dekhomai

celtic prayer

the second new postcard written by tess ward who will also be leading a celtic meditation in the meditation room on weds at 2pm. the text of the postcard is here

How to pray for Riches...

... some more interesting resources from Bruce Stanley via ReJesus, five "How to pray" sheets...

• How to Pray
• How to Pray for Riches
• How to Pray for Direction
• How to Pray for Wholeness

Technorati Tags: Media, Prayer, Spirituality, Worship

Ignatian meditation

This is the Ignatian meditation that I led in the meditation room on Saturday.

An explanation: There are lots of different traditions and styles of meditation, so first, an explanation of what will happen in this session. This will be a guided meditation based on one of the spiritual exercises of St Ignatius, 16th century saint. Ignatius taught that the key to a healthy spirituality was twofold: Find God in all things and constantly work to gain freedom to cooperate with God’s will. When I use the word God, I don’t mean it as an exclusive term. The word will mean different things to different people, so it’s about God as you understand God.

The exercise we are going to do is the examen. It is a way of connecting with the presence of God in our lives and discerning the direction in which we should go. The simplest form of the examen consists in asking two questions:

    For what moment today am I most grateful?
    For what moment today am I least grateful?

These questions help us identify moments of consolation – that for which we are most grateful – and desolation – that for which we are least grateful. Ignatius expected that God would speak to us through these moments of deepest feelings and yearnings. We should aim to do more of what brings us consolation, and to listen to and respond to what brings us desolation. Done regularly over a period of time, the examen can guide our lives and help us to make wise choices. So this is not the type of meditation where you try to empty your mind. But neither is it an intellectual exercise where we are striving with our minds to overanalyse. We need to listen to our hearts and expect God to bring to our attention the things we need to respond to.

As theme of these meditations is unity, I’ll invite you to reflect on 'when did I feel most unity, most connection to God, to myself, to others? When did I feel most disharmony, least connection to God, to myself, to others?'

The meditation
Make yourselves comfortable – back supported, feet flat on the floor, hands loosely in your lap, eyes closed. Become aware of your breathing –deep breaths that gradually become more relaxed.
Breathe in peace; Breathe out tension
Breathe in love; Breathe out hate
Breathe in acceptance; Breathe out separation
Breathe in forgiveness; Breathe out blame
Breathe in life; Breathe out death
Breathe in trust; Breathe out anxiety

Remember that you are in the presence of God.
“In [God] we live and move and have our being.”
We are always in the presence of God, but at times like these we place ourselves in God’s presence in an especially attentive way. God your Creator knows and loves you in the deepest way possible. God is here.

Look at your day with gratitude.
Give thanks for the gifts of this day. Simple things – smell of fresh coffee; a good night’s sleep; a smile from a stranger. Every single event has been God’s gift to you.

Ask God to help you in this examen, to be present with you as you reflect on this day, to shine God’s light on your interior world. Not over analysis – but listening to our hearts as the Spirit of God sheds light on what we need to respond to.

Review your day.
Think back over how you have spent today – where you have been, who you have interacted with, what you have done - notice the details, the context of what happened and how you acted. Notice especially your interior motives and feelings, those things that cause you to act in freedom, or with less than perfect freedom,

First question of examen:
In what moment today, did I feel most unity - most connection to God, to myself, to others?

Stay with that moment, giving thanks for it, recognising God’s presence with you.

What was it that made it so special?
What might God be saying to you through that moment?
How can you make space for more of this in your life?
What opportunity does this moment give you to grow in faith, in love and in hope?

Second question of the examen
In what moment today did I feel most disharmony,  - or least connection to God, to myself, to others?

Stay with that moment, although it may not be comfortable. Recognise God’s presence with you in that moment.

What was it that made it difficult?
What might God be saying to you through that moment?
How do you need to respond to that moment?
What opportunity does this moment give you to grow in faith, in love and in hope?

Final step in the examen is to reconcile and resolve.
•    If you are a person who prays, you might like to talk to God about what you have just received, to ask for God’s help in responding.
•    You might find it helpful to imagine Jesus beside you as a trusted friend, as you talk about your day.
•    Otherwise you might like to hold these insights before the universe, to treasure them and to learn from them.

And then to finish with gratitude – God we thank you for what has been, for what is, and for what will be.

dekhomai postcards

on this year's stand we will be offering a number of spiritual exercises. lots of people are unsure how to pray and meditate. the wonderful thing about the christian tradition is that there is a treasure chest full of things people have used down the centuries as aids to prayer and meditation. we are giving away 5 postcards related to these exercises. i have added them as a gallery with the accompanying text under each image. hope you like them.  come and visit us to try them out, make a dekhomai prayer cord, and collect your free set of cards.

the 5 cards are

prayer beads

the examen

blessings

labyrinth

forgiveness

everyday monastery

Last week I went to Burford Priory on a retreat for the first time ever. Burford is a Benedictine monastery where guests are invited to join the community for their services and meals eaten in silence. It is a beautiful place and I found it challenging to spend four days hardly talking to anyone. Coming back home I have wondered how I can maintain some of the rhythm of prayer that I found so helpful. I realised that I had got into really bad patterns of work - submitting to the tyranny of email and allowing myself to be easily distracted. Since I got back I have found it helpful to light a candle to define my working space - when I look at the flame it reminds me to focus! And I've tried praying at the beginning, middle and end of each day. Today I'm using this prayer adapted from one by David Adam

Father
in the awareness of your presence
beneath the shadow of your wings
in the closeness of your love
may I work and abide

Jesus
in the fellowship of your saints
in the communion of the faithful
in the church called to mission
may I work and abide

Spirit
in the power of your love
in the fulness of your gifts
in the guidance of your wisdom
may I work and abide

de Burgh's healing hands

Chris de Burgh has healing hands, as he told the Heaven and Earth Show last weekend...

He explained that he had a "spiritual side" and was "convinced we're surrounded by a strong force" which could be contacted through prayer. "Where people are desperate, I believe there is all-encompassing strength that we can find," De Burgh added.

I love these glimpses into what people that we think we know, or in the public eye, believe. It's a fascinating insight into a side of life that too often is reduced to simplicities or caricatures by the media, and especially when labeling, condemning or distancing ourselves from them.

Ma-ra-na-tha

Maranatha is an ancient Aramaic word that means 'Come Lord'. It is used as a mantra in mediation as it can easily be divided into four equal syllables: Ma-ra-na-tha. The idea is that you find a comfortable place, close your eyes, sit still, breathe deeply and begin to repeat the word over and over again as a mantra. It was used in ancient Christian meditation and has been rediscovered recently by the World Community of Christian Meditation.

I wondering what other words can be used as mantras? It's often helpful to have a word that is in another language as then you have no associations with that word already. I thought of possibly using the word 'Ephphatha' which means 'be opened' - it can, again, be broken down as: Eph-ph-ha-tha. Jesus used this word when he opened the ears of the deaf man but i think that we can use it as a mantra to open our soul to the spirit of God. What other words can you think of that could be used as mantras?

Technorati Tags: spirituality

walking into the light

  walking into the light 
  Originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

what is a step of faith? at the weekend i visited the bridge , an art installation by michael cross at dilston grove in bermondsey. the artist has constructed a pool inside the old chapel and designed a series of steps so that visitors can walk on water. the water has been blackened with dye so it looks pretty mysterious. when you stand on the first step the weight of your body as you lean forward causes the next to appear. it's quite a slow process, designed to be meditative. it's actually a prototype. michael is honing the concept hoping to perfect it such that he could install it on a lake. for the time being though he walks alongside the walker making sure everything works. it was a fabulous setting for it. if the steps had disappeared behind that would have been fabulous, and it would have been good to be unaccompanied (though i confess my legs were quite shaky at first). but it is a prototype. i hope to see a final version on a lake one day. it's well worth a visit, especially if you have a secret desire to walk on water.

i was praying yesterday about whteher to take a decision or not and the experience of the bridge came back to me. i could picture standing on one step waiting for the next to appear, but unless you take that initial step the next one won't become clear. i guess that's what a step of faith is all about. anyway having prayed i decided to take the decision...

dear god...

In the vein of Jonny's recent post from the Bill Viola exhibition, someone sent me this recently.

It certainly made me smile - and wonder.

What would I write now? What did I write - or think - as a child? Does God know everything about me, what I think, what I'm like, where I'm at? Does this make out that God is a bit like Santa - 'making his list, checking it twice'? 'He knows when we've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake'? Although it's comforting to think that petitions like these are heard, what do we make of the times when we ask for something and God seems resolutely silent in response?

Jesus Christ, whom some call the son of God, born into a poor family in first century Palestine, said:

"I'm telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you're not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God's kingdom." (Book of Matthew, chapter 18, The Bible)

He seemed to have a lot of time for children, once telling people not to prevent them from approaching him, by saying:

"Let the children alone, don't prevent them from coming to me. God's kingdom is made up of people like these." (Book of Matthew, chapter 19, The Bible)

His concern seems to be, as Robert Farrah Capon puts it, with the last, the least, the lost, the little and the dead (what we might think of as the elderly, the children, the sick, the thrown away, the forgotten, the dirty, the marginalised, and more) - in short, those that his culture shunned.

If so, maybe these kids haven't got it so wrong after all?...

a prayer

i took a photo of this prayer at the current bill viola exhibition in london. this was in a room of notes on his work and is clearly a prayer that caught his imagination. if you've not come across bill viola he is a video installation artist. his work often references spiritual themes. this show certainly does. the piece purification is stunning. i've blogged about it elsewhere... this prayer reminded me of part of patrick's breastplate

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.