With Rev. Karen Sapio away on summer sabbatical, I was asked to lead Morning Prayer this week. It will not surprise you that my prayers touch on some of the same themes we have explored here in Meditations on Meditation. So, I invite you to join me Monday through Thursday and on Saturday on the Claremont Presbyterian Church’s Facebook page. On Friday morning our we are all invited to Centering Prayer.
New posts go up every morning, but they are available at any hour. No worries if you are not a morning person.
The week begins with our old friend Fr. Richard Rohr. In The Divine Dance, Rohr invites us to dance with the Trinity—and particularly the Holy Spirit. He begins book with a story about Russian icon of the Trinity. Rohr advances the case that that the three figures in the icon are not static characters but three aspects of knowing and wisdom. There is a space in the middle of the icon, which he says is our invitation to join the dance.
This is both easy and hard. It starts with simply sitting down and being quiet, letting go of the distractions, the thousands of howling monkeys in our mind. The hard part is that deep quiet is an acquired skill. It takes practice. The three parts of God are mysterious, and Rohr says that our understanding of it evolves. The mystery goes on and we are left with the imperfect language of similies, analogies, and metaphors to describe our understanding. “Whatever is going on in God is a flow, a radical relatedness, a perfect communion between the Three—a circle dance of love,” he writes.
“Whatever is going on in God is a flow, a radical relatedness, a perfect communion between the Three—a circle dance of love.”
Rohr describes the icon, that "shows the Holy One in the form of Three, eating and drinking, in infinite hospitality and utter enjoyment between themselves. If we take the depiction of God in The Trinity seriously, we have to say, “In the beginning was the Relationship.” The gaze between the Three shows the deep respect between them as they all share from a common bowl. Notice the Spirit’s hand points toward the open and fourth place at the table. Is the Holy Spirit inviting, offering, and clearing space? I think so! And if so, for what, and for whom?
At the front of the table there appears to be a little rectangular hole. Most people pass right over it, but some art historians believe the remaining glue on the original icon indicates that there was perhaps once a mirror glued to the front of the table. It’s stunning when you think about it—there was room at this table for a fourth.
The observer.
You!
Yes, you—and all of creation—are invited to sit at the divine table.”
Sit in silence. Participate in the dance.
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On subsequent days this week, I introduce Centering Prayer, Resting in God, Lectio Divina and Visio Divina, meditating on images. All are to be available on the CPC Facebook page.
Read along, pray along. Join us on Friday morning at 8. If you do not have the link to the Friday mediation, and would like one, please email me: charlestaylorkerchner@gmail.com