( Rev. Curtis Whitman- First Congregational Church Greene NY)

I was stunned by tenderness and depth of this prayer during worship yesterday, For me, words aren’t just words. They can be icons, means of grace, life-transforming vehicles of Divine loving power. Thank you, Pastor Curtis for being a vessel of grace.

Word of God the most high, our sole hope,
eternal day of the earth and heavens
as we break the silence of the peaceful night
divine saviour, look down upon us.

O Christ show your favour to your faithful people
who have come together to worship you
receive the praises that they offer up to your immortal glory
and may they come back laden with the gift of your grace.

Cantique de Jean Racine

“0 God, come to my assistance; 0 Lord, make haste to help me”

From the Eastern tradition, comes the Jesus Prayer taken from the Gospels:

“Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me a sinner“

or in this form which I find most calming:

“Om Jesu Christi Misereri Nobis“

To learn more of this tradition, check out this description by Cecil Pennington

In the words of Abba Isaac

“The {one} who continually Invokes God as {their} protector is aware that God is ever at hand. I repeat: each one of us, whatever {our} condition in the spiritual life, needs to use this verse.

Perhaps wandering thoughts surge about my soul like boiling water, and I cannot control them, nor can I offer prayer without its being interrupted by silly images. I feel so dry that I am Incapable of spiritual feelings, and many sighs and groans cannot save me from dreariness. I must needs say: “0 God, come to my assistance; 0 Lord, make haste to help me.”

Having these words on my mind is the most helpful “therapy” I have ever come across. By taking time, even just 3 minutes, each day to say any of these prayers over and over again, either within one’s thoughts or outloud, they will quickly become a part of your subconcious thouoght pattern. Then as situations arise, the Spirit will bring this to your concious thought. In this way, these words become a cleansing body, mind and soul, blessing both yourself and the situations that cause distress.

For much of my life, depression and anxiety have been a shadow companions. Each has had something to teach me. The lessons of each have been hard to learn. The practice of Centering Prayer has been the most clarifying therapy of all.

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD,

all ye lands.

Serve the LORD with gladness:

come before his presence with singing.

Know ye that the LORD he is God:

it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;

we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,

and into his courts with praise:

be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

For the LORD is good;

his mercy is everlasting;

and his truth endureth to all generations.

A few days ago, I came across a reference to a book that sounds delightful to me: A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I Am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Green, Incarnational, Depressed-yet-Hopeful, Emergent, Unfinished CHRISTIAN by Brian D. McLaren It seems that there are many of us with the inner reality looking for a community of the saints within which we might freely grow and live and have our being.

.In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things came into being through him and without him not one thing came into being …and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father.s only son, full of grace and truth. John 1:1,3a, 14)

.Swisch-dub, swisch-dub, swisch-dub. the beautiful sound of my baby’s heartbeat resounded in the little cubicle as the Doppler instrument broadcast the miracle of love deep within my body. I longed for each of my children. Many women long for a lifetime and never get to hear this sound. It had taken eighteen months to get pregnant and I sang the song of Hannah, sure that I was infertile, begging God to give me a child. Tears were in my eyes as I listened to that beautiful sound. I can still hear it and it.s been over two decades!
Did you know that everything in our bodies makes a sound? Sonograms of various body parts create pictures of these sounds. When an organ is dis-eased, it makes sounds that are not in harmony with the rest of the organ. These sounds help physicians diagnose the presence of disease if not the cause. Actually, everything in the universe emits a sound.

For thousands of years, the mystics have taught that the universe was created with the utterance on the word .amen. or .Om.. Long before technology created the means to hear and see these vibrations, sages have proclaimed that all the sounds of the universe together make a song so beautiful that it could only be the sound of God. The very word .uni-verse. gives witness to this truth.
And that word, that very word became flesh. Flesh just like yours and just like mine. Flesh that burned and wrinkled and bled and got goosebumps. And that word is the light that is within you and within all whom God has created. That word vibrates throughout your body in a song unique to you.
When God hears your body.s vibrations, God hears a song as beautiful to our creators ears as a baby.s heartbeat is to his/her parents. You are a song that delights God.s ears. Only your body, just as it is, can sing this song.

“Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and with Thy governing Spirit establish me.”

For some time, in the silence, the phrase “with Thy governing Spirit establish me” kept ruminating in my mind. After a time, things about my life which sorely need to be put into order came to my mind and I prayed over them “with Thy governing Spirit establish me”. With each one, I let them lift from me like the smoke from the candlelight, and soon I was filled with utter peace.

After a time, thoughts of those I love and their own suffering came to my mind and again, I prayed “with Thy governing Spirit establish them”. A deep silent peace filled me. Again, after a time, others came to my mind and I did the same, letting these thoughts rise like the smoke from the flame. Soon, a deeper peace filled me and my heart was full, expanding, it seemed to me, beyond myself, beyond my “prayer closet” beyond….just beyond. And beyond this, the experience has no words. Even to call it an experience seems to cheapen it.

I hope this description is helpful to those who have asked me to describe my experience of Christian mysticism.

On one hand, becoming like a child has merit. A story of Jesus from Matthew 18:2-4 goes like this:

He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

On the other hand, Santa Claus is not God. Prayers are not a christmas wish list to be fulfilled or not fulfilled based on whether we’ve been naughty or nice.

To pray as a child is to approach divinity with humility and with faith. The best description of faith that I have read thus far is from Anandamayi Ma, a saint from the yogic traditions:

Everything happens according to the will of God. Have full faith in this, then every place, every moment, every event of our life begins to feel like heaven. And you know that what is happening is meant for you.

For me, such faith has only come through daily spiritual practice of the ancient “Prayer of the Heart” http://www.angelfire.com/pa3/OldWorldBasic/FiveStages.htm

I’ve been praying this psalm daily for about four months now. It never seems to get old to me. Each time I read it, speak it, meditate upon it, it reaches to someplace deeper.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” And another speck of confusion in my heart is lifted, and my vision is wiped just a little cleaner as if windex and newspaper had scrubbed it clean.

I imagine there are layers of confusion, fears, wrong attitudes, habitual thoughts that need to be scrubbed away. Each time I pray this psalm, a litte more soot is removed from my inner eye and a little more hardness is softened. I see with bit more compassion and hear what isn’t spoken.

Patience is one of the fruits of God’s spirit – a fruit that has always seemed a bit like lemons to me – bitter. Yet praying this psalm has taught me a bit more patience with myself. Over time, repentance does change us. In an instant, we are forgiven but the fruits of that forgiveness seem to me to take time as daily I am washed clean. Daily I remember who I am. Weeks, months, years later, I begin to experience the pureness of my heart and suddenly, I know I am free.

Help us, Lord of the psalmist. Help us, I Am that leads slaves to freedom and stands against the rulers of fortune. Give us the courage to live in the promise, unafraid of temporary suffering, that we might stand with you. You alone, the one for whom our souls wait.