NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

An independent small press poetry review

NHI independent review
SOUNDING HEAVEN AND EARTH
New Voices in Prayer
edited by David Grubb
Canterbury Press
St Mary's Works
St Mary's Plain
Norwich
NR3 3BH
UK
ISBN 1 85311 569 X
£12.99
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This page last updated: 10th December 2007. 		SOUNDING HEAVEN AND EARTH

A5, perfect bound with 186 pages. There is an introduction followed by sections on PRAYERS, POETRY, POINTS OF LIGHT, STATIONS, MUSIC AND DANCE, QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES, and DIFFERENT VOICES.

The introduction sets out the aims. One is to share and celebrate the diversity of prayer and approaches to praying. Another is to promote voices and images from those who have the faith. The contributors were asked to reflect on what prayer means. The introduction finishes by stating that the objective is to celebrate spiritual diversity and to stimulate discussion. The foundations of the book stem from The Spire Trust. The Spire Trust supports pupils in religious education at secondary school. The viewpoint is Christian and leans towards the Catholic faith.

POINTS OF LIGHT is a section about:

a special space in which to contemplate, approach and communicate with God pertains to many cultures and many faiths. We carry this place in our heads and in our hearts, of course, but the need is for something more visible, an actual space dedicated and blessed and more than a enabling symbol of what we wish to signal and say and pray.
This section contains mostly short stories, anecdotes and pieces of prose about particular places. One piece is called ENCOUNTERING GOD IN THE GARDEN by Mollie Robinson and, as the title says, the piece considers the value of the quiet garden:
In 1994, after the firm grounding of the pilot project at Stoke Poges, the Quiet Garden Trust was established to co-ordinate the growth of the ministry. The Trust is able to advise those considering opening a Quiet Garden and offers pastoral support. In God's timing, those initial precious seeds burst forth and Quiet Gardens sprang up in many different contexts, as others caught the vision and offered their own homes and gardens for the common purpose of creating a context for spiritual transformation and refreshment.
The section called DIFFERENT VOICES lists discussion topics on subjects such as the place of prayer, and music and dance in religion. The section called QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES contains a set of twelve questions along with the responses of a number of unnamed people. The first question is:
Is the concept of prayer and praying rational?
With most religious books, there is the danger of "tweeness", sentimentality, and the "do this and be righteous" creeping in. It has been edited reasonably well but does not escape entirely. However, as the book is meant for young people and could be used as an aid to the expression of feelings, some unhoned items could be advantageous.

The first half of the book is full of poems and prayers in the form of verse. Amongst the plethora, there are some charming poems. This is from THE LONG REACH OUT OF WAR by Katherine Gallagher:

	They will keep restoring the stone
	in bombed cathedrals

	to carry the face and the idea 
	that were crushed

	They will keep carrying the burden
	of destroyed cathedrals

	even as the ashes blow back
Carole Baldock also takes up the cathedral them in her poem called SOULFUL:
	Wholly original,
	from conception to completion,
	which marked the end of an era:
	the Anglican Cathedral.
	Almighty citadel, forbidding,
	formidable, for ever, a floating island,
while Rupert M Loydell's poem VISITATION considers an apparition:
	Beyond the parted curtain,
	in the chalk light of morning,
	an angel enters the garden.

	He is a misprint, a smudged
	kiss of light and shadow
	in the angles of distance:
Notice the lovely play on angel and angles.

The book is full of the individual points of view of Christians. Some of the pieces can be viewed as testimonials. The general style suggests it could be a useful source book for discussions with young people.

reviewer: Doreen King.