The Secret of Prayer is the Secret of the Kiss

Dear Drummers,
 
Drumming tnis Saturday at Saint Paul Council of Churches Building, 1671 Summit Avenue (two blocks west of Snelling).
 
We'll drum up some stress-relieving, body-delighting groovi-lusciousness. Then we will enter the sacred space of the evening riding on a little phrase given to me many years ago by the spirit world: "There is only one prayer: 'Open me.' Pray that prayer until you weep." Well, I don't expect you to weep on Friday, but we will work together on what it means to be opened by prayer.  About 45 drummers  entered this lovely work together last Friday in Minneapolis, and it was really wonderful (thank you all for coming--and feel free to come back if you want to move through it gain!)
 
We will focus our prayer on the Celtic wheel, praying the directions. If you are unfamiliar with the Celtic medicine wheel, I'll teach you the meanings of the mythic directions in the Celtic tradition, and we will carefully pray each direction. We will work our way around the directions, and spiral into the center where we step into our "sovereignty" - the place of our own power, our authenticity.
 
This is not only going to be a beautifully deep evening together, but if you don't pray often (for all the reasons so few of us do) I believe the night will offer you a profoundly powerful tool that can immeasurably advance your spiritual practice.
 
Some musings about prayer
I used to get twitchy when it came to prayer. In the mainstream religious world, prayer is often so fake, forced or foolish. It's wrongly thought of as a plea for God's intervention (smite my enemies, find me a parking place). Listening to that morose drone of the Lord's Prayer in church makes me break out in hives. Mainstream religion throughout history degenerates again and again into emotionless and faithless gestures repeated shallowly by emotionless and faithless people who are, nevertheless, dressed very well for church.
 
But the real secret of prayer is in the intimacy, and like all intimate acts, like true conversation, like love-making, we can become afraid of being open (and of being opened). It becomes all too easy to go through the motions rather than peel away our fear and protection.
 
There is but one prayer: open me. There is but one love-making: open me.
 
Curiously, right before Jesus taught the disciples the Lord's Prayer, he said this: "And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words." (Matthew 6:7). He was saying don't mindlessly repeat words that don't open you, don't ask for the kiss from the Holy if you don't intend to fully open your mouth and use the grace-filled tongue you were given. And then he delivered the prayer that would all too soon become a mindlessly repeated dry kiss.
 
There is another secret in prayer, and it's what feminist theologian Sally McFague described in her book Models of God. The secret is who you think you are praying to, or with. A huge parent in the sky? A lover? A peer? A family member? Trying on different models of the Holy allows you to open your prayer life immensely.   

Below are some words to get us started this saturday:
 
It is lovely, oh lovely
We turn our eyes to the East:
The graceful air, the awakening light,
the unfolding of the blooms.
Arise in me, and pour forth from me
Thou grace of the East.
 
It is lovely, oh lovely
We turn our eyes to the South:
The fiery sun, the dancing melody,
the ripening of the fruit.
Arise in me, and pour forth from me
Thou music of the South.
 
It is lovely, oh lovely
We turn our eyes to the West:
The darkening sea, the beckoning horizon,
the heartbreaking goodbye.
Arise in me, and pour forth from me
Thou mystery of the West.
 
It is lovely, oh lovely
We turn our eyes to the North:
The frozen earth, the defense against the dark,
the silence between the dreams.
Arise in me, and pour forth from me
Thou silence of the North.
 
It is lovely, oh lovely
We turn our eyes to the tree:
The branches reaching up,
The roots reaching down,
The marriage of earth and sky.
Arise in me, and pour forth from me
Thou wholeness of the tree.

See you soon.