Centering Prayer

Centering Prayer is a prayer of consent to God’s presence and action in our lives.  It leads to the growth of our relationship with Christ from acquaintanceship to intimacy.  It provides a way of opening to the Divine Presence, opening our heart completely to Christ, and inviting the gift of contemplation, the knowledge of God impregnated with love.

The Contemplative tradition has roots deep in the history of Christian life.  From the time of the Desert Fathers into the 15th century contemplation, the fruit of reflecting on the Word of God in Scripture and the precious gift of resting in God, was the goal of Christian prayer.  Fr. Thomas Keating has made these traditions available to modern Christians through the process of Centering Prayer.

Centering Prayer is based on Scripture.  In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said:

When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.  And your Father, who sees in secret will reward you.                                                         Matthew 6:6

Centering Prayer is both a relationship with God and a method to foster that relationship.  It prepares us to receive the gift of contemplation, pure openness to God’s presence.  Its source is the Indwelling Trinity:  Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Its focus is a deepening of our relationship with the Living Christ.

At All Saint’s Episcopal Church we meet weekly in Centering Prayer to celebrate this gift of prayer and share in praying our consent to the presence and action of God in our lives.  We meet on Fridays at 1:00 to 2:00 in the afternoon.  All are welcome.  Come join us!