Thoughts On Prayer I

Prayer – An Ancient Way To Mental Fitness

There are a few human behaviours that are spread across the world and across cultures and across time. Maybe more than a few. I’m sure there are some exceptions ,but for the most part humans that have been living in groups since there have been humans have participated in these activities, like games, sports, and gossip. One that all our cultures have shared as well is prayer.

My approach to prayer has changed. I became jaded towards praying because I saw it as a of ridiculous and effected display of piety by some. It was there direct line to Santa Claus-like God that would grant them magic wishes. Then my ideas about God changed, or rather I changed around the idea of God. And with this change also came my change towards prayer.

I remember praying as a child in church, both quietly to myself and in the corporate prayers of the service. I didn’t understand all of the prayers we said together as a group, ad it seemed like we were saying some pretty silly things. And when I was by myself I just sat with my eyes tightly shut and listened for God, as if a voice, like Charlton Heston or James Earl Jones, would boom in my head. All I heard was the sound of everything around me, the people shifting in their pews, a cough and the scuffle of feet, and the over-hanging velvet silence of a large stone church.

I was always disappointed to say the least. When I came back to church as an adult I discovered something else altogether different.

My reasons for returning to regular corporate worship are enough for another entry, so I’ll skip ahead to becoming a regular member. At that time in my life I was desperate to find a place of peace and inner calm within myself. But I’m getting a little off topic…

If we go to the effort of physical exercise to improve our physical fitness, shouldn’t we also be employing mental exercise to improve our mental fitness? And if we should have regular physical exercise, shouldn’t we have regular mental exercise?

I think we should. And just as we have specific exercise for specific muscles, we need specific exercises for our minds. Some for developing our intellect. Some for developing our focus. And some to develop our ethics.

In developing our ethics I think we need to do more than just logically puzzle out a particular issue. We need to perform regular rituals to refocus and remind ourselves of what we value as important. I think prayer is an important part of mental health.

What are you doing with prayer, either personal or group (corporate)? To be continued…

When We Sing We Praise God Twice

Don't get me wrong, I love the old hymns. There is nothing like a the full on pipe organ experience on a Sunday night, or evening. But just because I experience God in that mean does not mean it is the only musical event that God can be experienced in a liturgical sense. It also does not mean that everyone with experience God in that kind of music. For that reason it is important, no, crucial, that the clergy explore and experiment with new kinds of liturgical expressions which incorporate contemporary music.

I would also like to state I'm not a fan of contemporary "Christian" music. I never rule out any kind of music for good, but all that I've heard merely adapts modern song structures and pastes simple, to ridiculous, lyrics on top. There is not artistic blending of the two which is found in other genre. Sure, it's great to acknowledge that God is Great and Jesus is Great, etc., etc. But We should also be praising the Message. We should be exploring the happy and the sad moments of the life that God gave us. And maybe even the humourous and sarcastic.

For this reason I am arguing for a new kind of hymnal to be created. I'll call it New Tyme Hymns©, until I can think of something better.

What I have in mind is already done in a slow, round-a-bout way. Cat Stevens' "Morning Has Broken" is now in the Anglican hymn book "Common Praise". Stevens' song was released as a secular pop song, but has risen to a higher service. I think that there are lots of songs that can be used in this way. When we sing them in the context of a worship service the meaning and intent changes and the deeper meanings held in the music come out to touch us as nothing else in the worship experience can.

Take a read of these lyrics form the Dolly Parton song "Travelin' Through". It reads like a great hymn of praise and the theology is spot on!

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Well, I can't tell you where I'm going I'm not sure of where I've been. But I know I must keep travelin’ till my road comes to an end. I’m out here on my journey trying to make the most of it. I’m a puzzle I must figure out where all my pieces fit.

Like a poor wayfaring stranger that they speak about in song I’m just a weary pilgrim trying to find what feels like home. What that is no one can tell me, am I doomed to ever roam? I’m just travelin’, travelin’, travelin’, I’m just travelin’ on.

Questions I have many, answers but a few. We’re here to learn the Spirit burns to learn the greater truth. We’ve all been crucified and they nailed Jesus to the tree. And when I'm born again your gonna see a change in me. God made me for a reason and nothing is in vain. Redemption comes in many shapes with many kinds of pain.

Oh, sweet Jesus if you're listening keep me ever close to you. As I'm stumbling, tumbling as I'm travelin’ through. I’m just travelin’, travelin’, travelin’, I'm just travelin’ through. I'm just travelin’, travelin’, I'm just travelin’ through.

Oh, sometimes the road gets rugged and it's hard to travel on. But holding to each other we don't have to walk alone. When everything is broken we can mend if we try. We can make a world of difference if we want to we can fly.

Good-bye little children. Good-night you handsome men. Farewell to all you ladies and to all who knew me when. And I hope I’ll see you down the road you meant more than I knew as I’m travelin’ travelin’, travelin’, travelin’, travelin’ through. Drifting like a floating boat and roaming like the wind.

Oh give me some direction Lord, let me lean on you as I'm travelin’, travelin’ through. Like the poor wayfaring stranger that they speak about in song I'm just like a weary pilgrim trying to find my own way home. Oh, sweet Jesus if your out there keep me ever close to you as I'm travelin’, travelin’, travelin’ through, travelin’ through.

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Try to take a listen if you can keeping in mind my new proposed use.

Update

Well, I have been absent from posting lately, something I'm going to remedy! I've been busy in the process and have not taken time to document it! I am preparing to meet with the bishops of the Diocese as part of my introduction to the people who will be deciding whether I am fit for ordination. There is a day long series of events in London for me to attend next Saturday. This is a less formal event, unlike ACPO (Advisory Committee on Postulants for Ordination) which is an Anglican organization which evaluates your ability to be an Anglican priest.

I am also looking at completing my CPE ( Clinical Pastoral Education) unit, which I could do in a nearby Cambridge hospital. This unit is supposed to train me in being a better pastoral councilor.

That's all for now, I'll be writing shorter, but more frequent, entries from noe on!

Process, process, process

To become ordained in the Anglican Church in Canada you must do two main things. The first is to enroll in a theological school to earn a Masters of Divinity degree. The other is to be taken on by a diocese, a regional division or area where a bishop has authority. I'm in the process of both. I've applied to the Diocese of Huron and will be attending a bishop's conference for postulants later this month. Both of these processes require a practical placement in a church, and I am currently at Grace Anglican in Brantford. I've given my first sermon there, and participate in the litugry in a deaconate role. This has all been keeping me very busy, but I hope to posting longer entries soon!