Centering Prayer

We will offer a Centering Prayer group in the Sanctuary on Wednesday mornings at 7 AM starting September 4 with a mix of online and in person.  Join us to learn how to do centering prayer and the historical and theological background for it. We will also discuss ways to sustain and support the practice of centering prayer. Please let us know you are interested. “Deep prayer is the laying aside of thoughts. It is the opening of mind and heart, body and feelings—our whole being—to God, the Ultimate Mystery, beyond words, thoughts, and emotions.” -Thomas Keating There are many ways to pray. We pray with words from books, with hymns and poems and scriptures. Sometimes we pray with words we make up on the spot. Prayer can be formal or conversational. Prayer can be cheerful or sad, loud and boisterous, or quiet and meditative. Prayer at its most sublime is often called “contemplation.” This type of prayer is usually silent. Saint John of the Cross wrote, “God’s first language is silence.” Father Thomas Keating expanded this idea by suggesting, “Everything else is a poor translation. In order to understand this language, we must learn to be silent and to rest in God.” Sometimes prayer is to be quiet and to listen to God. Listening not for words or ideas. But listening to the silence of God. Silence confesses that we are not able to capture God with words. Silence confesses that our speech is not the most important power in the world. Silence is a way of waiting humbly on God, inviting God to do God’s work in our lives. Silence is an ancient Christian practice. Silence can be jarring and difficult in a world filled with words, sounds, mechanical noise, and media. Silence and recollection are an intentional, radical Christian response to a world of noise and confusion. Centering Prayer is a specific approach to contemplative prayer popularized by Father Thomas Keating and practiced by Christians (and others) of various traditions. It is a practical approach to prayer that helps lead us, modern practitioners, into the silence with practical instructions. Join us – Wednesdays at 7 AM starting September 4 in the Sanctuary. All are welcome.