Read, Write, & Pray with The Great Belonging: Part One

Our Faith in Writing’s Read, Write, & Pray with The Great Belonging series uses themes and excerpts from Charlotte’s first book, The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other.

It’s not necessary to have a copy of The Great Belonging to complete these exercises and prompts. If you’d like a copy, you can purchase one here.

I hope the Read, Write, & Pray series helps you make space to notice God’s presence in your life and creative work. I hope it gives you opportunities to discover how making and engaging with art help you belong to yourself, others, God, and the world.

Learn more about Read, Write, & Pray here.


Read

Music is a Dwelling Place at The Curator

Whenever I hear Peter Cetera belt out “Waiting for the break of day” in the song “25 or 6 to 4,” I’m carried back to the brick house on Hunting Creek Road in Montgomery, Alabama, where I lived as a child. I’m four years old. I’m on the rust-colored shag carpet and can smell the drywall and new paint in our den that had doubled in size from its recent renovation. I see my dad hanging his new Bose 901 speakers and setting up his sound system, including a Philips turntable. My Barbie dolls are not far from my reach, and I’d bet I ate a bowl of Frosted Flakes for breakfast. That song is my earliest music memory.

Write

1. Set a timer for three minutes and write down as many songs as possible.

2. Circle three songs that stand out the most to you right now. 

3. Set a timer for five minutes and free-write about those three songs. Write whatever comes to mind. Don’t edit your thoughts or whatever you write. Let your thoughts wander around the songs, the feelings they evoke, the people, places, and things

4. Set a timer for five minutes and explore common themes between the three songs you circled. 

5. Write an essay or a story that includes at least one scene for each song. Or write a poem about themes that are common to all three songs. 

6. If it’s not a good time to write an essay, a story, or a poem, repeat some or all of steps 1-4, so you have more material to work with when it’s time to write.

 

Pray

Choose a favorite song to listen to and pray with. It can be a hymn or a song written specifically for worship, but it doesn’t have to be. It can be any song that you’re drawn to for any reason. Listen to the song with your eyes closed. Then use a timer and sit in silence for two minutes. Listen to the song again and write down anything that comes to mind while you’re listening. Then sit in silence again for two minutes. Listen to the song one more time. Then journal any additional thoughts and prayers that come to mind.


I hope you enjoy this free resource for Read, Write, and Pray with The Great Belonging. Additional free resources can be found here:

Read, Write, & Pray with The Great Belonging

Free Resources 

Read, Write, & Pray with The Great Belonging Part One

Read, Write, & Pray with The Great Belonging Part Two

Read, Write, & Pray with The Great Belonging Part Three

Read, Write, & Pray with The Great Belonging Part Four


Charlotte Donlon helps her readers and clients notice how they belong to themselves, others, God, and the world. Charlotte is a writer, a spiritual director for writers, and the founder of Spiritual Direction for Writers™ and Parenting with Art™. She is also the founder and host of the Our Faith in Writing podcast and website. Her essays have appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Seattle Pacific University where she studied creative nonfiction with Paula Huston and Lauren F. Winner. She holds a certificate in spiritual direction from Selah Center for Spiritual Formation. Her first book is The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. To receive Charlotte’s latest updates, news, announcements, and other good things, subscribe to her email newsletter.

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Read, Write, and Pray with The Book of Delights by Ross Gay: Part Four

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Read, Write, & Pray with The Great Belonging: Part Two