Last November I co-led a prayer event at Lipscomb University's McClure Faith and Science Center. The event put a science-spin on an ancient prayer practice called visio divina, a form of contemplative prayer involving art.
Traditionally the art used is often religious in nature, but doesn't have to be, and the type of art might include a painting, photograph, or icon. The point of practicing visio divina is to encounter God, and to invite God to speak through the art.
After practicing visio divina for the first time last year at a faith and the arts conference, my scientist brain couldn't help but wonder what it might look like to incorporate science data and science-inspired art into this ancient prayer practice.
As a cell and molecular biologist, images of beautiful cells magnified under a microscope, with details labeled in brilliant colors of fluorescence came to mind. How couldn't beautiful images like this move us to prayer? If God could speak to us through art and images, could he speak through artful data of qualitative and quantitative forms?
In the middle of a conference workshop on visio divina, I asked the session leader Andrea Zahler if it was possible to use data or science-inspired art, and to my surprise, she unhesitatingly responded, "Absolutely!" Shortly, after the conference, Andrea and I decided to work together to bring this vision to life. We called our event, "VISCIO DIVINA," adding a "c" so that the letters would spell out "sci" to honor the role of science.
Andrea and I tag-teamed for this special prayer event that was geared mostly towards students. Our backgrounds complemented each other well, hers in ministry, and mine in science. I started the event by sharing the inspiration behind it, and our hopes for a meaningful and moving time of prayer.
Ciara leading the Viscio Divina
Ciara leads students
Viscio Divina
Artful image
Andrea then gave a brief history of visio divina, and walked everyone through a short exercise to practice it on a piece of art. I then jumped in and helped provide context about how we might approach data and science-inspired art in a similar way. Then, we invited everyone to practice on their own.
Our event featured real science data submitted by scientists, including a beautiful image of a fruit fly neuron with chemical receptors on it fluorescently labeled in Christmas colors (red and green) and a close-up image of a bumblebee's flight muscles taken from a high-powered electron microscope. We also featured science-inspired art, including mixed media canvas that featured scriptures and anatomy textbook diagrams and textile rugs whose design was inspired by plant cells.
The space was set-up to resemble an art exhibit. Workshop style tables were set up with postcard-sized images of data and digital art sitting on mini easels. Attendees were invited to sit at a table and pick an image.
Mixed-media art and the textile rugs were also hung on the walls, and we encouraged people to walk around the room to engage with them as well.
Attendees were given a prayer prompt to practice on their image. The prayer prompt was bookended in prayer — a prayer for awareness to begin the activity, and a prayer of response after it. Attendees were guided through questions like "What do you see that you wouldn't expect to see? What techniques do you think were used? If applicable, what scale do you think the image was captured at?"
The prayer prompt then guided them to read a short description about their image that would disclose what exactly they were looking at, what scale it was taken at, and the technique used to capture it, or what the data meant. After this, they were invited to consider how this knowledge impacted their understanding and if they noticed anything else new.
To close the event, we debriefed about everyone's experience. For many, this was their first time practicing visio divina. Most of the attendees were students, and while some of the attendees had a background in science, not all did.
One attendee shared that when he first saw his image, he thought it was a branch from a tree covered in Christmas lights, but after he read the image description and learned he was looking at a neuron from a fruit fly, his mind was blown.
Another attendee shared that initially she thought the image at her table looked gross. But she said that once she read its description, she was moved to wonder and even worship towards God. Her image was of a flatworm called a planarian.
Planarians are simple yet remarkable creatures who can regrow and regenerate lost or damaged parts, thanks to a special group of stem cells. Scientists hope to better understand how their stem cells do this to help regenerative medicine for people.
Another attendee, a student, asked to take one of the images home to show his parents because he thought it was cool!
It was encouraging to hear responses like these. Just maybe our event did help stimulate some level of curiosity and wonder about science, all within the context of prayer. That was the goal, to facilitate a prayerful encounter with God in a way that was wonder-inducing and awe-inspiring. We were also encouraged by the number of attendees that attended our event, about 50+ students — we ended up running out of chairs and having to get more to accommodate everyone!
I have plans to lead more VISCIO DIVINA prayer events and to create resources so others can lead events too in their churches or on their college campuses. My hope is to help others encounter God through the beauty and gift of science.
Other plans I have are to explore how we might prayerfully approach God with the harder truths science data reveals and communicates. Science data isn't always rainbows and butterflies. It doesn't always make us want to move from wonder or worship. Consider the beautiful images of deadly viruses, or the simple beauty of climate stripes that reveals the progressive heating of our planet due to climate change.
I want to make sure VISCIO DIVINA does not sugarcoat what science is, and using science data and art captures the full gamut of what prayer is, from lament to gratitude and worship.
If you are interested in learning more about VISCIO DIVINA or if you'd like me to lead one for your church or event. Sign-up for my worship collective's newsletter to stay up to date on our resource development.
Ciara Reyes-Ton is a scientist, writer, editor, educator, and singer-songwriter. She's worked extensively in science communication, as a writer and serving as editor for "BioLogos," the American Scientific Affiliation's "God and Nature Magazine," and "Peaceful Science." She is the founder of the Mount Carmell Worship Collective, a collaborative of creatives, artists, scholars and scientists exploring the intersection of faith, science, and the arts. She also serves as President of the Science Communicators of Faith, an affiliate group through the ASA, and teaches at Lipscomb University. She has a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Michigan.
