They're lining up! Four blogs vied for my attention yesterday morning, hence the delay in posting here. I just couldn't make up my mind. So, in the interests of fairness, I've plumped for the first one I discovered, David Keen's reflections on imaginative prayer in Opinionated Vicar. (Opinionated? Surely not...?)
"I found all of this very fruitful, whilst being aware that I rarely have the leisure in prayer to simply use my imagination. It's much more controllable to pray set prayers, work through a list of things to pray for, and formulate my own prayers, rather than let my (rather more chaotic) imagination run the show.
As an evangelical, I'm trained to base prayers on reason. God is found in the Word, in the left brain, prayer is based on who God is (revealed in words) and what God has said (ditto), and is verbal. Ignatian prayer is more 'right brain', and uses the imagination. Both reason and imagination can be flaky, and I came back from the walks wondering whether I'd been for a walk with Jesus, or just imagined I'd been for a walk with Jesus. Then I wondered whether perhaps both had happened, and it didn't have to be an either/or."
His account of his experiences on retreat resonated with me, not only because I'm booked into the same place later this year, but also because it touches on some of the changes I've been experiencing in my prayer lately, especially since I moved churches. It offers a few clues as to why I often struggle with particular types of churchmanship. I'm currently trying to put together some reflections on spiritual growth and faith journeys for TSSF; reading about the changes in OV's* prayer is helping me clarify some parts of my own travels. Thank you.
The other 'contenders' were:
Catholic Zen, and, for their reflections on issues relevant to last week's rioting in the UK, Good Goat and Tractorgirl.
* Re-discovered via The Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley. No, I'm not being paid commission to give them blogspace, really!
Last week's Blog of The Week : Yn meddwl yn groch
Thankyou, that's very kind. I've only been back blogging for a week too, so this kind of helps me to think it might have been the right decision to restart.
Posted by: David Keen | August 17, 2011 at 09:40 AM
Very pleased to see David back and blogging. Even though his town treats the memory of Thomas Hardy with shocking disrespect, I don't think can blame the local Team Vicar.
Posted by: Archdruid Eileen | August 19, 2011 at 07:33 PM
Yes indeed. I've a bit of a soft spot for that part of the country, in that it's near where my favourite retreat community placey - now sadly closed - used to be.
Posted by: Greenpatches | August 21, 2011 at 10:13 PM
Thank you, David. Keep blogging away.
Posted by: Greenpatches | August 21, 2011 at 10:15 PM