Book tower

For the first day of school

God of Solomon the wise and just,
God of Luke the learned,
God of the School Sisters and even the Scholastics,
God of each one teaching one:

You inspire your people with visions of the deserts rejoicing in bloom. You water us for growth, nothing less than the full stature of Christ.

You draw us into mystery. We can always say more. We could never say enough.

Bless those who give and receive your wisdom, and bless our variety of gifts:
Bless the voracious readers.
Bless those who work in clay.
Bless tinkerers and doodlers and thinkers-out-loud.
Bless flashcards in the backseat.
Bless labs and gyms and study groups and storycircles.

Bless those who know that sitting still is heresy,
and those who know that stillness is divine.

Bless induction and deduction and expansion and distillation
and even devil’s advocacy in its proper time,
always as a tool and never as a weapon.

Bless us as we sift and winnow and rejoice and play around and butt heads and make music. Bless our filling of napkins and composition notebooks as font and offering.

Let the final word always be this:
you are One-and-All.

Amen.

Meditation Journeys ad screenshot

Prayer Hack: Virtual reality meditation

A lot of my new colleagues in the CMLTD program at Teachers College are interested in virtual reality for education, so I’ve recently been paying a bit more attention to this emerging technology than I previously had.

When I got to the lab on Saturday, I had to grab a Google Cardboard and try out the new Mediation Journeys series from New York Times Virtual Reality.

 

Google Cardboard

 

The idea is to experience a guided meditation in a beautiful space in an immersive way. I tried out the cliffside ocean meditation.

The narrator sounded like former Buddhist Monk (and Headspace app co-founder) Andy Puddicombe, but I haven’t been able to confirm that. Whoever it was, he took me through a five-minute meditation that encouraged me to use the details of the landscape to stay present to the (yes, quite lovely) moment.

I wouldn’t say it rocked my spiritual world, but I enjoyed the experience and would like to do it again using a smart phone that doesn’t have a cracked screen protector.

Looking for other virtual connections to mediation spots? My favorite is the Resurrection Chapel at the National Cathedral (they also have plenty more).

You should also check out Randall Curtis‘s photospheres of churches and other beautiful places.

Update: Randall created a Google Photos group for sharing church Photospheres.

Post-Columbus-Day Prayer

One of my colleagues from the VTS Native American Heritage Month committee distributed this prayer this morning. It was published by the Native American Ministries Office of the Episcopal Church. I thought it did a fairly nice job of addressing what is problematic about Columbus Day in a positive and understated manner:

CREATOR, we give you thanks for all you are and all you bring to us for our visit within your creation.


In Jesus, you place the Gospel in the Center of this Sacred Circle through which all of creation is related. You show us the way to live a generous and compassionate life,


Give us your strength to live together with respect and commitment as we grow in your spirit, for you are God, now and forever. AMEN.