{"id":8926,"date":"2020-02-17T01:24:35","date_gmt":"2020-02-16T23:24:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/?p=8926"},"modified":"2024-02-01T23:52:53","modified_gmt":"2024-02-01T22:52:53","slug":"sister-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/2020\/02\/17\/sister-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"Sister moon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nMisty moon at tramstop in downtown Rotterdam (Photo: Irene Bom)<\/span>
\n <\/p>\n

Praise him, [brother] sun and [sister] moon;
\npraise him, all you shining stars.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Psalm 148:3 (NIVUK<\/a>) \/ Francis of Assisi<\/div>\n

  <\/p>\n\n

Full Solar Spirituality vs Lunar Spirituality<\/h3>\n

In her book, Learning to Walk in the Dark<\/a><\/em>, Barbara Brown Taylor makes a case for “lunar spirituality” and letting the darkness teach us what we need to know. She writes,<\/p>\n

\u201cFull solar spirituality … deals with darkness by denying its existence or at least depriving it of any meaningful attention … it focuses on staying in the light of God around the clock, both absorbing and reflecting the sunny side of faith.”<\/p>\n

“… my spiritual gifts do not seem to include the gift of solar spirituality. Instead, I have been given the gift of lunar spirituality, in which the divine light available to me waxes and wanes with the season. When I go out on my porch at night, the moon never looks the same way twice. Some nights it is as round and bright as a headlight; other nights it is thinner than the sickle hanging in my garage. Some nights it is high in the sky, and other nights low over the mountains. Some nights it is altogether gone, leaving a vast web of stars that are brighter in its absence. All in all, the moon is a truer mirror of my soul than the sun that looks the same way every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEven when light fades and darkness falls \u2014 as it does every single day, in every single life \u2014 God does not turn the world over to some other deity. Even when you cannot see where you are going and no one answers when you call, this is not sufficient proof that you are alone. … darkness is not dark to God; the night is as bright as the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

(from Learning to Walk in the Dark<\/a><\/em> by Barbara Brown Taylor, pp 7-9, 15-16)<\/p>\n

\n

Prayer<\/h3>\n

Creator God,
\nmay we see You at work in the rising sun every day.
\nMay we see You at work in the rolling fog or the cloudy skies.
\nMay we see You at work in the rain that falls upon the earth.
\nMay we see You at work in the setting sun and the rising moon,
\nthe stars that shine, whether we can see them or not.
\nMay we know always that You are doing something new,
\nevery moment, every day, every year around the sun.
\nGreat is Your Faithfulness, O God,
\nas You faithfully renew us every day.
\nAmen.<\/p>\n

written by Rev Mindi<\/strong>, posted on her rev-o-lution.org<\/a> blog<\/p>\n

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Digging deeper<\/h3>\n

See The Sun, the Moon, and Prayer<\/a><\/em> where Vance Morgan<\/strong> explores solar vs lunar spirituality in more depth.<\/p>\n

Quote: “If prayer is lunar rather than solar, then everything changes. Prayer becomes a matter of reflecting the divine light into the world in whatever way that light is shining on you and in you at the time. It is not up to me to generate the light; rather, it is up to me to reflect divine reality in ways that are unique to me and represent the seasons and cycles of my life.” (Vance Morgan)<\/span><\/p>\n

Also check out this article<\/a> by Moshe Benovitz<\/strong> on the Jewish ritual of blessing the new moon.<\/p>\n

Revisit the blog post, In the school of prayer with St Francis<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n