Amy Boucher Pye

Category: Prayer Exercise

  • Praying with Poetry – Refrain

    I loved co-leading a “Poetry and Prayer” retreat with Amy Scott Robinson recently at Launde Abbey, learning from Amy as she helped us to explore different forms of poetry. One of those is the biblical poetic form of the refrain, which is a wonderful way to express ourselves to God. And it’s easy to write one; I promise!

    As Amy shared, what’s so wonderful about the poetry in the Psalms (ancient Hebrew poetry) is that it doesn’t depend on patterns and rhythms of words, but patterns and rhythms of ideas. It uses synonyms and antonyms, metaphors and refrains, all of which we can see in translation. Isn’t that amazing! We who aren’t able to read Hebrew don’t miss out.

    A form of poetry in the Psalms is refrain—a repeated line or phrase that adds emphasis and rhythm in a poem or prayer:

    Psalm 136
    Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
    His love endures forever.
    Give thanks to the God of gods.
    His love endures forever.
    Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
    His love endures forever.

    Here’s a refrain that I wrote while on the retreat with Amy (and thus I did it in a short space of time). I hope you see how the repeating of lines helps us to consider again the idea – maybe it helps us move more from the head to the heart?

    From Job 1:21

    The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.
    Blessed be the name of the Lord.

    When sorrow strikes at the season’s end:
    A call to obey and relinquish…
    The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.

    From a distance I see new gifts to welcome
    while bidding the familiar farewell.
    Blessed be the name of the Lord.

    The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.
    Blessed be the name of the Lord.

    When I led this prayer exercise recently for Coracle’s Space for God (which happens regularly on a Tuesday), I was delighted with some of the refrains shared at the end of our time together. Here’s one from Jamie:

    Identity

    You are all fair, my love
    There is no spot in you.

    Created with intention and beauty
    I see the goodness of God in you
    You are all fair, my love

    Washed clean and made new
    Clothed in Christ’s righteousness.
    There is no spot in you

    You are all fair, my love
    There is no spot in you

    And here is one by Jerry Herbert, who was one of my teachers some years ago (!) on the American Studies Program in Washington, DC:

    Your Word is a lamp to my feet
    And a light to my path

    Your Word is a lamp to my feet
    A guide in the midst of confusion
    A help when all is chaos

    And a light to my path
    A spectacle when all is obscure
    A knife to slice thru the darkness

    Your Word is a lamp to my feet
    And a light to my path

    I’d love to invite you to write a refrain! Here’s how:

    • Take 2 lines of scripture (or a line in two parts)
    • State them
    • Separate them with your own lines of context and interpretation
    • Bring them together again

    Suggestions for verses:

    • Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Psalm 119:105)
    • The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you (Numbers 6:24-26)
    • The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. (Psalm 23:1)
    • The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21)
    • The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit (Jonah 2:6)

    Format:

    Line 1
    Line 2

    New line
    New line
    Line 1

    New line
    New line
    Line 2

    Line 1
    Line 2

  • God is with You – A Prayer on Iona

    Join me on the shores of the island of Iona as we stop and notice God’s presence with us. In a four-minute video, I invite you to affirm the amazing truth that if we welcome Jesus in our lives, Christ is with us.

    Would you like to visit this amazing “thin space” with me? Some spaces left on our pilgrimage/retreat to Iona via McCabe Pilgrimages, a wonderful and trusted travel company, from 31 March to 5 April 2025.

    Join my monthly newsletter for more prayer practices.

    Find out more about 7 Ways to Pray, including links for ordering and resources for small groups.

  • Prayerful meditation – Receiving God’s love

    God looks on us with love. Join me for a mini-retreat (for 10 minutes) in receiving God’s loving gaze, along with imagining yourself in the story of Jesus seeing the widow of Nain during the funeral procession of her only son from Luke’s gospel.

    Filmed at Upper Jenny’s at Lee Abbey, Lee Bay, Devon, England.

    For more prayer exercises, read my book 7 Ways to Pray and receive my monthly newsletter.

    You may wish to engage with this longer prayer practice on a day of retreat and refreshment. Feel free to pause the video and engage with God where he takes you.

  • Prayerful meditation – the road to Emmaus

    Join me in a prayer of imagining yourself in a gospel story, that of the two disciples walking away from Jerusalem on the road to Emmaus on the day of the resurrection. Their faces are downcast as they don’t understand what has happened, and then Jesus appears to them on the road, but they are kept from knowing it is him.

    You may wish to engage with this longer prayer practice on a day of retreat and refreshment. Feel free to pause the video and engage with God where he takes you.

    Join my monthly newsletter for more prayer practices and giveaways.

    Find out more about 7 Ways to Pray, including links for ordering and resources for small groups.

  • Praying for Emotional Healing with Thérèse of Lisieux

    Join me in the woods near to Penhurst Retreat Centre (near Battle in East Sussex, England) to ponder and pray through some of the words of Thérèse of Lisieux, known as the little flower. As part of this, we’ll engage in a prayer asking God for emotional healing, based on Thérèse’s thoughts.

    She saw the beauty of the ordinary flowers – the daisies and lilies as much as the roses. After all, what would be the glories of springtime if we only had roses? So too, how lovely is the garden of souls, made in the image of God with so much creativity and diversity.

    Join my monthly newsletter for more prayer practices.

    Find out more about 7 Ways to Pray, including links for ordering and resources for small groups.

  • A Prayer of Confession on Iona

    Join me before Iona Abbey as the sun rises as we ask Jesus the Light to clarify any areas of wrongdoing we are holding. God will always release us and welcome us to experience freedom and release.

    Join my monthly newsletter for more prayer practices.

    Find out more about 7 Ways to Pray, including links for ordering and resources for small groups.

  • The God of Abundance

    Will God really provide for you?

    Join me in pondering the God of abundance in the Ten Acre Gill near to Penhurst Retreat Centre. (A ‘gill’ is a wooded ravine.) What resources might he have for you that he’s inviting you to notice and pick? How is he providing for you in unexpected and delightful ways?

    I also share a simple but tasty recipe for wild garlic pesto.

    Join me on retreat! My list of dates for 2024 and some of 2025 is available on my speaking page.

  • God is with you

    Join me in practicing the presence of God on the beautiful shores of the island of Iona, in the inner Hebrides in Scotland. God loves when we welcome his presence in our lives – he’s always there with us!

    In the video I share this gorgeous Celtic prayer, as collected in the Carmina Gadelica:

    Come I this day to the Father,
    Come I this day to the Son,
    Come I this day to the Holy Spirit powerful:
    I come this day with God,
    I come this day with Christ,
    I come this day with the Spirit of kindly balm.

    God, and Spirit, and Jesus,
    From the crown of my head
    To the soles of my feet;
    Come I with my reputation,
    Come I with my testimony,
    Come I to Thee, Jesu – Jesu, shelter me.

    (Carmina Gadelica I, p. 69)

    Find out more about 7 Ways to Pray, including links for ordering and resources for small groups.

  • “Come to me when you’re weary…”

    Jesus knows when we’re weary. He bids us to come and rest with him; his yoke is easy and his burden is light.

    https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5SfFQzC1W6

    Join me at sunrise a few days after Easter in front of Iona Abbey in the Inner Hebrides in Scotland as we soak in these loving words of the Risen Jesus.

    I loved this island so much I’m planning on leading another pilgrimage/retreat next year, Lord willing, from 31 March to 5 April. Mark your calendars!

  • Jesus’ hour – joining into the story

    As we move through the events of Holy Week, I invite you to enter into the “Gethsemane moment” in John’s gospel, from John 12. Some Greeks – simply meaning those who were not Jewish – appeared before several of the disciples and asked if they could see Jesus. This to Jesus signified that his hour had come, and he set his face to the cross.

    Here is the link to the video where I lead this prayer exercise, hosted by Coracle.

    This prayer exercise forms part of the online course that Waverley Abbey Trust produced on The Prayers of Jesus, complete with small-group guide.

    Let me know if you use this prayer exercise, and if you’re willing, how God met you. May entering the story of Jesus and his hour enrich your faith in him and your love for others.