Centering Prayer, Severely Messed With
A couple of people have asked about how I/we use centering prayer, so I thought I’d write about it here a bit. The centering prayer guru, as far as I can tell, is M. Basil Pennington. He has a simple, thin book with instruction on centering prayer and lectio devina entitled An Invitation to Centering Prayer. (And now a pitch for a new friend…you can order it from beanbooks.com for 25-30% below list price. ISBN #07648072X, Liguori Publications) There’s also another book on contemplative practices which I’ve found helpful. It’s directed at youth, and too “I’m soooo postmodern” in its layout” (if you ask me), but it’s simple and you don’t have to wade through a bunch of theory to get to the practical bits — which, as a tri-vocational person, I really appreciate. It’s called Soul Shaper by Tony Jones (ISBN 031025101X, Youth Specialties)
The basics presupposition of centering prayer is that you aren’t asking for anything. In this sort of prayer, you aren’t going to God for instructions, marching orders, a good rotor rootering of the soul or anything of the sort. You are just setting aside some time to be present to God. Now, when you are present to God, sometimes some of that stuff happens. But in my experience, it’s not usually that direct. That stuff happens later, because I’ve been present to God. But during centering prayer, I just get to be with God, which is so very counter to the evangelical culture, as I’ve experienced, that this form of prayer seems completely nutso.
I love it.
So, the basic practice of centering prayer is:
1) Get in a distraction free place.
2) Choose a phrase to focus your thoughts. I think Pennington calls this a “love word.” (I know, it kind of gives me the heebie jeebies too.) Some people use the Jesus Prayer. Jesus Christ, Son of God; have mercy on me, a sinner. Personally, I find that one too shame inducing. It comes with too much baggage for me. I usually go with Jesus Christ, son of God, Savior. This is something I can do on the breath, saying the first part of the phrase on the inhale, breathing out on “Savior.” (I’m a yoga wannabe). Or sometimes I use the song off the CD “Hungry,” Jesus, be the center. Whatever works for you, really.
3) Spend 20 minutes focusing your thoughts on that phrase and being present to God.
That’s it.
Now, I mess with that. A lot. Basil would probably shake his head and cluck at me. Nevertheless, here are some Variations on a Theme:
Eugene Peterson Told me To
I once took a course on prayer with Eugene Peterson. When he came to our small group, I told him that I thought my prayers were just worrying in front of God. (I had read something by Richard Foster which indicated this was a no-no so I was….worried.) Eugene’s face did this wonderful thing where all of his skin instantaneously gathers upwards towards his temples in an all encompassing smile. Then he said, “Worrying in front of God. I like that. Well, that’s just fine. Just. Fine. But one thing you can also do is ask what the Trinity is already doing for the people you are worrying over. Ask what the three of them are cooking up and see if you can get in on it.” That is a big phrase for Eugene “get in on it.” He’s always encouraging us to pay attention to stories, ours and God’s, and make sure we’re aware of how we’re in on it. Anyway, he suggested I get an icon, Rublev’s , of the Trinity sitting around a table to help me visualize that already on-going conversation of God regarding all those I’m pray-worrying over. So I did.
At first I used it to focus my intercessory prayer. But now I use it more for centering prayer. When my world seems scattered and my options seem either too many or too few, I think of the Trinity sitting around a table. Not the table in Rublov’s icon, but my table, the table ThPm gathers around, cluttered with bread crumbs and half drunken glasses, and I listen in. What are they up to? What are they already doing? Then my prayer becomes not, “What should I do Lord?” But, “Show me what the Father is doing.” These are the words of Jesus. “I am about my Father’s business. I do what the Father is doing.” To me this is less about me doing, and more about me being centered on what he’s doing. I can’t tell you how freeing this shift in perspective has been. It’s less onerous, less burdensome, and less egocentric. It’s not my job to save people. It’s not my job to find the solution. It’s not my job to transform things. I get to live in the kingdom come. I get to get in on what the Father is doing. I get to come along. There’s a difference. It’s subtle, but at the same time, it’s huge. Centering prayer helped me make that shift. I dig it. A lot.
Making a Pet of the Anti-Conformity Bunny (a.k.a. Living with Artists)
I don’t know if it’s because I live with artists, or if it’s a post modern thing, or what, but my crew and I, we don’t live by words alone. In fact, words (unless they come in story, song, or poetry) are way way down on the list. Some of my friends, Josh and Tonya, made me this beautiful collage a while back. In the middle of it there is a torn fragment of a sentence from a glossy magazine which says, “You have to use art to preach.” We are all about that. We believe that the post modern world intuits truth through art. We communicate a lot through art. So it makes sense that our prayers need to come through art. Those of us who have found ourselves, unexpectedly and unintentionally, in the postmodern stream have discovered that certain things are dead to us. The sermon for instance. It’s gone. Learning through lecture is pretty much lost to us. Much like Latin was once a part of every school boy’s lesson but is now a quaint memory for most; learning primarily through instructional words is slipping past our time. The same thing is happening to our traditional evangelical form of prayer. We’ve lost lecture as a form of learning; we’re beginning to lose the traditional “prayer request” form of prayer as the primary form prayer.
Nobody panic! That doesn’t me we don’t pray, or don’t value prayer. It’s just that we are recognizing that we have a different prayer language. Conversation for one. Music for another. Movement. Breath. And of course, Art. So, we’ve started experimenting with combining art and prayer. One way I’m trying to do this is to combing things like centering prayer and lectio devina with different communication forms. So, instead of just having people “pray out” what has come to them during these meditative times, we give people the materials they need to “pray” in other languages. Watercolors and paper for painting; magazines and glue sticks for making collages; notepads and a box of pens for writing notes or poems or essays. Then, when we need to pray for someone, we start with a time of meditation. We ask God to show us what he’s doing. We ask to get in on it. We look to the already started, ever ongoing action of the Trinity. Then, if he shows us something, we write it/paint it/sketch it/ form it. And in the very act of doing so we pray it.
(BTW, There’s a lot of power in doing that. In a pastor, or leader, or cultivator or whatever, saying to an artists or pomo or outlier — when you do that, I value it as prayer, or worship, or service. So much healing comes in saying, that counts. Please do that some more. We need that.)
Now to be honest, I’m not sure how this is working. I keep trying to put music behind the meditation time, because I’m not sure how comfortable people are with silence. But so many of my people are musicians, so I think it might be too distracting. Also, I think it takes longer to form prayer with pictures than with words. So when you are working with other art forms, you need to give them more time. So this form of art + meditation has worked best when we’ve given our whole night over to it, as opposed to just 10-15 minutes. Also, I think it’s good to have the option to pray straight-up with words at some point in the process as well, because many people still communicate that way, and powerful things still happen that way too. We’re still playing with the mix.
Out of the Mouth of Babes
Okay, one last thing. One of the things I’ve been thinking a lot about lately is the fact that I don’t want to indoctrinate my kids. I want them to discover their faith, not go through the motions of acting out mine. The thing is, I’m not sure how to do that. So I figure one good way to start (maybe?) is to give them lots of options. So, we pray with them in lots of different ways. Our housemate does a lot of healing prayer with them. (She’s a healer, so it makes sense to them. Catie is especially fond of this and has a lot of faith in it.) Eden likes to lead public prayers, especially at the dinner table. They both love to sing prayers. (By the way, the both think U2 is worship music. How cool is that?) I think fostering gratitude is very important, so nighttime prayers involve a lot of thanking God for things, like Barbies and Barbie cars and Barbie clothes. And I’m teaching both of them how to do centering prayer.
The way I do this is that I sit with them, usually in the morning during “morning cuddle time” and I ask them to hold my hands. I ask them to close their eyes. Then we take a deep breath in and a deep breath out. Then I ask them a simple question like, “Ask Jesus to show you what he is doing today.’ Or, “Ask God to show you what he looks like today.” I love the answers they give me. Between the girls and the Sunday school class I teach at “the big church” once a month I’ve gotten:
“I see Jesus making everyone’s heart”
“I see Jesus building a castle.”
“I see Jesus finding dice and giving them to people so they can play games.”
“I see Jesus helping the butterflies find food.”
If that last one’s not an expression of love, I don’t know what is. What a perfect way for an omnipotent God to express to one tiny three year old how much he loves small things.
And now, for an abrupt ending. …. So there are some ideas for you, for what they are worth. Let me know if you have more questions. I like talking about this stuff, as this long long post should attest. I’d dig hearing your ideas and experiments as well. Have fun on the journey!
Thanks, Rachelle. That’s awesome stuff. THe small group I lead is working through Renovare’s Spiritual Formation Handbook, and tonight’s topic is the charismatic tradition. All of us in the group are pretty strongly trained that way, so the material doesn’t seem quite on target for us.
I think we’ll do centering prayer tonight.
Centering prayer, to me, just seems like a more generic version of meditating on God, or the scripture; both of which are biblical. I suppose I’d rather have a scripture repeating in my mind than a self-made mantra. That may sound harsh. I didn’t mean for it to be - please receive in the spirit given.
I do agree that humans focus too much on the Self, whether it be on our own problems and issues, begging for God to show us the way, pleading for God to take the thorns out of our lives, etc. Either way, those prayers are all focused on self. Not good.
I could go on about how the expression of music, for me, is a form of prayer/worship, which makes me relate to your Bunny topic - but I won’t. I haven’t even met you yet, and some things must be discovered through experience.
When I pray, I love to close my eyes and recline comfortably, and wait for an indicator from the Holy Spirit that I am ready to receive Him. Then I listen with my heart. I often visualize the saint or angel I am speaking to. I make sure I am not in fact conversing with the devil by inquiring as to the spirit’s motives. Sometimes I speak with Jesus Himself.
This never fails me. I always receive the answer I need to hear. Sometimes it is not what I want to hear, but it is what I need to hear.
I use this when I’m upset, and it always calms me. When I have a resentment or an issue with anyone, praying like this clears the resentment and makes way for love.
Using this direct form of communication is also helpful to me when I pray for others. I first ask God what it is I ought to pray for, and how I should pray for a person, and wait to hear the answer.
I became rather addicted to this form of prayer while unemployed, and spent hours every week in meditation. Oddly enough, I am currently being courted for a “dream job” — one I didn’t even seek out. I was sought! My sister believes it was all that praying. Who knows?
Very timely… thanks.
Damn girl! It’s gonna take me weeks to get through this…. good, good, good writing…
you don’t know me, but your post was recommended to me by another blogger. you’re an exceptional writer. i love your thoughts. sober, simple and yet profound.
the more i follow God, the more He teaches me, and the more i become ‘immersed’ in the PM culture and the culture-at-large, the more i am convinced that the human condition does not change/has not changed, only our responses to it. ‘culture’ changes (haven’t we moved into Post-PM?), environments change, fads come and go, but the human heart remains consistently in need of God. St. Augustine said it best. “You have made us for Yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.”
i’ve heard it said that evangelism is basically saying ‘Jesus loves You’ over and over and over again in many, many different ways. please keep writing. i really like the way you say it.
Hi Rachelle,
Thanks so much for this post… Your bit about “living with artists” was really freeing for me, as I’ve recently taken up art as prayer because I wasn’t able to do the centering kind anymore (long story). It was really nice to find that other people do too - I don’t know, my inner schoolgirl likes to feel legitimized sometimes.
You rock! Thanks a bunch. I agree with the above post: I love the way you put things.
A great mish-mash of great ideas. Thanks. It’s good to expand our thinking by hearing how other folks do things or understand things.
It’s also good that in your group times you are sensitive to the vast needs of all the different people. For instance, I have trouble with the artsy stuff. I am just not oriented that way. When someone hands me paper and crayons and asks me to draw what I’m thinking or how I feel about God (or whatever) I often think they are nuts, and usually I am at a loss and feel really stupid when others are drawing their hearts out and I have blank paper. (At least I can write my words in bright colors with my crayons!) So, providing a variety of ways to express, such as encouraging conversational prayer at the same time, would be helpful for folks like me. It’s not that we don’t need help expanding that side of our minds–maybe we do–but we need help getting there, and a gradual mix would be more helpful (in a group setting) than an expectation to change and perform instantaneously.
I linked my way here from another blog favorite. What a great entry! Fantastic insight and great great writing. I’ll definately be back!!
thanks…thats really helpful…will use that too at some point
Thanks Rachelle! Great Stuff!
hey, y’all have been super encouraging this week. thanks for reading and posting.
r
This is good stuff!
I’m currently facilitating a discussion of Margaret Guenther’s The Practice of Prayer. Some of the pariticipants have wanted specific instruction on contemplative prayer. Being rather eccentric in my own methods, I’ve tried to explain that such prayer is more of a remembering than a learning; most children are naturally contemplative.
Some still want to be told “how.” I did recommend Pennington’s book, btw, but with your permission, I’d like to offer the group your thoughts.
I found these wonderful articles on Prayer, on Bible Study, and on Holiness by that great Anglican bishop of two centuries ago, John Charles Ryle, over at the http://www.torontochristianbooks.com site. Well, well worth reading!
Here’s the linking quote from their index page:
“We also warmly recommend these superb writings, "Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." by John Charles Ryle, "Bible Reading" by John Charles Ryle, and "A Call To Prayer" by John Charles Ryle, to our readers. You’ll find a selection of J.C. Ryle’s books below them, on the same pages. They make for some of the most profitable, edifying, encouraging and uplifting Christian books available, and are classics which have stood the test of time!”
Brannan Manning Quote.. The Signature of Jesus
Our God remains a hidden God; but in prayer we discover that we have what we seek. We start from where we are, learn what we have, and realize we are already there. We are not searching for something we do not have. Contemplative prayer is simply experiencing what we already possess. “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16).
Also…
Acknowledging the critical importance of a spirituality of devotions and its many valuable insights, contemplative spirituality tends to emphasize the need for a change in consciousness, a new way of seeing God, others, self, and the world. It is not enough that we behave better; we must come to see reality differently
For the majority of us, our prayer time is short and verbose. Too much talking and not enough listening: too much head and not enough heart. Contemplative prayer leads us in silence into the love that is at the center of our being. “We know from our human relationships how much faith we need to have in a person in order to be silent with them. We know that our faith in a person is deepened by such silence. This too is the dynamic of our silence in prayer— realizing God’s love for us expressed in the love of Jesus, deepening our faith in his love.”
More Manning
On the journey from belief to experience, it takes more effort to be still than to run. Most of us live such a frenetic lifestyle that we are afraid of stillness, silence, and solitude. Years ago, Anne Morrow Lindbergh wrote: “As far as the search for silence and solitude is concerned, we live in a negative atmosphere, as invisible, as all pervasive and as enervating as high humidity in an August afternoon. The world does not understand today in either man or woman, the need to be alone. How inexplicable it seems! Anything else will be accepted as a better excuse. If one sets aside time for a business appointment, a trip to the hairdresser, a social engagement, or a shopping expedition, that time will be accepted as inviolable. But if one says, ‘I cannot come because it is my hour to be alone,’ one is considered rude, egotistical, or strange. What a commentary on our civilization, when being alone is considered suspect; when one has to apologize for it, make excuses, hide the fact that one practices solitude —like a secret vice.”
A certain existential panic can overtake us when we first face the stillness, but if we can find the courage to embrace it, we enter into the peace that is beyond all understanding. On the other hand, if we cannot recognize the value of simply being alone with God, as the beloved, without doing anything, we gouge the heart out of Christianity Beliefs become more important than faith and even small barriers create insurmountable obstacles among Christians.
A simple method of contemplative prayer (often called ‘centering prayer’ in our time and anchored in the Western Christian tradition of John Cassian and the desert fathers and not, as some think, in Eastern mysticism or New Age philosophy) has four steps:
1) Take a few minutes to relax your body and quiet your spirit. Then, in a simple act of faith be present to God dwelling in the depths of your being.
2) Choose a single, sacred word or phrase that captures something of the flavor of your intimate relationship with God. A word such as Jesus, Abba, Peace, God, or a phrase such as “Abba, I belong to you,” “Help me to live in your presence,” etc. Without moving your lips, repeat the sacred word inwardly slowly and often.
3) When distractions come, as they inevitably will (even in the most advanced prayers) simply return to listening to your sacred word. Picture yourself sitting quietly in a rowboat in the center of a placid lake. All is still and quiet. Suddenly a speedboat roars by about fifty yards on your starboard side. The ripple of its waves rocks your little rowboat violently. The ripple represents the wanderings of the mind. Again, gently return to your sacred word.
4) After a twenty-minute period of prayer, conclude with the Lord’s Prayer, a favorite psalm, or some spontaneous words of praise and thanks.
Contemporary spiritual masters recommend two twenty-minute periods of contemplative prayer each day. The ideal times are the hour before breakfast and the hour before dinner. Because of the psychosomatic unity of body, mind, and spirit, a feeling of physical hunger is helpful. It awakens the soul’s longing for God. As the psychiatrist Psichari once said, “The best preparation for prayer is a handful of dates and a glass of water,” a metaphor for a relatively empty stomach. And do not evaluate, measure, or judge your periods of contemplative prayer. In our achievement-oriented society we’ll probably begin to pray with a superficial concern for results in a futile attempt to discern if our investment of time and energy was worth it. Did it produce any luminous insight or any extraordinary experience? That kind of spiritual materialism will disappear, the ego will be purified, and self-consciousness will fade through the practice of daily prayer.
Just show up and shut up.