. 300 bikers with money and presents for the children's home here. We raise a surprising sum every year and I recall hearing a girl singing -then learned our money paid for her music lessons! God moves in mysterious ways
ReplyDeletePrayer is sometimes something so concrete, like The Lord's Prayer', and other times so nebulous, like heartfelt thinking... All very mysterious...
Delete