heaven in ordinarie

For our meeting on 14th October we thought about how the "ordinary" is often overlooked. We expect to feel close to God on mountain tops and (hopefully) in church. However most of our lives we are not in these places, we are on the bus, at work, doing the washing up etc.

We started with one of the Quakers' Advices and queries. These are short suggestions/questions that Quakers are encouraged to read (both corporately and individually) and reflect on. The one we read was:

7. Be aware of the spirit of God at work in the ordinary activities and experiences of your daily life. Spiritual learning continues throughout life, and often in unexpected ways. There is inspiration to be found all around us, in the natural world, in the sciences and arts, in our work and friendships, in our sorrows as well as in our joys. Are we open to new light, from whatever source it may come? Do you approach new ideas with discernment?

We then looked at a poem by George Herbert (1593-1633) called 'Prayer'.

PRAYER the Churches banquet, Angels age, 
       
Gods breath in man returning to his birth, 
     
The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav’n and earth ;

Engine against th’ Almightie, sinner's towre, 
     
Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear, 
     
The six daies world-transposing in an houre, 

A kinde of tune, which all things heare and fear ;

Softnesse, and peace, and joy, and love, and blisse, 
     
Exalted Manna, gladnesse of the best, 
     
Heaven in ordinarie, man well drest, 

The milkie way, the bird of Paradise,

Church-bels beyond the stars heard, the souls bloud, 
    
The land of spices, something understood.

In this poem there are many images for prayer, some quite hard to grasp!

I partly got the idea for this topic from a Greenbelt speaker, John Davis who thinks that christians have a habit of devaluing the 'ordinary'. To counteract this he has written prayers about the everyday. See below for his prayer giving thanks for mobile phone masts.

We give thanks for mobile phone masts
Standing tall above our streets

Silent gatherers of our digital conversations; connecting us to satellites in outer space and friends in neighbouring houses; witnesses of our desire to communicate with others; beamers of text messages around the world.

We celebrate the holy mystery of radio waves - thousands of them criss-crossing through the air unseen, permitting us to catch and ride their frequencies as surfers ride incoming waves;
We celebrate the skills of those who have turned such mysteries to our practical use;
We stand beneath these tall grey masts, and we celebrate the wonder of new technology.

A blessing on those who call to ask us how we are;
A blessing on those who call to tell us where they are;
A blessing on those who call to invite us, kindly, to join them.

We give thanks for mobile phone masts
Standing tall above our streets.

Give us patience with those who play with their phones more than they talk to us;
Help us cope with those who use their phones so publicly they include us in their conversations;
Keep us calm if the person driving close behind us is dangerously on the phone.
Give us grace to know when to turn our phones on - to talk; and off - to rest;
Save us from radiation, repetitive strain injury, earache and excessive phone bills;
Keep us connected to the earth beneath our feet as much as the world between our ears.

We give thanks for mobile phone masts
Standing tall above our streets

Our initial reaction was that this was not a 'proper prayer'. But why is that? Because we have expectations about what 'proper prayers' are about and mobile phones don't fit that expectation?

We then talked about the influence of the media in advertising and various life style and celebrity magazines. They are selling a picture of the 'good life' that is anything but 'ordinary'. Our ordinary lives are drap and boring if we don't look like and smell like celebrities, we are encouraged to define our selves by what we consume and own and by the extremeness of our experiences.

But this is not something we can live up to and so we are at risk of devaluing our 'ordinary' lives. We need to reclaim the sacredness of everyday life. We finished with a Celtic prayer, the Celtic Christians had a habit of praying about the everyday things they did, making the beds, lighting the fire and so on.

Bless to me, O God,
Each thing mine eye sees;
Bless to me, O God,
Each sound mine ear hears;
Bless to me, O God,
Each odour that goes to my nostrils;
Bless to me, O God,
Each taste that goes to my lips;
Each note that goes to my song;
Each ray that guides my way;
Each thing that I pursue;
Each lure that tempts my will;
The zeal that seeks my living soul,
The three that seek my heart,
The zeal that seeks my living soul,
The three that seek my heart.