Lutheran Church of Mahomet, The Invitation Lent 2018 | Page 13

Have you ever picked up a pen to try your hand at poems? Maybe
you really got into it, or maybe you got scared and overwhelmed
Even reading poetry can be a challenge sometimes. Poetry can
seem inaccessible, like it’s something out of reach for us normal
people. What do I write about? How do I write about it? Why can’t I
write poetically? And so on…
In this Lenten season, we’ll be hosting a Poetry and Prayer semi-
nar, where we will lay some of these fears to rest. We’re going to
try and embrace poetry as a certain way of using words to move
beyond letters or ink on paper in order to explore deep, meaning-
ful prayer.
Poetry means a lot of different things to a lot of different people:
poetry is an economy of words, poetry embraces the negative space
and the margins, poetry makes connections, poetry is symbolism.
Prayer, also, means a lot of different things to a lot of different peo-
ple: prayer can be comforting, meaning-making, contemplative. In
this seminar, we’re going to explore some of the connections be-
tween prayer and poetry. Rabbi Richard Hirsh talks about this con-
nection in an article he wrote called “Poetry and Prayer.” For
Hirsh, “Prayer ought to open us up to the world in a new way […]
And if we are resistant to being pried open, to looking at ourselves
honest ly, deeply and courageously, then prayer ought to be both
inspiration and reassurance that we can take that risk.”
Join us for a four-part seminar on poetry and prayer at the Luther-
an Church of Mahomet. NO PRIOR POETRY EXPERIENCE RE-
QUIRED. We will spend about 45-minutes each time exploring po-
etry and how this art form can help us focus in prayer. We will
both read poetry together and write poetry together. THIS IS
NOT A WORKSHOP—meaning, we will not critique each oth-
er’s writings or even read our poems/prayers to each other if
we do not want to. This is meant to be a time in which we can
open up ourselves to a new way of thinking, of imagining, of
being, of listening, and of speaking. Bring only yourself and a
willingness to participate—we will provide the rest.