Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Praying to the Spirit of Life

Wayne Arnason & Kathleen Rolenz's "Praying as Unitarian Universalists: How can we pray with integrity, grace, power, and purpose?" is an excellent article. I found the section about invoking the language of reverence by addressing prayers to Something quite enlightening. According to Arnason & Rolenz, UUs sometimes get too caught up in invoking everything we possibly can, spending too much time naming the Something to which/whom we are addressing our prayers.

I wrote a short spoken meditation based on my favorite name for God, Oneness, Energy:

We sometimes begin a meditation or prayer with these words: Spirit Of Life And Love, Whom We Know By Many Names

What exactly is the spirit of life? Perhaps, at its most basic level, it is Breath. We can concentrate on our breath, the in-breath and the out-breath.

Feeling calmer and more centered with each cycle.

I feel the spirit of life within me. Know that the spirit of life is within you. When we come together, this Spirit is within and around us.

What exactly is the spirit of love? Perhaps, at its most basic level, it is a Heartbeat. When we are still, we can be mindful of our hearts, feeling them beating.

I feel the spirit of love within me. Know that you are surrounded by the heartbeats of others, surrounded and uplifted by the spirit of love.

Know that the spirit of life is within you.
Know that the spirit of love is within you.

May it be so,
Elizabeth

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I've heard people say "The Spirit of life and love, whom we know by many names and find in many places," but only as a joke!