Contemplative Prayer - offered every Wednesday morning
Contemplative Prayer
By Susi Kawolics
As a minister, I often hear from people “I just don’t know how to pray” or “I just don’t know what words to use in prayer.” Most of us have a heart-felt desire to communicate with God, and to get it right. Ultimately, however, there is no “right” way to pray – and no matter what words we wrap around our prayers, the truth is that God already knows what is in our hearts, sometimes even better than we ourselves do.
One form of prayer that acknowledges this and honors it is contemplative prayer. Contemplative prayer is meditative, and involves not speaking, in fact, not even thinking about what we want to tell God. It is a practice which leads us into a quiet place of clearing our minds, and filling ourselves with God’s presence.
We have a group that meets weekly to engage in this practice. You will find us gathered together every Wednesday morning at 7:30 AM in the Hearth Room at the Family Life Center (We gather at the Labyrinth when weather permits). We begin our time with a brief period of inviting each person to give a short “check-in”, and then we hear a Psalm before entering into 20 minutes of silent prayer. This prayerful silent time is, as Thomas Keating writes, “Pure gift of God. It is the opening of mind and heart – our whole being – to God, the ultimate mystery . . . Through grace we open our awareness to God whom we know by faith is within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking.” This kind of prayer does not replace other kinds of prayer, but rather it illuminates and deepens their meaning. It is a movement beyond conversation with God to communion with God.
After prayer, we spend time in the practice of Lectio Divina, where we hear a scripture that will be used in the up-coming Sunday worship service, and we share how this passage touches our lives and speaks to us this day. Our whole morning session lasts about one hour, and people come just for prayer time, or for both prayer and lectio.
This group is ecumenical, and all are invited to come on any Wednesday morning. Whether or not you have ever practiced this way of praying, please feel free to join us. If you have any questions, or would like more information, please contact me at the church or email:
. Also, if you are interested in finding out more about contemplative prayer, you can visit the website for the Contemplative Outreach of Northeast Ohio:
http://coneo.org .