A picture’s worth a thousand prayers

by Tammy Wiens,
associate for spiritual formation

“In Plain Sight” is one of the features that the Office of Spiritual Formation incorporates into its Web site. The site features a photograph that is offered as an invitation to prayerful reflection. Readers are encouraged to exchange the fruit of their contemplation by sending an email message with their thoughts, prayers, poems or other writings that can be posted alongside the photograph.

The idea for the Web site was inspired by the magazine Praying, which was produced by the National Catholic Reporter Publishing Company, but is no longer in print. The magazine regularly included a page with a
photograph used as an invitation to prayer and asked readers to send their reflections to the publisher to be printed in subsequent issues. Steve Shussett, teaching presbyter of Lehigh Presbytery, shared in the decision
to adapt the idea from Praying for use in the Office’s then-developing Web site: “The hope was that the picture would change monthly and that folks would submit the prayers the photo inspired. We wanted to create a virtual prayer community.”

Prayer should engage all of our senses, so it’s no surprise that a visual image would be so evocative of the Spirit. For this reason, “In Plain Sight” is perfectly suited to the ministry of the Spiritual Formation office. It is
especially exciting that the immediacy of electronic media makes it possible for viewers to share their prayers and reflections so spontaneously. Due to some vacancies in the office, “In Plain Sight” was dormant for a few months. Now that things are up and running, the site will once again feature a new photo at the beginning of each month.

The most frequent use of “In Plain Sight” will come from those familiar with the Web site who regularly check it out, but there are also a lot of visits from people surfing the net. Web surfing is most often a solo activity, but it doesn’t have to be. Features such as “In Plain Sight” can
be used in small group settings too. Kris Haig, co-pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Morgantown, West Virginia, says she often uses photos as material for lectio divina (a spiritual reading of Scripture). Kris explains, “Photos engage people at an intuitive level.” She offers another
example of how she used photographs at a recent meeting with a New Inquirers class at her church. As part of the meeting, Kris posted a variety of photographs around the room — Africans in joyful worship, hands receiving Communion elements, a path in the woods, a sunrise, a soup kitchen, a congregation singing, an open Bible, churches. Participants were invited to walk around the room until one of the images caught their attention and then to just “listen” to how it “spoke” to them. Kris reports, “We then shared around the circle about these images that caught our attention, and how they might be connected with the way God is seeking to connect with us and lead us in our journey of faith right now, especially at this juncture of looking at joining a new faith community. It’s a neat exercise!”

For more information check out the Spirtual Formation Web site.