Wisdom from the Harp

Wisdom from the Harp

“For the elements changed places with one another,

as on a harp, the notes vary in the nature of the rhythm,

while each note remains the same.”—Wisdom 19:18.

A friend recently reminded me of this scripture verse in morning prayer. I read the first part of the Wisdom reading that morning but missed this last part. I hope I won’t miss it next time, for this ancient verse describes music well, especially the harp. I began a journey with this classical instrument over forty years ago when my daughter begged for a whole year to get a harp.

The strings are the piano’s white keys, so it is easy if you understand the piano. Next, you lean the harp against your body so you can hear the vibrations and feel the music within you.

The harp has taught me so many lessons about life, other than the discipline of trying to master a technique for following and plucking strings.

When one string breaks, it is challenging to continue playing. Part of playing is knowing the relationships of each string to the other. Now, a gap, large or small, changes the entire road map. I must take the time to replace the string as soon as possible.

Then, it takes days or weeks for that new string to stretch and be in tune. Then, finally, it must be “mentored,” so to speak.

Almost every atmospheric condition changes the harp strings. Constant tuning is mandatory. My husband loves the old joke about harpists. “We spend half our time tuning and the other half playing out of tune!”

On this musical journey, the harp has become an icon for living and working in community.

Its constant need for tuning reminds me how much I must try to stay current, learning, and staying in relationship with what is happening in the world around me.

If I don’t, I become “out of tune,” either too sharp or too flat.  

I would love to hear from others about life lessons they have learned from a musical instrument.

Joanna https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Metaphors and Children's Books

Metaphors and Children’s Books

Guest Writer: Isabel Anders

“Metaphors are experience’s body doubles, standing in for actual objects and events. … Mental images can have the same effect on the body and the mind as actual physical events.”  —James Geary.

Traveling by Metaphor

In James Geary’s book I Is an Other: The Secret Life of Metaphor, he points out that our neural systems for language, action, and metaphorical thinking overlap in the brain. 

Jesus’ parables and other analogies in the Gospels make gold out of this connection in stories and examples that still create sparks of recognition—and sometimes action—in those who look to them for guidance.

We can’t decide ahead of time how to react to any given situation life might throw at us. However, establishing patterns of recognition, acting in small ways in accord with true values, and acknowledging our own will as part of the mix can significantly enhance our spiritual journeys.

In Oshan Jarow’s words, life may be “one big process of creatively optimizing prediction as a survival strategy in a universe otherwise tending toward chaos.” Metaphors are a creative step in deciding what to do next and what might ensue if we do (or don’t). We encounter them primarily in the story, in what happens to both fictional characters and actual people, and in what we can learn from them.

Experts in both language and behavior have repeatedly shown that emotions and compelling stories, and not facts alone, are what move us, motivate us—and perhaps will save us.

 As Mother Bilbee, Isabel Anders builds a library of fresh, relevant, and ethical nursery rhymes and tales. M. T. Publishing will release the fourth Mother Bilbee title, Twinkle, Twinkle, Shining Star, and Row Your Boat Just as You Are! on April 1.

Isabel Anders

Joanna  joannaseibert.com

Ignatian Exercises and College of Preachers

Scripture: Ignatian Exercises and College of Preachers

“Take a passage from scripture that you enjoy. Then, Ignatius invites you to enter into the scene by ‘composing the place,’ by imagining yourself in the story with as much detail as you can muster.”—James Martin in The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything (HarperOne, 2010). 

college of preachers refectory stained glass

Ignatius practiced spirituality by taking himself and us deep into the Scripture story in their imagination and sometimes literally. First, we start with the senses: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling. Then, as we live inside the story, Ignatius asks us to consider what insights might come. Soon, in our imaginary journey, we can travel in time and find ourselves back in the Scripture itself, with a more profound understanding than when we were just intellectualizing the story in our head.

if you do not dramatize the message, they will not listen

In stained glass, the front of the refectory at the College of Preachers at the National Cathedral was written: “If you do not dramatize the message, they will not listen.” You can see this from many viewpoints. However, it said to me that the preacher was to help those in the congregation “experience” the Scripture—usually the Gospel, as Ignatius asks us to do. My experience was that I could best do this by taking myself and all who would like to journey into the story, becoming one of the characters, experiencing Jesus’ feelings, knowing his hopes and fears, frustrations, loves, and passions, his humanness.

This is also good advice to give to spiritual friends whose study of Scripture has become stale.

In the Image Classics series, I was first exposed to the Ignatian exercises and this method of studying Scripture in a small purple book, The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. I now know there are so many more. A priest I work with, Michael McCain, recommended this one to me by James Martin.

It is hard to become dry when we actually go into a story in Scripture and become a part of it. We will hear voices we have never heard before.

Ignatius offers us a new way to look at scripture. We are offered something new during these difficult times from someone who lived so many years ago and also knew hurt and pain.

Breaking News!

 We are so privileged to experience the reopening of a renovated College of Preachers building, now called the College of Faith and Culture, with Jon Meacham as the canon historian at the National Cathedral!

Joanna joannaseibert.com