Centering

I was listening to a podcast the other day an interview with the Irish poet and peacemaker Padraig O Tuama. Yesterday I spoke about Henri Nouwen who encouraged us to set aside time for prayer and meditation. O Tuama spoke about his own way of centering each day… taking time apart… He phrased it so beautifully. He said:

“Neither I nor the poets I love found the keys to the kingdom of prayer and we cannot force God to stumble over us where we sit. But I know that it’s a good idea to sit anyway. So every morning I sit, I kneel, waiting, making friends with the habit of listening, hoping that I’m being listened to. There, I greet God in my own disorder. I say hello to my chaos, my unmade decisions, my unmade bed, my desire, and my trouble. I say hello to distraction…, I greet the day and I greet my beloved and bewildering Jesus. I recognize and greet my burdens, my luck, my controlled and uncontrollable story… I greet the things I think will happen and I say hello to everything I do not know about the day…. I greet God, and I greet the God who is more God than the God I greet. / Hello to you all, I say, as the sun rises above the chimneys of North Belfast. / Hello.”

Some of you, I imagine have developed habits of prayer and silence. For others of you, maybe the time of continued social distancing (or even as we emerge from social distancing) could be a perfect opportunity to begin to carve out even just a few minutes each day to sit in God’s presence and listen for God’s still small voice.

Let us pray. God of Grace, as we set apart even a few moments each day of quiet, we humbly ask you to meet us in that place. Give us ears to hear from you and hearts to respond. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.