Darkly Devotions

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Lyric prose meditations that play with elements from evangelical Christianity, Buddhism, yoga, reiki, Tarot and “weird voodoo shit.”

~by Cindy Clem

Darkly Apologetics

 

Devotion n (13c) 1 a: religious fervor: PIETY b: an act of prayer or private worship – usu. used in pl.

~ Merriam Webster, 10th

 

As in “having devotions” (20c?)

As in I’m going to go have my devotions now, like I always do, every day, even on Sundays. When do you have your devotions, apostate?

Muslims have Salat. Buddhists have daily meditation. Catholics have Daily Mass Readings, Jews have morning, afternoon, and evening prayers.  (My apologies if I’m getting this wrong. I researched it for about 45 seconds.) But I think the term “Daily Devotions” is uniquely Evangelical Protestant Christian.

The Evangelical Protestant Daily Devotion is mandated by nothing but the measure of one’s own guilt conscience. My father spent time alone in his office every morning, reading Scripture and praying, often on his knees. My mother sat on one end of the couch, open Bible on lap, coffee mug in one hand, notebook and pen resting next to her. She usually finished before I got up, but on the mornings I saw her there she seemed wrapped in a deep stillness, a peace that passeth understanding, as they say.

My devotions were daily for a week, then weekly, and then fading into bi-yearly in a continuing cycle. My parents never pressured me. When I asked, they would agree that daily devotions were a good idea, a way to be with God. God wants us to be with him, just like any friend would.

 ~

Required:

  • Protestant Bible.

New American Standard (NAS). New International Version (NIV).  Revised Standard Version (RSV). King James Version (KJV)? Eh. The New King James (NKJV) would be better: not so linguistically hoity-toity. Better yet, have several translations to compare.

  • A Notebook & Pen
  • Note your daily reading and record insights, thoughts, questions, prayers, confessions.
  • At least ½ hour
  • A humble heart (minus some self-satisfaction at your own discipline)

Optional:

  • Bible Cover – a handy pleather cover that zips or an embroidered, quilted blanket that zips or ties; covers offer protection and can help personalize your Bible. Plus, zippers!
  • Concordance – allows you to look up things like how many times the word “dark” appears in the Bible
  • A Daily Devotional publication, like Our Daily Bread

The standard Devotional publication includes several parts. 1) The Verse/s of the Day, 2) A short reflection on what said verse means and how it should affect our daily lives, and 3) a closing encouragement or affirmation.

~

I Corinthians 13:12a
For now we see through a glass, darkly.

I can think of several people who worry about what I might write in this blog: my mother, my aunt, childhood friends. But my purpose here is not to make fun of Jesus, the Bible (KJV or NKJV), or spirituality. I want to blend and subvert the many spiritual paths I’ve explored, see what happens when I mix them all together.

What am I, the preacher’s daughter, spiritually? I don’t know. I don’t want to call myself a Christian, yet I’m not inclined to renounce Christianity. I’ve happily avoided church or formalized religion for almost two decades now. But I consider myself deeply spiritual, I’m not overly concerned about fitting into a category, and I fail to see the conflict between deeply spiritual and deeply sacrilegious.

I don’t have devotions, but I meditate daily. I’m a fledgling Tarot reader. I’m certified in Reiki I and II. I read books by Buddhist and Catholic monks and by Jung and Jungians. Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling sits on my bookshelf, waiting. I go to an energy healer once a month, I get my aura read by an intuitive counselor, I pray (to God). Sometimes Jesus appears when I’m meditating and sits next to me by the lake. It’s nice.

Darkly Devotions keeps me on the edge, caught between sincerity and subversion. I need both.

~

Genesis 1:2
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Amen. Let us dive in.

 

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Cindy Clem received her MFA in poetry in 2005 and has been writing non-fiction ever since. Her poems and essays have appeared (magically!) in Mid-American Review, The Normal School, Prairie Schooner, Memoir (and), Superstition Review, The Interrobang, Spittoon, and Michigan Quarterly Review (forthcoming).