Friday, February 3, 2017

Cancelling out NASHVILLE during Prayer Time.


I started binge watching  the CMT show, Nashville a few weeks ago and I really love the story lines (I know; it's just a soap opera- don't judge me!) and I absolutely love the music. I started watching the show because I had heard that the very, Orthodox Jonathan Jackson was in the show. (Below is a video that firmly establishes Jonathan Jackson's Orthodox street cred.)



As I said, I  really enjoy the show, although it may not be everyone's cup of tea but I love the music.  But sometimes you can overdo things with music. I had been listening to so much NASHVILLE music that in my prayer time this morning, I couldn't get the background noise of my mind to quiet down. There I am sitting in my chair. ( I know, I should be standing) and the song from the show, LOVE LIKE MINE won't get out of my mind. Now it's hard to confess your sins to Psalm 50 with a country music soundtrack playing in the background, so I re-started Psalm 50 but the NASHVILLE music just wouldn't leave.



I figured to get that song out of my head, I would turn on Ancient Faith Radio and recite the Psalm with the chanting to quiet my soul. I was hoping that the chanting would be in Slavonic or Greek so that I wouldn't be distracted by the English in the chanting. But, I thought I'd take my chances. Better to be distracted by English chant than a country music break-up song.

I plug in my earphones. Here's hoping for Slavonic! Nope, it's English. Oh, well. Wait, what are they saying? It turns out I had tuned into Ancient Faith Radio just as the Monastery Choir of St. John of San Francisco was chanting - you guessed it - Psalm 50. And I had caught it at the beginning. So, as the choir chanted, I just followed along in my prayer book. It was a beautiful experience and helped me focus on the rest of my prayer time.



After my time of prayer, I thanked the Holy Spirit for helping me get back on track and I thanked St. John the Wonder-worker for his intercession.  I rely upon his prayers a lot! Okay, now I've got to go and buy that song! I hope it's on Itunes! 

Have a blessed day!

Post Script:  I know it's been months since I've blogged or podcasted. I had just got burnt out on it and needed to take a break. I don't see myself podcasting again anytime soon but I hope to start up blogging again.