Sunday, May 9, 2010

Combinatorial Prayer

Father, find me, draw me in. Jesus, save me, here I am. Spirit, heal me, draw me in. Father, teach me, here I am. Jesus, lead me, draw me in. Spirit, find me, here I am. Father, save me, draw me in. Jesus, heal me, here I am. Spirit, teach me, draw me in. Father, lead me, here I am. Jesus, find me, draw me in. Spirit, save me, here I am. Father, heal me, draw me in. Jesus, teach me, here I am. Spirit, lead me, draw me in. Father, find me, here I am. Jesus, save me, draw me in. Spirit, heal me, here I am. Father, teach me, draw me in. Jesus, lead me, here I am. Spirit, find me, draw me in. Father, save me, here I am. Jesus, heal me, draw me in. Spirit, teach me, here I am. Father, lead me, draw me in. Jesus, find me, here I am. Spirit, save me, draw me in. Father, heal me, here I am. Jesus, teach me, draw me in. Spirit, lead me, here I am.

Peace

3 comments:

jh said...

one could get delightfully drunk chanting something like this
a perfect mathematical scheme
i suppose if it were chanted over and over
a person would memorize the distinct variations

what a pleasant easter trinitarian meditation

is a combinatorial a name for an application of numerical positioning within a logical schema...or what??

kp on rckn doood

jh

stu said...

jh,

The elements of this prayer came to me while working out—pounding out the miles on a treadmill.

My intention was to write a centering prayer, whose repetition would encourage a trance-like state that would facilitate encounter with the Almighty. And perhaps make those miles pass a bit easier.

In practice, I rarely get through more than 15 verses before getting tangled up, although practice is lengthening this.

"Combinatorial" is a mathematical term associated with counting things that are based on combinations. From a formal, group-theoretic point of view, this is simple stuff -- a direct product of three cyclic groups of pairwise relatively prime orders, resulting in another cyclic group: 2 x 3 x 5 = 30.

There's a lot of room here for biblical numerology. Three calls out for the trinity. Seven is the number of perfection, and so a set of seven verslets would give rise to a 21 verse combinatorial prayer. Hmm....

sally said...

i find this repetitive plea for help
consoling

thank you