On Creation and Invocation

a writing prompt and poem about the great outdoors + Writing for the Soul

Welcome to new subscribers to Writing in Company. I’m glad you are here! Each week I share a brief thought and a writing prompt. They are meant to be a jumping-off point for you to do some writing on your own about what matters. Use the prompts however you like—to journal, to draft thoughts for your own writing project, as meditation ideas, or for another creative endeavor. Grab your pen and paper, and enjoy.

I’ve been hither, thither, and yon—500 miles and back again—over the last ten days.

• To the beach where I contemplated the steadiness of ocean waves and a sky that won’t quit.

• To visit family where I contemplated the strange gifts of mortality and familial connection.

• To a nearby retreat center where I contemplated the medicine of sunlight through trees and the conversation of longtime friends.

I’ve walked in all three places.

• Along the Atlantic shoreline where tiny plovers raced the waves.

• Down a buggy state park path to investigate a wedding venue with my sister.

• Through the woods and by the creek of this retreat center where I write today.

My reflective writing has included sounds and smells and sights of creation along the journey I’ve traveled—focused on the sea, the river, the marshes, and the creek. These outdoor spaces are both robust and delicate. They will outlive us all, but they ask of us good stewardship.

Everett Hoagland captures some of my thoughts from the week in his gorgeous poem below titled Invocation. In a church worship service of the variety where I’ve spent much of my career, an invocation is a prayer that invites God to be present. The longer I’ve been paying attention, the more I think such a prayer is purely for our benefit and not God’s. God is already present. We just need to open our eyes and ears more often. Hoagland reminds us of this.

Invocation

by Everett Hoagland

Architect of icebergs, snowflakes,
crystals, rainbows, sand grains, dust motes, atoms.

Mason whose tools are glaciers, rain, rivers, ocean.

Chemist who made blood
of seawater, bone of minerals in stone, milk

of love. Whatever

You are, I know this,
Spinner, You are everywhere, in All The Ever-
Changing Above, whirling around us.

Yes, in the loose strands,
in the rough weave of the common

cloth threaded with our DNA on hubbed, spoked
Spinning Wheel that is this world, solar system, galaxy,

universe.

Help us to see ourselves in all creation,
and all creation in ourselves, ourselves in one another.

Remind those of us who like connections
made with similes, metaphors, symbols
all of us are, everything is
already connected.

Remind us as oceans go, so go we. As the air goes, so go we.
As other life forms on Earth go, so go we.

As our planet goes, so go we. Great Poet,
who inspired In The Beginning was The Word . . . ,

edit our thought so our ethics are our politics,
and our actions the afterlives of our words.

—Reprinted from Split This Rock’s The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database.

¹

a writing prompt

Take a walk outside, then write about it. Maybe you want to write an invocation or invitation to the presence of God in creation (mostly for yourself.) Or maybe you just want to write about what you see—the gifts of creation, and the connectedness of it all. Let your writing help you notice and name something new.

Where will you walk?

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Final Call to Register for Writing for the Soul

Join me for an upcoming workshop where we will write about what matters. Writing for the Soul will meet for four Monday evenings in May on Zoom.

May 8, 15, 22, 29 | 7-8:30 pm Eastern (US)

Join a small group for a 4-week workshop using writing as a healing practice. We’ll start with poetry, images, objects, and more as prompts to get our writing going. We'll pay attention to our words, explore our memories and imagination, and give ourselves permission to experiment on the page. We'll listen generously to one another's words when we choose to share. No writing experience is necessary, and all are welcome. 

You can read more about this—and all my workshops—and register here.

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Photo by Brian Sumner on Unsplash

1. Split This Rock is a new resource for me—the home of a poetry database whose mission is “calling poets to a greater role in public life and fostering a national network of socially engaged poets.” Poems are searchable by social justice theme, author’s identity, state, and geographic region.