How’s Your Summer Been?
Ministry Team Member Sara Traficante reflects on her summer so far.
This Spring, I completed the Master of Psychospiritual Studies degree at Knox College (woohoo!). I’m moving into professional work in spiritually integrated psychotherapy while continuing ministry work in the church. I’m several months into an in-between time this summer before life picks up again. This has been a season for fun, relaxation, and catching up on everything I ignored for three years while immersed in school. And time does not stand still, with the inevitable breaks, bruises, and losses as life continues.
Here are a few points of inspiration and resources that I’m leaning into, in a prayerful, and realistically untidy consolidation of my MPS degree
Brandi Carlile – Returning to Myself
If you know me, you know that I love Brandi. She is not only gifted with an incredible voice, but she is also an artist who lives openly and deeply into her faith in every context of her life. This song explores returning to ‘keeper,’ returning to self, and returning to her voice as a songwriter.
Edward Baristow – I Sat Down Under His Shadow
The big summer adventure was travelling to London, UK, for my cousin’s wedding. While there, my family leaned into what we love: visiting the National Gallery with running curatorial commentary from my daughter; the British Museum in the packed Egyptian sculpture room on the hottest day imaginable; taking in the treasures of the British Library. The highlight of the trip for me was a self-guided tour and Saturday Evensong at Westminster Abbey. The sound of Bairstow’s introit sung in procession by one of the world’s best choirs - in that sacred space full of history, science, and artistry – brought me to tears. This recording has the closest approximation of the Abbey reverberation acoustic that I could find on YouTube.
Pádraig Ó Tuama – Being Here: Prayers for Curiosity, Justice and Love
When I first found this book, I read it from front to back, and I was honestly amazed that the publisher was willing to print so much repetition in one short volume. As a daily devotional, the opening and closing rhythms are a grounding force, surrounding Ó Tuama’s collect prayers that comfort and challenge. God is noticed in the full emotional range of Jesus, allowing the gift of my own inner world reflected here on the page and in prayer. Ó Tuama writes, “What is prayer? I don’t know really. But if it’s anything, it must be a repository for the experience of today, a place for reckoning, with yourself, with the story of God that you tell or don’t tell, with the decisions you’re facing, with the guts of yourself.” To make the experience even more personal, he suggests marking up his prayers to make them your own, and he provides an invitational tutorial on collect prayer writing. I tend to bounce around in my morning practice from one resource to another, and I have found this short book to be a meaningful addition in this summer of reorienting for new beginnings. Find it Here
What are you reading, watching, listening to, or adventuring this summer?
We invite you to share your favourites, and any elements of inspiration with the curious Ministry Forum team!