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Spiritual Practices |
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20-minute Sabbaths
The following spiritual practices were presented at APCE 2008 workshops by Tammy Wiens and Meg Rift. Many of the ideas presented here are discussed in fuller detail in "Lord, Teach Us To Pray." (To order call Presbyterian Distribution Services at (800) 524-2612 and ask for #70-440-04-001. The cost is $12.50 plus shipping and handling.)
The workshops encouraged and supported "Sabbath-breakers" who desire to become "Sabbath-makers." Making time for Sabbath runs counter to our cultural obsession with achievement because achievement is usually measured by how much we are doing. Sabbath does not fall neatly into the “doing” category.
Sabbath, by its very nature, is the antithesis of doing and achieving. This creates a dilemma that results in most of us feeling guiltier about making Sabbath than we do about breaking Sabbath. We live in the tension of wanting and needing Sabbath, but are afraid to let on that we actually have time in our schedules for it. What will it take for you and me to stand by our conviction and unapologetically make time for Sabbath? These ideas for 20-minute Sabbaths are intended as tools that help us bring little chunks of the Sabbath day into every day of the week. We are envisioning Sabbath-making as a way of life. We are talking about “Sabbath” as a quality of time, not a quantity of time.
To observe Sabbath is to keep constantly before us our dependence on God who creates, sustains, and provides. Use some of the ideas suggested here for 20 minutes each day in which you intentionally rest from your efforts to provide for yourself, in order to devote your attention to God as your sole provider.
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Centering
Prayer
Centering Prayer is a contemporary spiritual practice
that finds its roots in the millennia-old discipline of lectio
divina. In this form of contemplative prayer, one lives out
the desire to be in God's presence simply by resting in that
presence, without need for dialogue or action. Instead, a single
word directs the intention toward intimacy with the divine.
As formulated by Thomas Keating, one of the originators of the
method and now its leading teacher, the practice of Centering
Prayer can be summed up as follows:
- Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to
consent to God's presence and action within.
- Sitting comfortably, and with eyes closed, settle briefly;
and silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your
consent to God's presence and action within.
- When engaged with your thoughts, return ever-so-gently
to the sacred word.
- At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with
eyes closed for several minutes.
Taken from Open Mind Open Heart: The Contemplative
Dimension of the Gospel. NY: Continuum, 1992: 139.)
For more information see Hungryhearts
Summer/Fall 2001 — 
This file is in printable Adobe Acrobat format and requires
the free Acrobat Reader. For best results, right-click the link
(or click and hold for Macintosh), select "save target
as" and save the document to your desktop for viewing and
printing.
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The
Jesus Prayer
"The Jesus Prayer" refers to a short
prayer , the words of which are: 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of
God, have mercy on me, a sinner,' constantly repeated. The Jesus
Prayer is known to innumerable Orthodox and many other Christians
as a form of devotion that can be used at any moment, whatever
the situation. The main emphasis is on the repetition of the
prayer; it can be said while sitting, walking, or working, silently
or aloud.
" More than any other prayer, the Jesus Prayer aims at
bringing us to stand in God's presence with no other thought
but the miracle of our standing there and God with us, because
in the use of the Jesus Prayer there is nothing and no one except
God and us."
Adapted from "The Jesus Prayer"
by Metropolitan Anthony Bloom
[ read more about the Jesus
Prayer ]
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Lectio
Divina (Prayerful Reading)
Lectio divina is an
ancient method for praying with the Bible, being open to hearing
in the words of Scripture a personally enlivening and transforming
word from God. Begin by choosing a brief passage of Scripture,
and a place where you can be quiet and undisturbed in your prayer
time. After you have taken a few minutes to quiet your mind,
turn your attention to the passage you have selected.
- Read a short passage of text that you have decided upon
in advance. Read slowly, letting your awareness rest in turn
upon each word, savoring it. As you read, be alert for any
particular word or phrase that draws your attention in a special
way.
- Meditate on this word or phrase, allowing it to engage
you fully. Does the word upon which you are meditating connect
with some aspect of your own experience? As you hold this
word or phrase in your heart, let yourself become aware of
any answering words, images, or memories that arise in you.
- Respond to the Word you have heard, simply and directly.
Your heart may call out in thanks, or praise, or joy. If the
Word has been painful, your response might be one of remorse,
or anger, or supplication.
- Rest in God's presence, content simply to be with God.
A newly designed bookmarker on the practice of sacred reading
(lectio divina) is now available for 25¢ through Presbyterian
Distribution Services. Call PDS at (800) 524-2612 or go to the
Marketplace for PDS #7044003005.
Nuevo marcador de libro con un metodo antiguo de oracion Lectio
Divina; en Español o Inglés. Producido por la
Oficina de Formación Espiritual, este marcador de libro
lo puede adquirir por medio de la Disbribuidora de Servicios
Presbiterianos llamando al: (800) 524-2612. Pedir item: #70440-03-006.
El costo es de $0.25 más gastos de envío.
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Items marked with  are
in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. For best results, right-click the link (or click
and hold for Macintosh), select "save target as" and save the document to your
desktop for viewing and printing.
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