Centering Prayer for Pandemic

CENTERING PRAYER FOR PANDEMIC

Every Monday – Friday

An Invitation

Dear Loved Ones,

For the last four weeks at home in isolation, my soul has been anchored in trust. I have been richly blessed by participating in a Centering Prayer group facilitated by a community of spiritual directors. Every evening we gather together on Zoom and share a time of stillness and prayer. And now it is time for me to share this gift with you.

Centering Prayer has been called “the divine therapy.” And I am convinced that this ancient Christian contemplative prayer practice is a credit to the groundedness and contentment I am experiencing in these challenging times. I know that I am not alone and that through this pandemic God is inviting us to see the world and everyone in it with new eyes.

Starting this Monday, April 20th and until further notice I invite you to join me for Centering Prayer for Pandemic on Zoom every evening from 5:30-6pm/PST, Monday through Friday. You are welcome to come and join as often as you are able.

At 5:30, simply click this link and it will bring you into this contemplative circle.

The Format

5:30pm: gathering in silence (muted)
5:35pm: short reading on the practice of Centering Prayer
5:36pm: we recite together these words:

Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.

A bell is toned.
20 minutes of silence is kept.
A bell is toned.

Closing: The Lord’s Prayer (un-muted)
O Creator, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

6pm: host will end the meeting for all.

How to “do” Centering Prayer

Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God’s presence and action within. Your sacred word is not a mantra, rather it is used to help ground you in the present moment. Choose a name for God like – Abba, Jesus; or a characteristic for God like – Love, Peace, etc.
Choose a quiet place. Sit comfortably, in an upright and attentive posture. You may like to light a candle as a sacred symbol of your intention.
With closed eyes and open heart, silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your intention to be with God in faith-filled love.
Whenever you become aware of your thoughts (even good thoughts about God), return ever-so-gently to the sacred word. Do this however many times you notice your thoughts.
At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed as we say together the Lord’s prayer.

Pandemic

What if you thought of it
as the Jews consider the Sabbath—
the most sacred of times?
Cease from travel.
Cease from buying and selling.
Give up, just for now,
on trying to make the world
different than it is.
Sing. Pray. Touch only those
to whom you commit your life.
Center down.

And when your body has become still,
reach out with your heart.
Know that we are connected
in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.
(You could hardly deny it now.)
Know that our lives
are in one another’s hands.
(Surely, that has come clear.)
Do not reach out your hands.
Reach out your heart.
Reach out your words.
Reach out all the tendrils
of compassion that move, invisibly,
where we cannot touch.

Promise this world your love–
for better or for worse,
in sickness and in health,
so long as we all shall live.

–Lynn Ungar 3/11/20