Most of the time I appreciate silence or quiet music for meditation time. But recently I have experienced the wonder of sound as a context for prayer. Last week I spent time on a walkway at the base of Niagara Falls. Draped in plastic with special sandals, I enjoyed the forceful spray and listened to the roar of the water. While I was down on the walkway, I was absorbed in the sounds and sights. But the memory that still rings in my ears is a wonderful context for centering prayer and praise prayer. This wonder of the created world stirs vivid awe and draws my attention to the on-going creative power of God at work all of the time in the universe in things both so tiny and so immense that they are beyond our comprehension. Back at home, I was listening to a favorite CD of the Fleetwood Mac band with the incredible drumming of Mick Fleetwood when I sat down for a prayer time. I started to turn off the music when I realized that the power of the drumming provided another remarkable context for prayer. My prayers would be set in the context of God’s ongoing creation that did not stop for my prayer. God is “making all things new” and my prayer just fits into the flow of that ongoing incredible process. I am connecting in to that dynamic when I am open to God and open with God in prayer. I still appreciate quiet time as an environment for centering and prayer. But I have a fresh appreciation for the way God’s presence can be preceived through sounds too.
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