Prayables

Despite what you might think of Woody Allen as a human being, his work is almost uniformly hilarious. Often, he deals with his struggles with religion, God, and spirituality in a playful way. But “many a true word is spoken in jest”! Listen to Lori Strawn and Alice Shelton get to the heart of things in this lighthearted, yet deeply thoughtful episode.

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If God is beckoning from my memories, I decide to take a moment to look for Him there. My past is a series of images, a pile of disjointed scraps, not one obviously embossed with the divine. If I piece them together like some enormous quilt will they add up to the face of God?

What kind of memories am I searing for? Good ones? Like the time my voraciously health-conscious mom agreed to drive through McDonald’s? We pulled over and ate together in the car, the taste of salty grease melting on my tongue like pure joy.

But happy memories can be so faint. I have to work to conjure an afternoon spent with a friend. The hours day dreaming alone in my room are indistinguishable from one another now. The memories I can close my eyes and still feel like yesterday are often painful ones. Like the time my mother said I had a phone call. I was only five; I’d never had my own phone call. The one phone in our house sat on a desk in my parent’s bedroom, a small but vital monument to the grown-up realm. Its outstretched arm welcomed me. I can still smell the earthy musk of the receiver. I recall the tight curls in the cord and the small panel of square buttons like the chest of some futuristic robot toy. Inside was my father’s voice.

He said he wasn’t coming home, my parents’ were separating. I remember hanging up and how the little plastic nubs went down as I laid the receiver in its holder. Years of reflecting would teach me to filter that memory through sadness and anger. But, honestly, at that moment I only felt a deep satisfaction at having been invited into the adult world.

~ Corinna Nicolaou

What an impact this diminutive friar born in 1821 in Assisi, Italy continues to have on our world!  When it comes to peace and living in right relationship, Lori and Alice agree that if he didn’t write the whole book, he was at least part of the discussion!  Join us today as we discuss his beloved prayer, “The Prayer of Saint Francis”.

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Just before Easter, I visited a Methodist church in my neighborhood.

Officially, my religious affiliation is “None.” The number of religious services I attended growing up could fit on my fingers with enough left over for a peace sign. I never officially learned about the Bible, did not study religion, and was not baptized. I did not marry my husband in a church. My parents never tried to teach me anything biblical—save, perhaps, for a very secular version of the “Golden Rule.” I’ve managed to go through life almost completely ignorant of the specifics of religion besides what I picked up on in popular culture or by schoolyard gossip. I hardly know a Catholic from a Protestant, let alone the belief systems of other world religions. They are, after all, legally required to NOT teach us this stuff in most schools.

But I’m not I’m an atheist. In fact, I hunger for spirituality, which is why I’ve started visiting places of worship.

At the church, I encounter a peculiar demonstration that the minister says is something, “he’s trying out.” In a quiet spot in the main sanctuary, he has placed three chairs, inviting us to take a respite. A short tutorial explaining “How to talk to God” hangs on the wall.

I take a seat because I’ve been curious about this exact thing. How does one talk to God? Is it just a matter of the little voice in my head having a one-sided conversation? (As suggested by Judy Blume to a generation of young girls: “Hello, God, it’s me, Margaret”). The instructions don’t advise anything like this; they simply say, “Listen to God’s presence in the events of our lives.” The text elaborates, but only slightly: “We experience Christ reaching to us through our memories. Our own personal story becomes salvation history.” Can this really be true? Is God hiding in my memories?

~ Corinna Nicolaou

The title of this novel helps us know that even when life’s circumstances are difficult and limit our freedom to be ourselves, there is still something inside that helps us to find and use our voice.  Join Lori Strawn and Alice Shelton as they discuss Maya Angelou’s thought-provoking novel.

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“Help me to see the divine wisdom buried in my memories.”

Once, in second grade, a friend and I were horsing around on a set of parallel bars in the school yard. I did one of those maneuvers where you pull yourself up so the bar is resting bellow your belly and then you tilt forward and spin fast.

When my feet smacked the dirt and I was dangling right side up again, the entire world seemed like a new and different place. The school building was far away and not altogether real. I was me, but I was also not me. I was an altered me. I could see everything from a great distance but I was not afraid as I believe I would have been if it had been the usual me. I was both smaller and bigger than I understood and these were the facts.

This strange perspective passed quickly, everything sort of settled back into its proper proportion, but I never forgot the sensation. I’ve reflected on it hundreds of times and have come to think of it as a fleeting whisper of God.

~ Corinna Nicolaou

Question Worth Pondering: How many small moments in each of our pasts hint at the great expansiveness?

Fred Rogers, beloved children’s TV host and Presbyterian minister, spent a lifetime expressing his philosophy of love, acceptance and neighborly care. This little book, subtitled “Things to Remember Along the Way,” offers plenty of spiritual nourishment to people of all ages. Join Lori and Alice as they dive in!

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Free will. It’s a conundrum, isn’t it? Why were we endowed with it when it makes salvation more difficult? Explore God’s role in our everyday lives as Alice Shelton and Lori Strawn discuss the poem “Freedom” by author Charles Peguy.

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“The safest path to hell is the gradual one” writes Screwtape to his lesser-demon nephew Wormwood in this fascinating book by one of the great Christian writers.  Do you agree?  Does this make you nuts as you think about it?  Is there a safe path to eternal damnation?  Lori and Alice delve into this topic and more during today’s show!  Don’t miss it!

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Living in the present.  Possibility or phewy?   Having just enough light for what is right ahead in your life.  Short-sighted or suprisingly wise? Lori and Alice discuss a snippet from Henri Nouwen’s day by day prayer and meditation guide  “Bread for the Journey”.  We hope you will join us!

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