God is Still Speaking

I am currently reading Chanting the Psalms by Cynthia Bourgeault. Her suggestion on page 146 grabbed my heart:

"We have seen how the O Antiphons, which are more than a thousand years old, still timelessly and beautifully set the birth of Christ within the Wisdom of eternal peace. The source of that Wisdom is still available to us. What would it be like, I wonder, to develop antiphons—whole new “trousseaus” of them—drawn from the poetry of Rumi or the beautiful teachings of the Dalai Lama; Martin Luther King, Jr.: Etty Hillesum; Black Elk; or the Beatitudes? In this way, the psalms might be set free from the religious intransigence of an earlier era and reclaimed as the meat in a psalm sandwich whose bread is universal compassion and forgiveness."

An antiphon is a responsory to a Psalm or other religious text , like a refrain. An antiphon can sum up the reading, or connect the reading to the liturgical season or time of day. In the case of the O Antiphons, which are used the seven days before Christmas, they connect the readings to Christmas story.

As my denomination, the United Church of Christ, says, “God is still speaking.” The Holy not only spoke to the writers of the Hebrew and Christian testaments. The Holy has spoken—and continues to speak—in other times and traditions.

As a Benedictine oblate inquirer looking for meaningful ways to observe some form of morning and evening prayer, her words inspire me. I had already started including sacred poetry from other traditions with my morning and evening prayer. A favorite of mine is Rabia, the Sufi saint, in this poem:

     It helps, putting my hands in a pot,
     on a broom, in a wash pail.
     I tried painting,
     but it was easier to fly
     slicing potatoes.

I consider myself firmly rooted in Christianity. I am passionate about those 66 books. I was drawn back to faith community because those words hid in my heart kept calling to me. Still, I also hear the same Holy speaking through these words of other prophets, priests and poets. I think these are the other sheep Jesus referred to, in one fold.

At morning prayer, along with a Psalm, I read something from The Enlightened Mind: An anthology of Sacred Poetry, Edited by Stephen Mitchel. At evening prayer I include something from Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 centuries of spiritual poetry by Women , Edited by Jane Hirshfield, or Love Poems from God: Twelve sacred voices from the East and West, Edited by Daniel Ladinsky.

As is ever the quest of true spirituality, I need to keep casting my net farther for Holy voices.