Process, Frisbee, and Prayer
by Michaelene Miller
Michaelene was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. She received a BA in Psychology from Hendrix College in Conway, and later graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, VA. Michaelene was ordained to the transitional diaconate in March 2018 and was ordained a priest in the Fall of 2018. The description below was written by Jay McDaniel, when she was a student at Hendrix. She took a class in process theology and created this digital story as her final project.
"Michaelene Miller is a college student who prays in many ways. Often she prays by running alone. It roots her mind in her body and becomes a form of praise, a celebration of life in the act of being exposed to the trees, the lakes, the surroundings. In this kind of running something happens inside her; she thinks more and hears more. She is opened, as in prayer. Tired and humbled, with God she shares her challenges and desires. Tired and humbled, she is open to the Opening, stride by stride.
But for her this form of private prayer is not complete without another more communal kind of prayer, ultimate frisbee. In frisbee she moves with others, sharing initial aims. Her mind is externalized into an ongoing process of silent conversation. The goals of others become her goals, their struggles become her struggles. There is a blending, a concrescing, a feeling of feelings. There are moments when all are moving as one.
Inwardness and outwardness, meditation and conversation, solitude and community, the withness of the body and withness with the world. Isn't this what life is all about? Aren't there two poles to every moment of experience, a receiving and a giving? Maybe this is what the Chinese mean by yin and yang.
What is this wideness within which we are always moving? Even when we are sitting down, even when we are sleeping, we are moving within a wideness. So vibrant, so spacious, so deep. Always holding us together, like the arc of a covenant, so that we can feel one another's feelings and share in joys and struggles. So hard to name. For now, with Michaelene's help, let's just call it God."
"Michaelene Miller is a college student who prays in many ways. Often she prays by running alone. It roots her mind in her body and becomes a form of praise, a celebration of life in the act of being exposed to the trees, the lakes, the surroundings. In this kind of running something happens inside her; she thinks more and hears more. She is opened, as in prayer. Tired and humbled, with God she shares her challenges and desires. Tired and humbled, she is open to the Opening, stride by stride.
But for her this form of private prayer is not complete without another more communal kind of prayer, ultimate frisbee. In frisbee she moves with others, sharing initial aims. Her mind is externalized into an ongoing process of silent conversation. The goals of others become her goals, their struggles become her struggles. There is a blending, a concrescing, a feeling of feelings. There are moments when all are moving as one.
Inwardness and outwardness, meditation and conversation, solitude and community, the withness of the body and withness with the world. Isn't this what life is all about? Aren't there two poles to every moment of experience, a receiving and a giving? Maybe this is what the Chinese mean by yin and yang.
What is this wideness within which we are always moving? Even when we are sitting down, even when we are sleeping, we are moving within a wideness. So vibrant, so spacious, so deep. Always holding us together, like the arc of a covenant, so that we can feel one another's feelings and share in joys and struggles. So hard to name. For now, with Michaelene's help, let's just call it God."