Sneaky Saturday! But then again, it seems that with each passing year, the days seem to pass more quickly.
Before I know it … a week has gone by … it’s a month later … another year has passed and the hair has more grey/white, the wrinkles seem to have increased, the tummy padding more evident and the body a bit more achy.
Yes, *Sneaky Saturday* you do sneak up. But I’m not complaining. Far from it! I’m just wondering … what kind of Saturday will you be … Sneaky – Silly – Sacred – Salient – Salubrious – Serendipitous – Stimulating – Serene – Sassy – Sanative – Sparkling – Sensational – Stellar – Sublime – Something else?
There is something about this little place, close by where I live, that draws me several times a year, bringing a sense of peace and joy.
Is it the water? the sunstreaks? the sky? the newly mowed grass? the ducks on the water? the quiet? the fresh air? the building? the nearby flowers? the combination?
That sense of peace and joy = contentment and while it’s not always easy to define or explain, I know it when I experience it.
This night, I pray for contentment for those who are troubled, those who are in pain, those who are grieving, those who are frightened, those who worry. May gentle contentment be with them this night.Â
The Triduum (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday) begins tomorrow with Maundy Thursday. The Triduum is comprised of three days where symbols of death and life are dramatic and poignant reminders of the fragility of life and can be a unique opportunity for Anglicans/Episcopalians – for anyone – to join religious traditions around the world who continue to use some form of prayer beads as part of their prayer life.Â
Since the earliest of times, people have used pebbles, a string of knots, or beads on a cord to keep track of their prayers offered to God. Anglican Prayer Bead necklaces (33 beads were created in the mid 1980s to help bring people into contemplative / meditation prayer and more intentionally be in the presence of the Holy One. Touching the fingers on each bead, is intentional. It is intended to help keep one’s mind from wandering and the rhythm of the prayers helps lead one into stillness. Â
Some background for those unfamiliar with Anglican Prayer Bead Necklaces. There are “names” for the thirty-three (representing the number of years of Jesus’ earthly life) beads which comprise the Anglican Prayer Bead necklace: “Weeks” – twenty eight beads divided into four groups of seven … seven to represent the seven days of the week. “Cruciform” – four beads between each ‘week’ helping to form an invisible Cross.  “Invitatory” – the bead between the cruciform bead and the cross/medallion which acts as a call to worship and an invitation to a time of focused prayer. Some people add a bead above the Invitatory bead (the “Resurrection” bead) as a reminder that Christ lives on.
Praying the Anglican Prayer Bead necklace is often done ~ in an unhurried pace, followed by a period of silence with time for reflection and listening. ~ by praying around the circle of beads three times (representing the Trinity) ~ by using whatever prayers you choose for the beads in the Weeks, the four beads making the Cruciform, the bead between the Cruciform bead and the medallion/Cross … or simply by holding the beads/necklace in your hands as you pray.
How to pray using the Prayer Beads ~ no particular ‘format’ but some suggestions:Â Isaiah 41: 10-13 (at the beginning – holding the Cross/medallion); Isaiah 40: 29-31 (Cruciform beads); Matthew 11:28 (Weeks beads); Psalm 27: 1,3 (at the Cross) ; Psalm 29:11; the Lord’s Prayer; the Prayer of St. Francis; the prayer of Dame Julian of Norwich.
Over the years, many Anglican Prayer Bead necklaces have made their way from my home to others. I have found that in the making of them, yet another opportunity presents itself for me to enter into a contemplative mode. If you’d like to make your own, here are some simple steps: ~ Tape the end of thin, bendable wire or dental floss, cord or bead-making string ~ Choose twenty-eight beads that are similar to one another ~ String seven of those beads onto the wire, dental floss, string, using ‘spacers’ (ultra small beads) between the Weeks beads (number you use is optional as they are not counted as part of the Prayer Beads ~ Choose four different (a big larger helps) beads for the Crucifer beads ~ String one of the Cruciform beads onto the wire, floss, string ~ Continue the bead pattern of Weeks (spacers-optional), Cruciform ~ Choose a separate bead (the Invitatory bead – and spacer if desired) ~ String the Invitatory bead ~ Add a Cross, medallion, final bead. ~ Close off the necklace with jewellery endings or knot the two ends together
May this Triduum be a holy and meaningful moment in your spiritual journey as you consider the integration of Anglican Prayer Beads in your spiritual practice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An aside: separate reflections for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday, (and when Easter arrives, for Easter Sunday and throughout the Season of Easter) will be available in the morning of their respective day. See the links below.
A little frivolity is needed in these oh-so-difficult times.
So how about …
… a whimsical tree … dancing lollipops … an enquiring bird … three sort-of-owls trying to discern what the blazes is going on in the world these days … and flowers, bright flowers of hope, popping out – from behind the tree – on top of the tree – on the side of the tree – inside the tree – emerging from the bottom of the trunk of the tree?
The flowers, the hope – always there – even though it might be difficult to see, experience, acknowledge some days.
the night is dark and brings fear as the coughing begins as breathing is difficult as the pain won’t subside as the nightmares won’t leave as negativity, political haranguing permeate social media disguising hope
the night is quiet eerily quiet as people wait for the next explosion as medications take effect as the darkness enfolds
we must breathe breathe for ourselves breathe for those who cannot breathe we must remember remember the quietness of God’s peace for ourselves remember the quietness of the Holy One’s love for others remember that when the night is dark in one place in the world the night is light in another place in the world remember that when the night seems hopeless in one place hope is somewhere prayeris always being offered somewhere communion is always being offered somewhere
may we hold the light for those who cannot breathe this night may we say a prayer for those who cannot sleep this night may we hold hope for those who cannot hope this night
there are signs of light for us we might be signs of light for others even though the night is dark
The prayer on this photo (taken at Yellow Point Lodge on Vancouver Island) is from the New Zealand Book of Prayer: “The night is dark. Let our fears and darkness of the world and of our lives, res.t this night in God. The night is quiet. Let the quietness of God’s peace enfold us all.”
There’s a lot going on in the world.  A lot of tension … anxiety … stress … fear … doubting there is a God … pondering the “What’s it all about, Alphie?” question … asking other questions: “Does intuition exist?  If I pay attention to messages that abound in various ways, will my inner awareness speak? will I hear the still, small Voice within? will hearing that ‘still, small Voice within’ help me determine what is ‘fact’ and what is ‘alternative fact’?
Is intuition real?  Some put such a discussion in a religious realm of God’s guidance. Some put this in a physical realm of “trusting our gut.”
A particular incident had me wondering about all of this. Scheduled to be on a particular flight, I needed to be at the airport by 7:30 pm.  But a different time (5:00 pm) kept surfacing in my mind over and over and over again throughout the day. I couldn’t understand it. But the thought wouldn’t leave, so even though I wasn’t looking forward to the two-plus hour extra stay at the airport before I needed to be at the airport, I paid attention and was at the check-in desk by 5:00 pm – the time that kept surfacing in my head.
When I handed my travel documents to the agent, her “Your flight was cancelled” statement confused me! I had had no notice of such a change … not a text, email or phone call. Then the agent said “There is one last flight to your destination today, but it leaves soon. I’ll see if I can get you on the flight and if I can, you’ll have to hurry because boarding is in forty minutes.” She did. I picked up my carry-on luggage and ran to the boarding gate.
Had I not listened or paid attention to that “get to the airport by 5:00 pm” gentle nudge within me, I would have had to spend a very long and uncomfortable night in the airport, waiting for a flight the next day.  Instead, I listened to my intuition – the still, small Voice within (what I like to call my ‘spiritual muscle’), and I not only got to my destination that day, but even earlier than planned!
I’ve experienced many other examples of that nudge over the years – that still, small Voice within, that sense of discomfort when considering one option and comfort when considering another option, that spiritual muscle, so that I cannot help but acknowledge the reality that intuition exists. It is a gift.
How can we invoke the voice of intuition – that “spiritual muscle”? How can we hear it more easily?  For some, it’s easy.  For others, it takes work.  Over the years, I’ve learned four simple steps that have guided me:
1. Be still.
2. Listen.
3. Pay attention.
4. Give it time.
May we pay attention to what we seem to be hearing.  And may we begin to trust our intuition, our spiritual muscle … a bit more every day.
