Stay with me, remain here with me: watch and pray.
Posted on April 5th, 2012
One thing which I find really beautiful about Holy Week is that we can spend time imagining ourselves there with Jesus, because we know most of what he was doing during this time. To be given an opportunity to imagine ourselves walking with Jesus through the Last Supper, the betrayal, the crucifixion and the resurrection is so special. To be given the instruction, ‘stay here and pray’ is an instruction which we can still be given today. To pray not to be tempted is still a prayer we can pray today. To struggle to be spiritually strong as we are bound by our physical bodies is still something we can do. I can so easily imagine myself there with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane tonight.
Jesus is God incarnate…and yet Jesus prayed to God. When speaking about prayer he said, ‘And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.’ So what is the purpose of prayer? I would say that prayer is a way for people to quieten themselves by focusing on God, and a way to develop their relationship with God. I believe that prayer is a way for us to come humbly to God, who knows all of our weaknesses and to admit to our limitations, our fears or our desires. It is a way for us to be honest with God and for us to listen to the voice of God.
And so tonight we watch and pray, not shying away from the pain that Jesus was about to endure at this point in his final year, but making ourselves vulnerable in his sight just as he made himself vulnerable for us.
4 CommentsA prayer for Holy Week
Posted on April 3rd, 2012
Heavenly Father; as we move towards the crucifixion and the sacrifice of your Son on the cross this week, help us to remember you in our hearts and minds. Help us to make the sacrifices necessary in our own lives, secure in the knowledge that the ultimate sacrifice has ensured our salvation. Be with us as we make our commitment to live our lives in the spirit of the cross. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Last night I went to a beautiful Taizé service at St. Mary’s in Limpley Stoke (near Bath). It was very special, especially as I was with a group of people who sang in full four-part harmony for each song. It makes the experience so much more reminiscent of being in Taizé that I was truly moved.
During the prayers of intercession and the silence in which we could add our own prayer, I reflected on the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. The prayer above came to me, which was a real blessing. I am going to be moving house in a week, to live with my dad after 3 years of living alone and I have been really struggling with the prospect. I know that it is the right thing to do at this moment in time, but that knowledge doesn’t make it any easier! But after this reflection on sacrifice and having said this prayer, I felt a sense of peace around the situation.
It really is amazing how prayer is answered in ways we don’t expect, and in every aspect of life. It’s not just the big things which need prayer and which God pays attention to – it’s everything. If you are open, I truly believe that God will be with you in ever moment of your life, even if you don’t realise He’s there.
Leave a commentChanting, chanting, chanting…
Posted on March 31st, 2012
Christian chant goes back to the very earliest Christian communities and even further, to the Psalms themselves which traditionally were sung rather than read. Today I’ve written a few chants which I am hoping to use at some point in the future. Having spent time with interfaith groups, I know that there are great chanting traditions in the Eastern traditions (Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism) but other than Taizé, Christianity often seems to get left out here. I found a beautiful Jewish chant while I was doing a bit of research which you might enjoy as it is based on words of Moses – Ana El Na Refa Na La
Taizé is my inspiration for singing songs to celebrate the Lord and I am really hoping that writing my own chants will help me express the peace and presence of God that I feel when I sing Taizé music. When I release a CD of chants, you’ll have to let me know what you think!
There’s something about chanting which reminds me of something I read recently about ‘slow prayer’. Here’s the extract – “St. Teresa of Ávila recommended this technique to another nun: Pray the Lord’s Prayer, but take an hour to pray it. Spend a few minutes entering into each individual phrase, until it becomes truly the prayer of your heart, and you become the prayer.” I’ve got a lot of time for the contemplative saints and this quote really rings true for me. By chanting you can grow in the words you are singing. They can mean something different to you each time round. They can reach a crescendo and they can be soft. It’s a beautiful experience to sing chants, and that’s why I love Taizé. The simplicity of the words lets you really open yourself up to their meaning.
So when I was writing some of these chants earlier I was using the words from various Anglican rosaries, which I discovered just this morning! I hadn’t realised that rosaries had made it into the Anglican tradition but have really enjoyed reading about them today. They’ve been around since the mid-1980s according to this website – http://www.kingofpeace.org/prayerbeads.htm. I have toyed with the idea of setting a whole rosary to music and recording it the right number of times so that it is like singing a rosary. I’d love your thoughts on that one!
Chanting is a way to sustain personal prayer. As St. Augustine said, ‘Singing is praying. He who sings prays twice.’ Beautiful! Today I have really felt the unity of these different things – that chanting is a way to pray slowly and thoughtfully, to delve into a relationship with God by using beautiful music to open up the heart and receive the love which God is desperate to share with us all. Here is a chant I’d love to use at some point (I’m working on my Hebrew!) The words are from Hosea 2:18. Video below.
VECHARAT I LAHEM BRIT BAYOM HA-HU
IM CHAYAT HASADE VE IM OF
HASHAMAYIM VE REMES HA-ADAMA
VEKESHET BE-CHEREV U-MILCHAMA ESHBOR
MIN HA-ARETZ VEHISHKATI LAVETACH (BIS)
In this day I make a covenant
with the beasts and the birds
with all creatures that walk on this earth
and bow, and sword, and battle disappear from the land
so that all may safely rest
On trust:
Posted on March 23rd, 2012
‘I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain.’ – John Henry Newman
I have often contemplated on trust, as I’m sure many Christians have. It seems to be a topic which arises particularly when I am struggling in some way – whether that be in understanding my purpose, things not going my way or feeling unsatisfied with some aspect of my life. I can remember being a teenager and people telling me in that patronising voice ‘you’ll get used to it’ or ‘you’ll understand it when you’re older’, or the most frustrating, ‘you’re so young!’ It would drive me mad! Unfortunately they were right (of course) and now, although I’m still only 25, I find myself using the same phrases sometimes.
I appreciate every difficult situation I have ever experienced, because I can see precisely how they have prepared me for the roles I fulfil and the tasks I complete in life now. And yet, having this knowledge and understanding the role that suffering has played in my life so far (to a greater or lesser degree), I still find myself resisting and complaining when I am presented with opportunities to grow. I can semi-remember a quote which is about how God answers prayers in the most unexpected ways, and trying to Google it has led me to see testimony upon testimony of people writing about how their prayers have been answered unexpectedly.
I know in my heart of hearts that I don’t need to worry. I have had so many personal experiences of God working my own life, of prayers being answered and of situations working out just perfectly, and with hindsight I have developed an understanding of the way that everywhere I end up is helping me to grow in some way. So why is trust so difficult to maintain?
I suppose the one consolation is that Jesus understood the weakness of human nature. When he called Peter towards him and Peter doubted, it is almost as if he is consoling him; ‘Oh you of little faith’ as one might comfort a child who has fallen over and grazed their knee. But the beauty of experience and hindsight is that we can piece together the proof of God’s love in our own lives. We can understand how God has worked in our lives in the personal and subtle ways that only we can recognise, leading us to trust in Him again and again. And in that there is a great reassurance.
Leave a comment‘Leave me alone with God as much as may be…’
Posted on March 22nd, 2012
This prayer by Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne is one which often plays on my mind. He is a saint renowned for ‘cultivating peace and love, purity and humility’, and that opening line is definite food for thought.
I have lived on my own for 3 years and have grown to really love the solitude and freedom that it gives me. However, I often waste time as I’m sure everyone does. I give myself excuses for why I can’t do certain things or why I will do them later than I should…probably a common confession. But I wonder if there’s a link between the opening line of his prayer, ‘leave me alone with God as much as may be…’ and his qualities.
When you’re on your own it’s easy to think that you can do what you want because no one’s watching. I am sure that if the Jesus of biblical times came to stay with me, I would use my time in a very different way! I would keep my house as clean as possible, I would spend as much time with him as I could and I would consider his teachings much more often than I currently do. I would also try to be peaceful, act lovingly towards both other people and animals, and I would try to live with purity and humility as Aidan is believed to have done.
Why would I do this with Jesus and not with others? If Jesus feels the least thing that we do for or another, then isn’t that the same thing? But it’s an awful lot harder to remain peaceful around people who you find challenging, or to act out of love towards someone who pushes all your buttons! Maybe by being left alone with God we are given the chance to develop these qualities which we can then put into practice with others.
Who knows? But it’s a good prompt for me to start trying to use my time more efficiently at home!
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