Praying in Color: Drawing a New Path to God (Active Prayer Series): Sybil MacBeth: 9781557255129: Amazon.com: Books

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Just as Julia Cameron, in The Artist's Way, showed the hardened Harvard businessman he had a creative artist lurking within, MacBeth makes it astonishingly clear that anyone with a box of colors and some paper can have a conversation with God. Frustrated by a laundry list of what she calls "prayer dilemmas," and the unfortunate situation of more than half a dozen friends and family members on her "critical prayer list," MacBeth, a math professor by trade, spent an afternoon doodling before she realized she'd in fact spent the afternoon in prayer. As she takes particular care to emphasize, this method—most effective for intercessory prayer, but adaptable for other approaches—requires absolutely no skill, merely a desire to connect with God. (Readers should therefore ignore any lingering self-doubt planted by a first grade art teacher.) Amid gentle personal anecdotes, MacBeth illustrates each step of the process, providing not just instruction but inspiration, by sharing her own prayer pages as well as those of her students. She even includes a chapter on using one's computer for the process. Readers of all ages, experience and religions will find this a fresh, invigorating and even exhilarating way to experience time with themselves and their Creator. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Those struggling with contemplative or intercessory prayer might want to consider communing with God through markers and crayons. So says Sybil MacBeth in her new book, Praying in Color: Drawing a New Path to God. MacBeth, a left-brained math wiz and self-avowed "third grade artist," encourages the use of lines, shapes and colors as a way of centering and of keeping the individual or situation being prayed about before God. "Partly, this process is about creating a time and space when the focus of my sitting is devotion to God," said MacBeth. "Yet it's also like bringing a 'blankie' to your time with God, a prop, where you don't feel so naked."
About four years ago, MacBeth was sitting on her porch praying for a number of friends with cancer. Tired of hearing her own words, she began doodling. Soon she had a whole sheet of shapes with the names of her friends in each design. MacBeth felt it was like spending time with each of them, she said, "and by the end I had a visual prayer list. The images stuck in my mind for the rest of the day. I had prayed unceasingly, and I was able to offer people into God's hands without needing to use words. I was able to put friends in God's care and out of my worry."
Carol Showalter, director of publicity for Paraclete, told RBL, "The idea at first seemed so simple it was almost silly. However, as we tried the process in relation to prayer, we realized something important was happening. The use of color and the action of drawing while in prayer adds a new level of focus." Incorporating art into devotional time is catching on. MacBeth has led about 15 workshops, with more scheduled. She will open Dealers Day at the Religious Booksellers Trade Exhibit (RBTE) in St. Charles, Ill., at the end of May. Amy Tracy Publisher's Weekly- Religion Book Line May 9, 2007

Dancer and mathematics instructor MacBeth's charming book may be the first to combine the pleasures of doodling with a discussion of, among other things, lectio divina. Here, she shows how simple drawings-often hardly more than circles and lines with names or ideas or places sketched in and enlivened with color-can focus the praying heart, making prayer something better than a shopping list or a chore and helping the praying believer to carry the wishes and thoughts of the prayer through the day. MacBeth's book is not for unbelievers or those who do not pray; it is directed to those suffering something more like spiritual attention deficit disorder. Still, it is one of the most appealing books on prayer to appear in the last five years. Highly recommended.

Library Journal May 1, 2007

Sybil MacBeth would like to help people draw closer to God-literally. She's developed a simple new approach to prayer described in her book Praying in Color, to be released in April by Paradete Press. She talked about her method recently with Associate Editor Mary Jacobs. Here are excerpts.
Tell me about your approach to prayer.
I would describe it as visual way to pray. I started praying this way about four years ago, when I had a whole slew of friends who had cancer all at once. I didn't know what to pray. I got tired of the saying the same old things: "Please, God, make them better, make them comfortable."
I'm a doodler. One day I was sitting on my porch doodling and I realized I had put the name of somebody in one of these shapes. I thought "I don't know what to say but Jean sit with this person in prayer. I can do that by drawing and coloring and constantly keeping my attention focused on the person and lifting him up to God" And that's how it got started.
Do you need to have artistic ability to do this?
Absolutely not. I can't draw a cat. But I love color. I think that's one of the reasons that it works for me.
Describe the steps you take.
I night draw a shape first. Then I'll put the name of a person I want to pray for in the shape. Or, sometimes I'll put a name for God in the first shape. I don't try to force words because the words sometimes get in the way. Then I'll draw around the shape. I'll do squiggles or curlicues or lines, just different shapes-just to keep my hand moving and always my attention on lifting the person up to God.
I'll spend 3-5 minutes on the person. Then I'll move to another spot on the page and do another shape and pray for another person who is on my mind. So it might end up with one person on the page or I might have ten, depending on how many friends or family members need prayer.
Then I'll often carry that sheet with me. Sometimes I'll put it on the fridge, or I'll put the sheet in front of an icon and a candle in the kitchen. So every time I'll walk by the sheet, I'll see it and it jogs my memory to pray unceasingly for the people on the paper. Not necessarily with words-just offering them into God's care.

Reporter Resources March 23, 2007

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars

(51)

5 star

4 star

3 star

2 star

1 star

See all 51 customer reviews

“ This book offers a very creative way to use simple drawing materials and doodling as a form of prayer. ” D. McMaster | 21 reviewers made a similar statement

“ I don't worry about it looking pretty or presentable or what others will think if they ever saw one--I just draw and color. ” D. Riley | 11 reviewers made a similar statement

“ I've talked about this book with my friends and they've talked about it with their friends and many people have bought it and all have loved it. ” Kathy D. Ericksen | 8 reviewers made a similar statement

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 80 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars a terrific book to use during retreats, youth group meetings, prayer groups, and for personal devotion and meditation June 18, 2007

By FaithfulReader.com

Format:Paperback

If you saw me at the coffee shop, scribbling away with my colored pencils, you might think I was doodling --- and pretty primitive doodling at that. But truth be told, I'm praying --- praying in color --- learning a new way to talk with God from Sybil MacBeth's unique first book. And it's not just for artists.

The bright, primary colors of the jacket and the unique full-color interior design grabbed me from the start. MacBeth, a math professor, believes that for those of us who struggle during prayer with wandering minds, restless hearts and intrusive thoughts, drawing with colored pencils or markers while we pray will help us focus and remember our prayers. It also will bring joy back to prayer. "When I draw as a way to enter prayer, I get to delight in my prayer and to feel God's delight that I am making an effort to pray," she writes. Prayer as joy? I was hooked. Praying in color is a simple concept, and it's easy to get started.

I began with an ink pen, drawing a small shape on a page of copy paper (MacBeth also suggests a notepad, blank journal, or any sort of paper you feel comfortable with). My friend Rick had just had a heart attack, and he was the first person on my mind to pray for. So I drew a heart, then put his name in it. Simple. And memorable.

Other ways to begin, MacBeth suggests, include writing one of the infinite names for the Almighty in a shape, a reminder that God is ever-present during your prayer time. Yet another option is writing your own name in a shape, if you are in a particularly difficult situation.

Next, MacBeth says to add detail to the drawing, remembering that this is not about being a fine artist but rather about creating something visual to remember your prayer. Each stroke and each moment you spend on your drawing is time spent with God. I added a Band-Aid to Rick's heart as I prayed for his healing, an encompassing halo symbolizing God's protection and all-surrounding love, and Rick's wife Susan's name leaning on top of the heart (a reminder that she needed my prayers as well).

Next comes the color. MacBeth recommends markers or colored pencils, and notes that some readers like gel pens. I had a good selection of colored pencils, so I used plenty of red, yellow and green to color in my heart and the doodles in and around it. The colors help you bring the symbol of your prayer more easily to mind later, MacBeth believes. I was finished with my prayer for Rick and ready to go to another.

When you move from one person to the next in this way, MacBeth suggests offering a closing prayer, an "Amen" or even more simple, "I'll be back." I like that! If the request is particularly heavy, she recommends taking several deep breaths or standing up and moving around to let go of any tension that might have built up.

When you're finished with your prayer page, you'll have a virtual collage of color, shapes and names. MacBeth calls this a prayer "icon," but evangelical readers need not be put off by this. "I use the word icon with the understanding that an icon helps us to see God. We do not worship the image; it has a transparency about it that lets us see through it to a deeper experience of God and God's presence." Well said.

Each page has step-by-step instructions that clearly illustrate whatever MacBeth is teaching. She integrates personal anecdotes gleaned from her PRAYING IN COLOR workshops, scripture, vulnerable insights from her own struggles with prayer and answers to potential criticisms.

Stuck on what to doodle? MacBeth includes samples of prayer pages or icons, and chapters full of ideas about who and what we might pray for. We can pray in color for our enemies, to meditate on scripture, to recall certain things, for discernment, or even pray using a prefab calendar during Advent or Lent. MacBeth even offers ideas for praying in color with a computer! There is plenty here to get the most artistically-challenged or prayer-challenged person scribbling away.

This would be a terrific book to use during retreats, youth group meetings, prayer groups, and for personal devotion and meditation times. Writes MacBeth, "A new prayer form gives God an invitation and a new door to penetrate the locked cells of our hearts and minds." A beautiful image, and one I'm planning to draw --- the next time I go to God in prayer. Thanks, Sybil!

--- Reviewed by Cindy Crosby

Comment |

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Praying Thanks for Praying in Color April 30, 2007

By H. A Truett VINE™ VOICE

So often, when I am journaling my prayers, the words just escape me, or I feel the urge to draw something but am intimidated by my lack of artistic skill. I can do collage and some painting and I can write, but my sketches are sad. So, when I saw this book on the table at a retreat last weekend, it called to me. I really didn't have the money, but I picked it up anyway. I put it back down and picked it back up. Something in me just NEEDED it. So, in the end, I paid for it. I began reading it immediately, before our evening session. My fingers itched to try out this technique. So, on Sunday morning, when I took some Sabbath time to sit outside in the quiet, I tried the idea shared in the first few chapters. It felt so natural. My body let go of so much perfectionism and I felt free and light.

I am sure this method of prayer via doodles will not work for everyone. But, it is worth a shot for anyone. It has so many uses, from the actual praying during drawing to the reminder each shape can bring throughout your day. This method of pray would be easy to do with children or to use when waiting somewhere or trying to simply slow your thoughts for a bit.

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Far Better Than You Might Think April 19, 2007

By shadette atchison

Seemingly "too" simple or childish for adults, Praying In Color is excellent for any age person. I am someone who doesn't mind sitting still or quiet for a half hour and doesn't have difficulty staying focused, so I really thought I wouldn't need this "silly" activity. I was wrong! After just a few minutes of praying in color, I was hooked. My grandsons, ages 8 and 5, love it. Some of my friends tried it and then tried it with their husbands - they loved it. The possibilities for this activity are endless - what a boost to a prison ministry, or outreach to the deaf - for use by people who are uncomfrotable praying aloud in a group. Teens are excited by this activity as it really allows them to 'get out of the box'. And it is appropriate for people of ANY FAITH. Praying in color is really one of the oldest ways to pray - iconographers refer to their icons as 'prayers in color.' Try it - you will like it!