Healing Arts Activity Lesson 2: Paul Klee

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Welcome to my series: Healing Arts

My desire is to give you the opportunity to experience what it is I mean when I call my work "healing art chaplaincy"

Welcome to Lesson 2

Feel free to leave any thoughts in the comments below.

Find a quiet place and gather a journal or paper and pencils/pens/colored pencils/markers/crayons

Take a few moments to take some deep breaths and center yourself.

 Click here to find some of the psalms as prayers I have added to the blog and read one quietly to yourself or out loud to aid in your centering process.

Now let's begin

  1. What was your first reaction to this artwork in 5 words or less?

2. What is strange about this painting?

3. What is normal about this painting? 

 Now think about the title of this piece of art:

“This Flower Wishes to Fade”

 

Write down some thoughts that came up when you heard the name of the work.

What wisdom are you experiencing TODAY through this piece of art?

Finally we move more deeply into the Creativity practice using one of the following options:

Write about a time when you felt like you were fading.

or

Create a drawing based on your writing

or

Recreate Klee's painting while experiencing the feelings of this piece.

Psalms as Prayers: How to Pray When you Can't Find Words Psalm 10

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Psalm 10

O LORD, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide when I am in trouble?
	The wicked arrogantly hunt down the poor. Let them be caught in the evil they plan for others.
	For they brag about their evil desires; they praise the greedy and curse you LORD.
	The wicked are too proud to seek God. They seem to think that God is dead.
	Yet they succeed in everything they do. They do not see your punishment awaiting them. They sneer at all their enemies.
	They think, “Nothing bad will ever happen to us! We will be free of trouble forever!”
	Their mouths are full of cursing, lies, and threats. Trouble and evil are on the tips of their tongues.
	They lurk in ambush in the villages, waiting to murder innocent people. They are always searching for helpless victims.
	Like lions crouched in hiding, they wait to pounce on the helpless. Like hunters they capture the helpless and drag them away in nets.
	Their helpless victims are crushed; they fall beneath the strength of the wicked.
	The wicked think, “God isn’t watching us! He has closed his eyes and won’t even see what we do!”
	Arise, O LORD! Punish the wicked, O God! Do not ignore the helpless!
	Why do the wicked get away with despising you God? They think, “God will never call us to account.”
	But you see the trouble and grief they cause. You take note of it and punish them. The helpless put their trust in you. You defend the orphans.
	Break the arms of these wicked, evil people! Go after them until the last one is destroyed.
	The LORD is king forever and ever! The godless nations will vanish from the land.
	LORD, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them.
	You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so mere people can no longer terrify them.

 

Psalms as Prayers: How to Pray When You Can't Find Words Psalm 8

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Psalm 8 O LORD, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens. You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies and all who oppose you. When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers— the moon and the stars you set in place— what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made humanity only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority— the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents. O LORD, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!