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Invitation to Photography: Hospitality – What will you welcome in?

button-photographyWelcome to this month’s Abbey Photo Party!

select a theme and invite you to respond with images.

We began this month with a Community Visio Divina practice with our reflection on Hospitality with an image of a threshold, asking what you want to welcome in this year. If you have chosen a word for the year ahead, what qualities does it ask you to invite in?

I invite you for this month’s Photo Party to hold this image in your heart as you go out in the world to receive your own images in response. As you walk be ready to see what is revealed to you as a visual expression of your prayer.

You can share images you already have which illuminate the theme, but I encourage you also to go for a walk with the theme in mind and see what you discover.

You are also welcome to post photos of any other art you create inspired by the theme.  See what stirs your imagination!

How to participate:

You can post your photo either in the comment section below* (there is now an option to upload a file with your comment – your file size must be smaller than 1MB – you can re-size your image for free here – choose the “small size” option and a maximum width of 500).

You can also join our Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks Facebook group and post there. Feel free to share a few words about the process of receiving this image and how it speaks of the harvest for you.

*Note: If this is your first time posting, or includes a link, your comment will need to be moderated before it appears. This is to prevent spam and should be approved within 24 hours.

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11 Responses

  1. “a highway shall be there
    and it shall be called the Holy Way…”
    Is that my call as the New Year begins?
    Scrambling in a state of hermitagelessness…
    An 89 Dolphin motorhome is offered…
    I retreat to a corner of a Palm farm…
    The owner always happy to have me…
    To stop the dumping which defaces the desert beauty…
    To stop the off road vehicles that smash little plants…
    Whose buzz makes the Voice of the Holy unheard…
    My highway has a breathless view of the Sacred Mountain…
    No need of the batteries for lights…
    Stars light the night… candles draw to prayer
    Simplicity is the Dolphin shell of a home
    With it I dip into the ocean of God’s Love and sing praise
    On the waves of Blissful Awareness the Dance unfolds

  2. My focus for this year is holy adventure. As I contemplated this in light of hospitality, the invitation for me became “who will you welcome along the way; who will you host as you travel along.” This image brought both the idea of welcoming someone or something in, as well as a call to me to take hospitality with me as I go, if that makes sense.

  3. My word for 2015 is rest. I took this picture the other day of my son with our dog. That speaks volumes to me about this concept.

  4. So often “Love” is filtered through “others” (and that is good…) but sometimes… it comes to us directly, unfiltered… and that is “really good”. All we have to do is open the window and patiently wait….

    1. Just this morning I was thinking and meditating so much on the quote “when God closes one door He opens another”. Now this image of threshold of prayers make some waves within me. Each day the Mystery of Christ is being unfolded to me in various ways. A sister talked to me about the Tent experience of Moses, how the Cloud comes and covers as a manifestation of the Presence of God. Everything is finally falling into place, now that I have decided to keep the door of hospitality open. I think I will decide on WELCOME as my word for 2015.