Dante's Prayer

Though we share this humble path, alone
How fragile is the heart
Oh give these clay feet wings to fly
To touch the face of the stars

Cast your eyes on the ocean
Cast your soul to the sea
When the dark night seems endless
Please remember me
Please remember me
-Dante's Prayer

The first time I heard this song was watching Michelle Kwan ice skate and the song was used as the audio backdrop to her graceful moves. The song is written and performed by Loreena McKennitt. It's haunting and beautiful, and to be paired with the almost magical movements on ice made the experience all the more memorable. We used the song as an introduction to our class discussion of the prayer of the forsaken; the dark night of the soul. The way that I read the chapter was that these prayers are not offered as a response to doubt, or anger, or disappointment with God, but from an absence of feeling. Some counselors know that couples reach a breaking point when apathy replaces anger. At least when you have anger, you care enough to fight, there is enough feeling left to call it anger; with apathy you don't care, there is a void of feelings. The biblical metaphor for this experience is the desert. We feel that we are left alone in the desert, rejected and abandoned. The prayer of the forsaken is a tool used to find a way out of the desert. The author, Richard Foster, is quick to point out, that this feeling of forsakeness is only that - a feeling. God is ever present. This evening a friend wrote that the lesson had followed him home, and several poems came to mind. One would have been a perfect ending to the class.

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, remind us again, and again, whose footprints are in the sand when we call ourselves abandoned. You are faithful. Amen.

Footprints in the Sand
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky. In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only. This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord, “You promised me Lord,that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?” The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.” - Mary Stevenson 1936