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Let There Be Lent

March 2, 2017 by Sybil Macbeth 2 Comments Leave a Comment

Here is a hodgepodge list of resources, ideas, and books I will use during Lent. There are so many good Lenten devotion books on the market, I chose two because I like the authors and trust their work.

1.Paraclete asked me to make an audio podcast about ways to use Praying in Color during Lent. The podcast has suggestions for both groups and individuals. Click here to listen.

2. Between Midnight and Dawn: A Literary Guide to Prayer During Lent, and Eastertide is a guide to prayer and inspiration for Lent by Sarah Arthur. Sarah has compiled both contemporary and classical poetry and literary writings to probe the depths of Lent. She suggests a daily outline of devotion with prayers, Scripture readings, literary readings, reflection time, and a closing prayer. The writings she has chosen are not lightweight snacks but hearty meals that require gnawing, chewing, swallowing, and digesting over many days.

3. A Way Other Than Our Own: Devotions for Lent by Walter Brueggemann is a daily devotional inviting us to an unpredictable journey: “But women and men of faith are always on the road again, departing safe places, running risks, and hoping for well-being on the journey.” 

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4. Using a Lenten Calendar Template–I think I have mentioned this a time or two before–is a favorite way to travel the 40 days of Lent. You can download them from the Handouts Page or the post on February 15.

Lent 2017 Collage Handouts (1)

5. Someone sent me a copy of Coloring Lent: An Adult Coloring Book for the Journey to Resurrection by Christopher D. Rodkey, Jesse & Natalie Turri (Chalice Press). This is a pictorial, verbal, and theological journey through death, resurrection, and transformation. The image of  “Cloud” is a repeated theme in the writing and coloring templates. I like the coloring pages and the short, unique commentary with references to Scripture passages. The drawings are not too detailed or complicated. There is lots space for brainstorming words or adding my own doodles (which I love to do). My husband looked at it and said, “These are coloring pages I would actually enjoy.They are not too overwhelming or intricate.” Another plus is the pages are not two-sided, so colored pencils and markers will not cover another drawing or text. Since I like to use markers, I would insert a sheet of paper between pages when I colored.

Coloring Lent Collage Resized

6. I have learned a new chant to sing for myself and to share with workshop/retreat participants during Lent. It’s called Lay Me Low and uses words from an old Shaker hymn with a new tune by Daniel Schwandt. A YouTube video of Lay Me Low from Music That Makes Community teaches the song. Music That Makes Community is a group of people who love to sing and lead songs in a new “paperless” tradition. No sheet music necessary. The songs are mostly simple and invite improvisation and harmonization.

7. If you want to work on a variety of prayer forms with the option to color, consider one of the many Paraclete Press coloring books. My coloring book and guide to prayer called Pray and Color has about 30 coloring pages and explanations of 14 different ways to pray using them. One of the described ways to use the pages during Lent is for Prayers of Confession or Regret. Below are two templates designed with these prayers in mind.

Pray and Color Collage Resized

 

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Filed Under: Praying in Color Tagged With: A Way Other Than Our Own, Between Midnight and Dawn, Coloring Lent, Lent, Lenten Calendar Templates, Lenten Devotions, Pray and Color

Pray and Color–A Coloring Book for Prayer

December 15, 2016 by Sybil Macbeth Leave a Comment

What do the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, Texas and Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in Lexington, Virginia have in common? Both are offering coloring books as stress relievers. According to a New York Times article on November 21, 2016, “…the Four Seasons Hotel Austin in Texas started allowing guests to request coloring book pages and crayons at the front desk and offering groups an “Inspiration Station” stocked with crayons and coloring pages of mandalas.” A quote from The Washington Free Beacon describes the”Stress Busters” offered during reading week at Virginia Military Academy. The article quotes VMI as saying, “This is an opportunity for cadets to unwind and relax before studying for finals. This event often includes stress reduction activities such as yoga, therapy dogs, coloring book stations, card/game stations, and grab-and-go snacks to take with you on your way to study!”

In spin-off articles about the coloring books, some sources talk about coddling young adults and turning adults back into children. These were not sympathetic comments, but snide and dismissive.The words idiocracy and coloring books have been used in the same sentence by other disdainers. I don’t know about the possible negative consequences of coloring for business men and women or future American military officers, but I do know that becoming more childlike and playful in my prayer life has made me a better pray-er.  A better pray-er is not necessarily a person who can articulate elegant prayers to God or who gets exactly what she prayed for. I mean a person who has become more childlike and vulnerable and less judgmental about their own or others’ imperfect and shabby prayers. Praying with pen and colored markers or pencils in hand—what I have called praying in color—has helped me to focus, sit still, and pay attention in prayer. I doodle and color as a way to invite my body into the prayer and to create a time and space where I am less distracted, less likely to give up after a few minutes, and more likely to listen for the “still small voice.” If this is a return to childhood, then I’m all for it. I like to think this practice is not childish, but that it helps me to be childlike. In Matthew 18:3, Jesus says, “Truly, I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” NRSV

So if you are looking for an inexpensive gift that encourages both childlike and prayerful behavior, consider buying the coloring book/prayer primer I drew and wrote this  year. Pray and Color (not to be confused with the original Praying in Color) has 32 coloring pages designed as templates for prayers. The beginning of the book describes 14 different ways to pray using the pages. The retail cost of Pray and Color is $14.99, but many stores offer it for less. It could be a gift for male or female, teenager or adult. Combine it with some personalized colored pencils or markers and a black roller ball pen. (I often like to draw additional lines or marks.) If your gift recipient is allergic to pastels, then create a bold or earthy palette of colors for them. To purchase from Amazon click on the book cover.

Below are two examples of prayer forms and coloring pages. Most of the templates can be used for a wide variety of prayer forms. To the right of the book cover is Praying Your To-Do List. Both the empty template and a partially completed colored prayer are included. Our daily activities, the things on our “to-do” list hardly seem worth prayers. But think of the opportunities we have for both frustration and compassion during the day. Before we call the phone company or buy an unwanted gift for someone, offering those tasks in prayer just might reframe the day as full of opportunity rather than drudgery. Some of the other things on the to-do list are chances to say, “Thank you” or “Help” or “I’m sorry.”

to-do-list-collage-1

The blank and colored prayer pages below are an example of a “Hodgepodge” prayer. On the coloring page or template I offer up anything on my mind to God: feelings, intercessions for others, gratitudes, questions, hopes, frustrations, sorrows, prayers for myself….

butterfly-collage-1

 

 

 

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Filed Under: Praying in Color Tagged With: Coloring Books, Doodling and Prayer, Matthew 18:3, Pray and Color, Praying in Color, VMI

“Pray and Color” Coloring Book Giveaway

August 25, 2016 by Sybil Macbeth 6 Comments Leave a Comment

Author and friend Jana Riess has posted an interview with me and giveaway of my coloring book on her blog Flunking Sainthood. Jana is the author of the book Flunking Sainthood: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving My Neighbor –her not-perfect experience and experiment of trying a new Christian spiritual practice each month and messing it up. The book is funny and honest and wise. Just like Jana. She is giving away six Pray and Color coloring books on August 29. Check out her blog and sign up today for the giveaway.

Just a reminder:
Pray and Color IS  a coloring book. It provides coloring pages and suggestions for 14 different ways to pray on them.

Pray and Color Front Cover

 Praying in Color: Drawing A New Path to God  IS NOT a coloring book. It teaches people to create their own coloring/prayer pages with doodling and simple drawing.

Praying in Color 322

 

 

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Filed Under: Praying in Color Tagged With: coloring book, Flunking Sainthood, Jana Riess, Pray and Color, Praying in Color. prayer

Intercessory Prayer on a Coloring Page

June 14, 2016 by Sybil Macbeth Leave a Comment

Most of my visual prayers start with doodling and then include coloring. The doodling focuses my attention and invites my eyes and hand into my prayer. Doodling and coloring give me time to slow down.They help to calm the chatter in my mind and help me to get quiet enough to listen. The lines, dots, swirls, and arcs are like little nonverbal prayers.

Although I love to doodle when I pray I have come to appreciate the value of a pre-drawn template. The format is already laid out. The first words on the coloring page are the name I am using for God. In this prayer, it is Almighty God. Then I add people’s names or write words of intercession, gratitude, or concern. Then I begin to color. Each stroke of color can become a wordless prayer. A coloring page/template can be used for almost any kind of prayer. Coloring prayers can also be progressive. There’s no need to fill in the whole coloring page in one sitting. I can add new names on another day or add words for the people already on the page–my requests, emotions, fears, hopes….

I keep the emerging prayer in plain sight so whenever I notice it, it prods me to pray again.

Intercessory Prayer Jun 13, 2016 (1)

This is #1 template in the book Pray and Color: A Coloring Book and Guide to Prayer. I have to admit it was really fun to draw the pages.

Pray and Color Front Cover

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Filed Under: Praying in Color Tagged With: coloring book, Doodling and Prayer, Pray and Color, prayer, Praying in Color

Pray and Color Now Available

May 18, 2016 by Sybil Macbeth 2 Comments Leave a Comment

My new book Pray and Color: A Coloring Book and Guide to Prayer is now available from amazon, Paraclete, and the usual suspects. It has 32 coloring pages and offers 14 ways to pray using the pages. Here are a list of the ways to pray:

Prayers for Others     Prayers for Myself   Disgruntled Prayers  

Gratitude or Gruntled Prayers   Praise or Adoration Prayers   

Confession or Regret Prayers   Spending Time with God Prayers  

Blessing Prayers   Praying for Your Enemies  Praying a Passage of Scripture

Praying Your To-Do List  Daily Inventory Prayer–Examen   Hodgepodge Prayers

Praying in Calendars

Pray and Color Front Cover

 

 

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Filed Under: Praying in Color Tagged With: Coloring Books, Doodling and Prayer, Pray and Color, prayer, Praying in Color, Visual Prayer

Heart and Stripes Coloring Page

April 18, 2016 by Sybil Macbeth Leave a Comment

Below is a blank coloring page to use as a template for prayer and an example of a colored, finished version. I used the page for a birthday prayer for a friend. I wrote the words of a prayer from the Compline Service in the Book of Common Prayer on page 134.  Although intended as a nighttime prayer, it is one I say off and on all day long. I thought it was a good blessing for a birthday. “Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace.”

To use this page as a template for prayer you can choose to pray for other people, pray your gratitude list, list your character defects, write words of adoration for God, make a forgiveness list, pray your own set of petitions…. Fill the spaces with color or write words or names in them. Let every stroke of color be an intentional stroke of nonverbal prayer. As a chronic doodler, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to add more lines, dots, and marks.

Click on the .jpg or .pdf version of the prayer to download the page. Make sure to download it first with the downward facing arrow and then print it. Feel free to make copies and share it.

.jpg    or    .pdf

Hearts and Stripes Collage (1)

 

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Filed Under: Praying in Color Tagged With: coloring pages, Compline, Guide us waking O Lord, Pray and Color, prayer and doodling, Praying in Color

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