Releasing Prayer with hands

 

One of the best things we can do for ourselves is to move what is burdening us out of our bodies. Our bodies react before our conscious brain tells us what is happening and our bodies remember and hold much which we thought we might have intellectually moved on from.  If you want to know more, look up trauma work and the Vagas nerve system.

 

This little ritual is a way I have found to release to God the people and situations which are on my mind and heart, and therefore, which my body holds.  To hold less releases me to be, as much as possible, a non-anxious presence for other people.  This helps them.

 

Here it is:

 

I open my hands, palms up, the sides of my little fingers touching each other making a typical kind of offering shape.

 

I then speak into my hands and name the person or people weighing in my heart.  I may have just been struck by a comment in an email, or a note on the news, or simply a name popping into my head. I tell the story as I look into my hands.

 

Then, I take my right thumb and draw the vertical line of a cross, saying, “in the name of eternal God”, then cross from left to right saying, “incarnated Christ,” then rest my thumb at the cross intersection and say, “inhabiting Spirit”*.  I then change hands and with my left thumb make the cross shape and this time “may they be healed of all that harms them in body, mind and spirit” going from top to bottom on the word body, left to right with the word mind and held in the centre for the word spirit.

 

Next, I put my hands back together in the offering shape and fully extend and lift them, (to me) – to God. I say, “I release (the name, or ‘your children’ or the situation) to you oh God.”

 

I then close my hands to a typical prayer shape with my palms together and say, “in all of this, bring love, peace and justice.”

 

I finish by crossing my hands over my chest with the tips of my fingers to my shoulders and say, “I release (name, situation) to you Dear God and set myself aside as needed.”

 

I don’t do this perfectly each time.  But what this does for me is get my body involved in the appeal for God’s care.  This way my body remembers that I’ve done this, the worry does literally leave me, and I am ready to engage in the next thing on my list.

 

* Eternal God/Incarnated Christ/Inhabiting Sprit is my personal choice for naming the Trinity.  For you, choose whichever name of the Trinity fits best with your own theology and personality.

 

What to do when we’re angry with God or with something or someone?

Stay with it.  Be angry; it’s important.  Then we move beyond to make it history.

 

I use a classic tool we can find all over the Psalms. Lament.

 

It’s a fine form of a prayer pattern in five sections:

1) address God (praise, acknowledge, whatever notes God is with us too)

2) make a complaint to God (moan, shout, get it all out of the system – every last awful detail of what we’re upset or angry or hurt or more about)

3) spell out our trust in God no matter the complaint (name the times we’ve got through before, name what we believe God has done for us before, no matter how angry we feel about trying to find anything at all God has done to help us before)

4) appeal to God to help or fix something, occasionally someone (what would fix this thing for us? What could anyone do? Name it all, even if it’s hard)

5) praise God, and if we can bear it, praise God with a promise of our own faithfulness to God.

 

This form of prayer and plead to God has long history over millennia because it helps.  It works. It’s a Holy literary device because it’s a tool that releases us.  It makes us set out the bare bones of our despair as we write our truth, it exposes our weakness and need, it acknowledges God’s unlimited active grace and it lets us pour ourselves into God’s profound care.  If we feel the need, we can lay blame as we spell out our weakness.  In Psalms we read, ‘my enemy pursues me.’ We might write, ‘they didn’t hear me yet again.’ Lament is an exposing trusting encounter with our or others’ truth, held in the extraordinary presence of God. God hears.

 

Like other Lament writers, I find that when I’m despairing, confused, angry, betrayed and more, I choose to force my horrendous situation into a Lament. It makes me spell it out and at the same time, whether I feel it in the moment or not, remind myself that God always knows and loves more than I can ever know. I start by blubbing out the issue, then I go to the pattern.  It always makes me write that I trust God, and if I was wondering, the very writing reminds me that it’s true.  In times like these, I encourage you. Trust, Lament in truth, trust even more.

 

I also find that doing this with an object helps. Often I find a thing, an object. Box? Card? Anything. I hold it. As I feel it and move it in my hands, I enter the Lament: praise God, name the horribleness, name how God helped me before, ask God's help in this, praise God. I put the object down and say, "with this (name the object), I place it down and put it into your hands, O God. It is no longer my burden."

 

Then I wait, feel and think.  Countless times, the burden is lifted and I have the psychological distance to see what needs done.

The tour begins!

Here we are, packed and off to Newcastle. It looks to be a fine day for travelling and there is a lovely team waiting to help us set up much later today. Knitting for me now en route. That’s the only way I can manage motorways!

Wrapping newbies for the journey

Wrapping day. Having saved up those convenient huge boxes from the few things we needed after the studio move, they're being put to good use. I use old sheets to cover the painting face and then make corner protectors from cardboard. After that, I cut a huge box to fit and then tie the sides in with very inexpensive ribbon. It’s immensely strong and wraps and unwraps for exhibition time and time again. Good thing really, these babies will move through 10 exhibitions! Either the originals, or if sold, their prints, will travel the length of England. The Exhibitions calendar is in the left toolbar.

Final prepping for Open To All exhibition this month

Ah, like the Royal Academy varnishing days of old, I’m varnishing very close to time for showing! Unfolding is almost ready to go with the next step being the gold rub on the sides. We show starting September 24th at St James Newcastle right in the city centre. All 13 works will be there until the end of October. The whole calendar is being prepared as I write.

Cathedrals and Churches Exhibitions

I’m delighted to say that we are in deep conversation with a range of large city centre Churches as well as a number of Cathedrals in addition to Coventry to begin our Open Table Network/EGK exhibition series in September this year. We’ll start in the Northeast. September is soon upon us and is in equal measure exciting and nerve wracking (!). Here is OTN’s message on their website. Below is another painting which will be on display - One.

One

Please contact me if you would like prints. The following formats are available. All prints on paper are sold on ivory mounting board. Frames may be ordered. Prints on canvas are stretched on wood.

Art Prints: Art Prints are created with laser printers onto quality wood pulp art paper.

Gallery Poster: Gallery Poster is a typical art gallery format with laser printer on poster paper, supplied rolled in a tube.

Giclee Prints: Giclee Prints are inkjet sprayed onto quality cotton rag paper. They’re known for their vibrant colours, fine details, and archival quality. The term "giclee" comes from the French word meaning "to spray," referring to the precise inkjet spraying process used in their production. They’re guaranteed to last at least 100 years (though no one’s been alive long enough since development to know…)

Embellished Giclee Prints: Embellished Giclee Prints are customised by me adding details, textures, or hand-drawn elements to make each cotton paper print unique. The result is a print that combines the advantages of digital printing with a personal touch.

Giclee Prints on Canvas: Giclee Prints are inkjet sprayed onto artist canvas material. This gives the print a texture and appearance similar to a traditional painting on canvas so that they resemble original paintings.

Embellished Giclee Prints on Canvas: Embellished Giclee Prints on Canvas are customised by me adding details, textures, or hand-painted elements to make each print unique. Embellishments added on top of canvas give the print a more three-dimensional painterly effect.