Chapter 2: The Birthing Hour / Time before Time (50-54)

Chapter 2 is not nearly as long as Chapter 1 and therefore a tad easier to digest; only eleven pages, it's a fine introduction to Vigils, that pre-dawn time when some Christians climb out bed to remind themselves that even in the darkest of darks, God is with them.

As Ford begins this chapter, he describes what it's like to sing the Psalms at 3:20 a.m. with monks at Mepkin Abbey "by the Cooper River in South Carolina" (50). I've never been to Mepkin Abbey, but I've known about the place for some time.

The pre-dawn prayer-time, called Vigils, reminds us that we all live in "benighted world" (51); that is, all of us live in some kind of darkness, and Vigils gives us an opportunity "to connect with that dark but grace-filled mystery in which we are immerses" (qtd. Steindel-Rast, 51). In short,

Upon making that observation, Ford proceeds to tells us about his experience walking a labyrinth, a centuries-old guide to meditation walking, notably famous "in the floor of [the] ancient cathedral in Chartres, France" (51). As a physical/spiritual experience, walking "labyrinthingly" requires that we ask our bodies to join us in prayer, and when encouraged to enter the labyrinth, Ford found himself meditating on his "pre-birth time." Here Ford's story becomes exceptionally personal as he re-imagines what it must of been like for his unmarried mother to live through that dark time in her life when she was sent away pregnant to give birth to her (can we say it? bastard was the word they used back then) son. In Vigils and when walking the labyrinth, Ford recalls the "the darkness of the womb," beautifully described in Psalm 139. In his pre-dawn time and prayers, Ford realizes, as the Psalm tells him, that "God was contemplating us before we were born" (53).

Ford has found that his pre-dawn prayers, when he makes his "own Vigils time and remember[s] God's presence," are important in his life. Vigils, however he observes the prayer-hour, reminds him "to pay attention to the God who is at work in our lives even before we were born" (54).

More about Chapter 2 tomorrow. But, for now, perhaps you'd like to comment on Ford's thoughts and story--and yours.