The Ministry of Contemplative Prayer is a way to deepen our relationship with God through prayer and scripture, and a support group for our individual journeys with Christ. It is for those who hunger for a closer walk with God.

Small Group Experience: We discuss the method of Centering Prayer, give ourselves a 20 minute experience with Centering prayer, share our experience, and then turn to the scriptures and what they say to our life today.

Individual Experience: We encourage you to make contemplative prayer and "sitting" with the word of God a part of your daily routine. On our own, we set aside 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon for prayer.

Ministry of First Lutheran: Open to all people of our community, we encourage you to continue your prayer life in the Eucharist, in service to your neighbor, your world, the earth. As we grow in faith, we grow in relationship to God and to one another.

Our Informal Meetings: Each is about an hour in length. We begin by describing the contemplative prayer life:

• Discussing what Centering Prayer is and is not: the Biblical and historical heritage of contemplative prayer;
• Understanding our "false" self, its interference in prayer;
• Choosing a centering word;
• Experiencing being in silence with God; and
• Letting go and letting God
  

Then we take 20 minutes to enter into the silence with God. We support one another in taking this important time to meditate and be still with God. If anyone would like to share, we take time to let them talk about their experience with silence.

After sharing, we take a piece of scripture and "sit" with it: we read the text three times, and after each reading we ask one of three questions:

• What word or phrase do you think God is lifting up for you as you heard this text.
• What do you think God is saying to you in this text?
• What do you think God is saying to this community, our church, or our world in this text?

We conclude with the praying of the Lord's Prayer.

Watch the newsletter for meeting times: You are invited to bring your questions and your experiences that you would like to share. You may come for all of the sessions, or when ever you are able. Or just come and try it out once to see if this is how God would like to deepen his relationship with you.

What is Contemplative Prayer? Usually, our prayer life is one of making petitions to God. We bring before God our concerns for others and ourselves, our thanks and praise of God, and what ever may be a part of our conversation with God. God bids us to talk to him and this is very important.

But the scriptures also bid us to come and be silent with God. According to Thomas Keating, "Contemplative prayer is the opening of mind and heart, our whole being, to God, the Ultimate Mystery, beyond thoughts, words and emotions. We open our awareness to God whom we know by faith is within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than choosing, closer than consciousness."

It is simply putting aside our "pictures" and thoughts of God and letting God shape us. It is to experience the Baptismal gift of Christ's dying and rising in us. It is to experience that Paul describes: "It is no longer I who live but it is Christ who lives in me." Gal. 2:20.

The Method of Centering Prayer: Centering prayer is putting aside my thoughts and letting God be first in this moment.

Keating states that "Centering prayer is a method designated to facilitate the development of contemplative prayer by preparing our faculties for cooperate with this gift. It is not a replacement for other kinds of prayer; it simply puts other kinds of prayer into a new and fuller perspective. During the time of prayer we consent to God's presence and action within. At other times our attention moves outward to discover God's presence everywhere."

Four Steps of Centering Prayer

1. Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God's presence and action within. We ask the Holy Spirit to inspire us with one that is especially suitable to us. Examples: Lord, Jesus, Father, Mother, Holy Spirit, peace, love, or mercy. Or brief phrases: Be Still, Open Me, Come Lord.
2. 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. We let go of what is going on around us and within us. Set a timer for 20 - 30 minutes.
3. When you become aware of thoughts, return ever-so-gently to the sacred word. Thoughts are natural and they will often flood into the silence to "take over" and push God out. Use the sacred word to let these thoughts go and return you to the silence.
4. At the end of prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes. Pray the Lord's Prayer.

The Biblical background of Contemporary Prayer:
Psalm 46 "Be Still and Know that I am God."
Deut. 27 "Be silent, O Israel, and listen."
Zephaniah 1:7 "Be silent before he Lord almighty. For this is the day of the Lord."
Job: God calls on Job to be still and to listen if he is to know what God is doing.
Jesus goes off by himself to be with God.
Matt. 6: Jesus says about prayer: "Go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you."
Jesus tells us: Deny yourself, take up the cross, and follow me. Denying ourselves can be this closing down our voice and letting God enter into our life.