time to shift gears...?

For the next few weeks I am going to try something different on "Small is Holy."
As a rule, I've been framing my reflections around liturgical prayers. I love good liturgy and celebrate the creative, compassionate, and conscientious innovative liturgies that hail from the Iona, Taize, Celebration, and Corrymeela communities. The flow of such prayers, songs, silences, chants, readiings, and Eucharist evoke both beauty and order in a chaotic world. They ground me in what is important and eternal. Back in the day, my daughters and I would laugh quietly to ourselves whenever various church people would complain that I was being "too creative" and outside the box. They used to say, "Man, Dad, do they not get it! If it was just up to you, we'd be chanting, bowing, bending with ALL the old smells and bells." True enough.

What I have tried to do during both my four pastoral ministry commitments and now in my journey into online community outreach is to find contemporary words to articulate the ancient wisdom. As Cynthia Bourgeault writes, there are four key components to the perennial wisdom tradition: ora y labora (prayer and work) as well as soaking up the silence and opening the heart through chanting. This is, however, probably best left for those deeply committed to the contemplative path. For those either new to contemplative reflection, those who have fled the oppressive nature of some aspects of institutional worship in their pasts but still seek a grounding in a spiritual path with roots, or simply those who know there is more than meets the eye but don't resonate with the existing communities of faith, I am wondering if a less formal, less liturgical Sunday evening prayer might be in order?

So, I am going to start an experiment this week to see if together we might discern a new rhythm for "Small is Holy," one that incorporates contemporary poetry, song and silence with an informal spoken reflection and a simple Eucharist. My hunch is that simpler might be better. We'll see over the next few weeks as I search for a new rhythm. Let me know your thoughts.