March 4th, 2009 – To Pray as Jesus Taught Us and To Sing as Kelly Teaches Us

This Wednesday was a Lenten worship about prayer. Invitational. Expansive. The readings were two different translations and a paraphrasing of Matthew 6:7-13, the Lord’s Prayer that, as Pastor Dayle pointed out in her Reflection, we do not pray word for word.

The alternative Lord’s Prayer started:

Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver, source of all that is and that shall be, Father and mother of us all. Loving God, in whom is heaven.“

Try the different language”, Pastor Dayle urged, “Language is powerful and can open up our conceptions of God”

The silence incorporated into the worship felt profound. The conversation afterwards was lively.

Choir, as Kelly put it, was Lent light in attendance. We “dug in” on a couple of pieces. There were the typical puns and humor, particularly when we practiced a Haydn piece which, Kelly told us, followed the Baroque period. Haydn and Baroque were way to tempting in terms of puns and choir members explored them thoroughly, including Pastor Dayle’s “Where was he during the Baroque period? Was he Haydn?”

I went home with the Haydn's "The Heavens are Telling the Glory of God" from "The Creation" dancing in my head.