Spirited Centering Prayer

Spirited Centering Prayer: A Communal Practice of Being Still

The principal method of centering prayer, really, is to sit down.”

Fr. Thomas Keating

Pausing and being still enough to notice love within and around is a
deeply powerful and countercultural act … stillness is a prophetic act …
It challenges the notion that it is better to be busy and occupied.
It refuses the call to be constantly distracted and perpetually plugged in.

–Charles Lattimore Howard, Pond River Ocean Rain 

Centering Prayer is founded on the basic goodness of human nature and is a way of cultivating union with God through silence and surrender. It is said that one may or may not “feel” the presence of God during centering prayer but, with repeated practice, one grows into a deeper sense of God’s abiding presence in all places and at all times.

Regular participants at our weekly prayer practice attest to this, as well as to the value of communal silence. Join us to deepen your own prayer journey.

• WHEN: Mondays at Noon (Arizona time), for 30 minutes
• HOW: We gather and briefly greet one another, share a meditation or teaching, sink into silence with a centering song, sit still together, then are sent with a benediction back into the world with renewed purpose and love. 

We must find sources of strength and renewal for our own spirits,
lest we perish …
we must learn to be quiet, to settle down in one spot for a spell.
Sometime during each day, everything should stop
and the art of being still must be practiced.

–Howard Thurman

Stillness, I should add, is not for me the same as emptiness.
When I am still I do not empty myself.
I would rather be filled with love than have nothing within.
And being still allows for this to happen, or rather,
being still allows for you and me to notice that this has happened already.
The love is there within us, even now.

–Charles Lattimore Howard, Pond River Ocean Rain 

The Centering Method

We occasionally review the four guidelines of Centering Prayer on Mondays, but if you are new to Centering Prayer, here is the “method” as taught by Thomas Keating: The Method of Centering Prayer – Part 1, with Thomas Keating (youtube.com)

1. Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God’s presence and action within.
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.
3. When engaged with your thoughts, return ever-so-gently to the sacred word.
4. At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes.

Facilitator

Sheri Brown is a retired special education teacher, news reporter, and video producer who has written liturgy, prayers, poems, and reflections on scripture for 15 years. She facilitates faith adventures through Spirit in the Desert and various congregations, often with a strong emphasis on climate justice. She also participates in a number of book groups and facilitates Spirited Book Club discussions. Sheri and spouse, ELCA pastor Kirk Anderson (retired), are currently on interim assignment in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Read more about Sheri Brown.

Resources

• Free Online Meditation Timer (meditation-timer.com)