Centering Prayer

Centering Prayer meets every weekday at 5pm in the Pastor’s office. Centering Prayer is, first of all, a practice. Not in the sense of “practice of medicine” or “practice of law,” which assumes some rigorous training and years of experience. Think instead of the 9-year-old who, on hearing fiddle music regularly, says, “I love that,” and begs the parent for a fiddle and lessons. Practice at first seems only to highlight how far away a fiddle in hand is from that beloved CD. But, if the person persists, practice itself becomes a consolation: a companion when he breaks his leg and can’t play in the soccer game; a focus when her friends go to the movies and forget to invite her.

If that were all Centering Prayer is, it would be nice, but we would probably grow up, put the fiddle in the closet, and forget it. Anthony de Mello, in “Wellsprings: a Book of Spiritual Exercises” offers this word, which comes as close as anything to describing why we persist: “seek this disposition: that you embark upon the (practice) not for yourself alone, but for the welfare of creation, of which you are a part, and that any transformation you experience will redound to the benefit of the world.”

And so we meet weekdays at 5 in the Pastor’s office. We gather, we listen to one another, we are drawn into silence by a reading and ringing of the singing bowl, and we sit in silence in the presence of God for 20 minutes, more or less. This is your invitation to join us, to come away from the busyness of life to a quiet place to pray. If you are interested in reading about Centering Prayer a good book is “Open Mind, Open Heart,” by Thomas Keating. There are copies at the church, so see Pastor Cindy if you would like to borrow one.