March 2021 - Rector's Ramblings
There are some among us who couldn’t proceed to work without music - I suspect my dentist is included. Yet, not everybody finds it an amenable accompaniment. I wonder: does it inspire you and set your juices flowing? Or is it unwelcome distraction? We vary in our needs, and our resourcing. In fact, as I know, it has to be wordless music for me; and preferably that with which I am relatively unfamiliar. Otherwise, I begin to sing, and to be swayed by the lyrics, and cannot keep my mind on the task at hand. I begin to pay more attention to the familiar sounds and rhythms and cadences than I do to my own creative purpose. And, for all the misleading introduction to this Article, I am amongst those who more often work in silence for that very reason. Prayer, as a task, challenges us similarly. There are those of us whose very way into that discipline is best guided by music: devotional, or otherwise. This unlocks our hearts and souls; sets flowing the receptivity that is so necessary to deep prayer. In contrast, I have always numbered myself amongst those who need silence; who lap it up, and return it, outwards; finding calm in quietness; finding myself. It is not my purpose to promote one manner of prayer over any other. Actually what I would say is ‘know yourself’, in and amid your hope to ‘know God’. And immediately I am struck by the pretentiousness of the very concept of ‘knowing God’. Prayer and contemplation are deeply precious, at all times. Lent is no different here; but it is a decent, acceptable thing that we let our attention be drawn to the theme of our ongoing spirituality. Resort to ‘the wilderness’ - whatever that might mean for each of us personally - is perhaps one way of allowing attention to that part of our existence which we call prayer. For most of us, especially this Lent, a geographical wilderness is not possible. Nonetheless, we can find some time and space. Maybe, here, wherever you find your wilderness, can be a place of discovery. Discovery of those ignored concerns and stirrings: otherwise pushed to the margins or buried out of reach by alternative preoccupations. It’s not confined to Lent, of course; but this season is an open invitation to take a stock-check. And, however you best do that (with music or silence; visual encouragement or eyes gently closed); however you conceive and practise prayer; to listen in to yourself, in listening also unto God. It’s a special time. I wish you well. Andrew Doye Rector |
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