Do you worship at a hidden monastery?

I am sharing this note from my friend Cynthia Winton-Henry who shows us some new ways to worship!

Prayers for the Hidden Monastery

Have you been to the sanctuary? The one with no walls or doors that arises when you slow dance with the moon, meet the eye of a beetle, feel the tender touch of two hands, walk the street with those who move in protest? Have you been tending an entry to a holy place, keeping a candle lit in a time of epoch change– when prayer feels restless and old forms whither? Have you been making art when fatigue beats at spirit, when busy days disarm grace and leadership agitates for its next holy trouble? Have you been praying because you don’t know what to do but trek up and down the mountain of study and practice and share ritual meals with friend and foe? Have you been to your spirit hideaway to make offerings to the One who calms religious anxiety and quells your over-heated compassion born of Love’s insatiable desire? Have you been working backstage as one of Joy’s stage managers cueing the lights and sounds that awaken the solace begged by every breath? Have you run to the edges, to the Well, the Rock, the Tree any place where Holy Eyes meet, moist cheeks are kissed, wild souls are hallmarks of beauty, and courageous love is daily work? Have you gone on in spite of being ignored, laughed at, shunned, and told you want impossible things? If so then you are a monk of a hidden monastery where like ants in collective obscurity we create and recreate a billion sanctuaries made by ears inclined to a flute players breath, the deep hummed conversations, and the blue tears that fall into a common bowl. Cynthia Winton-Henry