#Rethink: Dark Nights, Liturgy, and Breath Prayers
Join me as we ponder the people worried about faith deconstruction, embrace the ordinary liturgies of our days, and explore breath prayers.
#Rethink - October 2022
Welcome to the end of October! This month we are going to be pondering how to connect with people who are worried about loved ones deconstructing their faith, learn to embrace the ordinary liturgies of our days, and explore breath prayer.
How Do We Explain Deconstruction To The Church?
I’ve talked about my random prayer group over the last couple of months. Our group hasn’t grown a ton—usually between 3-5 people show up each week but every week it’s different and God does new things. The last two weeks women who are ten to fifteen years older than me have shared how distraught they are about their children who are leaving the church/faith.
It’s been a unique opportunity. I’ve spent years speaking to people deconstructing and I understand why we are tearing our beliefs apart. But trying to explain that process to a generation of women who are solidly planted in church and don’t see anything wrong with it, women who tried to raise their children right and are now devastated, well, it’s been interesting. And the fact that these conversations have happened through prayer and not directly has been a strange twist.
But I’ve come away with a burden for a new audience—an audience that I don’t know would actually listen to me. I even wrote them a blog post, although I’m not sure how to get it into their hands, giving them three suggestions of things to do while they wait patiently for God to finish His work.
Deconstruction isn’t really a new concept. Historical Christians have talked about having a crisis of faith or experiencing a dark night of the soul for hundreds of years.
Now that I’m aware of this new demographic of people, I feel such a desire to bring reconciliation between them and us. I’m not sure how to go about doing that, but I guess I’ll just keep seeking God and see what the Holy Spirit does. If you have any ideas let me know!
“Christ’s ordinary years are part of our redemption story. Because of the incarnation and those long, unrecorded years of Jesus’ life, our small, normal lives matter.” ~ Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary
I love it when I find a book that matches exactly where I am in life. This book, Liturgy of the Ordinary came out in 2016 so I’m a little late to this party. But, wow, talk about meeting the cries of my heart! I’ve been pondering obscurity and being content with the ordinary since at least July and this book is exactly what I needed. Tish Harrison Warren takes us through the ordinary moments of a single day and shows how small habits and seemingly unimportant rituals actually shape us as people.
As an Anglican priest, Warren brings perspective to liturgy and sacred practices that I have never thought of being raised in evangelicalism. It’s refreshing and eye opening. So far I’ve slowly soaked through the first two chapters. Listen to this:
“But each morning in those first tender moments—in simply being God’s smelly, sleepy beloved—I again receive grace, life, and faith as a gift. Grace is a mystery and the joyful scandal of the universe.”
I’ve been waking up for the last week and instead of reaching for my phone, just allowing myself to sit and recognize that in my messy, half-asleep, morning-breathed state, I am still God’s beloved child. Talk about starting your day right! :-)
It’s an encouraging, thought provoking, beautiful, little book, and if you haven’t read it yet, you should. You can get a hardcover on Amazon right now for just $11.99. Here’s a link.
The Beauty of Breath Prayers
On my podcast right now I’m doing a series on prayer—looking into various types of prayer and how they can help us connect with God. At its core prayer is about communication and relationship, but it can also be awkward and uncomfortable. This is true especially to those of us raised in evangelical circles where we don’t have any frameworks or liturgies to work from. As we reconstruct our faith, how do we reconstruct a healthy prayer life? With this in mind, I’ve been researching types of prayer and also talking about the things that have helped me in my own prayer journey.
I had no idea that breath prayer has been around since the 3rd century in Orthodox tradition. Or that it started with what is known as the Jesus Prayer taken from the story of the blind man who called to Jesus for mercy. Traditional breath prayer is this:
“Lord Jesus, Son of God, (inhale)
Have mercy on me. (exhale)”
I’ve been practicing breath prayers for the past week and I love them. I’ll use the traditional prayer or often switch it up talking to the Holy Spirit, asking for strength, His Presence, or just to be sustained. Taking those few moments to just close my eyes, focus on my breath, and with that breath speak to God is calming and centering. It reminds me of truth and brings me back into the present moment. Have you ever practiced breath prayer? What did you think? I’d love to hear from you!
Thanks for taking a moment to #Rethink some of our religious traditions and beliefs. I know that it can be scary to deconstruct and reconstruct our faith, but finding the Real Jesus is absolutely worth it. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts, questions, or comments.
If you know someone who would love to #rethink, please share!
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I've never tried breath prayers before! Sounds great.