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Coloring and
Praying
A Book Review
by Beverly Hughes
Have you ever prayed in color?
Sybil MacBeth published Praying in Color in 2007 (Paraclete
Press) just as the adult coloring phenomenon steamed up in the
United States. Publishing houses declare they have rarely seen
such an explosion in any genre. Adult colorists (as they may be
called) claim increased mindfulness, stress-relief, and
relaxation.
Lent may be an appropriate time to consider such therapeutic effects
for spiritual well-being, as well. MacBeth explains her
brainchild came after an hour of nervous prayer spurts for people in
her family and friend circles who were facing life-threatening cancer
situations. “All my usual prayer words vanished,” she
said. She went to her back porch to distractedly doodle and
color as she wondered how to pray. She wrote a name of her loved
one and embellished it with circles and lines and various colors.
“When the drawing was finished,” MacBeth writes, “I knew I had offered
my friend into God’s care without words.” (Praying in Color:
Kid’s Edition,page 10)
As a Math professor, MacBeth stresses that this “drawing a new path to
God” does not require artistic abilities at all. But rather, she
suggests the more simply one approaches lines and curves and boxes and
color, the more the “colorist” may sense God’s involvement in the
praying. MacBeth, whose husband is an Episcopalian priest,
teaches that praying in color may relax ecclesiastical exercises and
expectations we have about prayer. She claims that while doodling
or praying in color, the pray-er may more readily trust that the body
is entering into communication with God as much as the mind, heart, and
soul.
MacBeth wrote Praying in Color: Kids’ Edition in 2009. She has
also recently published a Praying in Color Journal, Praying in
Black and White: A Hands-On Practice for Men, Season of the
Nativity and various templates which may be used for seasonal praying
and for workshops. In addition, MacBeth offers weekend retreats
for Praying in Color. See www.prayingincolor.com.
As a Lent activity a Praying in Color workshop will be offered, free of
charge, in Arcanum on Thursday, March 17, at 6:30 PM. MacBeth’s
two original books will be introduced followed by a Praying in Color
practice session. Actual prayer requests are invited from the
community for us to hold in confidence and over which coloring prayers
will be offered. To request more information, to register for
this workshop, or to offer prayer requests, contact Beverly Hughes at
bhfhouse@yahoo.com or 937.467.3401
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