A Tradition of Prayer Meditative Prayer First-Plymouth Congregational Church United Church of Christ 2000 "D" Street Lincoln, Nebraska 68502-1698 Office (402) 476-7565 Fax (402) 476-8402

From the Prayer Room
of First-Plymouth Congregational Church
Lincoln, Nebraska

A Resource for Everyone Seeking Spiritual Growth Through Prayer

Welcome

    We welcome you to First-Plymouth Church's Prayer Room. The devotional materials you will find here are provided to give you a chance to spend a few minutes in prayer and meditation. 
    The Meditative Prayer helps break through the expectation many of us has that we should be "doing something" in our prayers. Meditative prayer gives us a chance to be with God through remembering and "revisioning" without the pressure of trying to “come up with the right words” to say to God.

Meditative Prayer
Just Being with God

When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases...

--Matthew 6:7a

 

Meditative Prayer

     Sometimes prayer is so natural we do it without even realizing it. We can do it even when we feel totally isolated from God.

      John Ackerman, in Spiritual Awakening, tells of a man recovering from alcoholism in a hospital. During the night, he was delirious. He heard someone yelling out for God. Loudly. Insistently. This agitated him because he didn’t believe there was a God. When he regained his senses, he asked the nurse who had been crying out to God all night long.

      “It was you,” she answered.

      Other times, prayer is almost impossible for us to achieve—even when we want to experience God with us.

      Have you ever played with a Chinese finger puzzle? You can easily slip a finger in either end of the woven reed tube. The problem comes when you try to pull your fingers out. The more you pull, the tighter the tube squeezes your fingers. The more you struggle to get them out, the harder it is to get free.

      Part of the difficulty we have with prayer is that our culture is so achievement oriented. We believe that unless we are accomplishing something—and doing it the right way—our actions have no value or validity. Ask the most articulate personal to pray at a public function and he or she may feel uncomfortable in doing so, afraid that he or she will say the wrong thing.

      Personal prayer can be even more challenging. We agonize over what we should say to God and how we should stay it. We find that even when we are able to pray, we still can’t connect with God.

      The trick with the Chinese finger puzzle, mentioned earlier, is that you have to stop struggling and push your fingers in a little bit and, then, gently pull them out of the tube.

      Similarly, it may help us to stop thinking of prayer as a process by which we have to struggle to come up with the right things to say to God and begin to think of it as a time when we can simply be with God. Instead of forcing ourselves to come up with the “correct” words, a more grace-filled approach may be just to open ourselves to an awareness of God’s loving presence with us and let God do the rest.

 

An Approach to Meditative Prayer

       The following prayer can be used as a model to help you get started with, or to give you another perspective on, this form of prayer. 

Preparation

      Find a comfortable place to sit. Put both feet on the floor. Sit upright. Let your hands rest in you lap, palms upward. Close your eyes and take a few moments to relax. Note all the noises and sounds around you, then, let them go. If you hear anything while praying, recognize that it is there, say, “God bless it,” and return to your meditation. Don’t hurry the process or try to “get something out of it.” Just allow yourself to “be” with God.

A Model for Meditative Prayer—Take your time. Be with God.

“Gentle God, thank you for being here with me.”

     Take a breath and gently exhale.

“I breathe out all that separates me from you, O God.”

     Take another breath.

“I breathe in an awareness that you are with me.”

     Gently exhale.

“As Jesus breathed out his life when he said to you, ‘Father, into your hands I place my spirit,’ so I breathe out my own life, entrusting it to your care and keeping.”

     Pause to reflect on how God receives and cares for your life.

“I remember this past weeks the gifts I have received from you.”

Pause to remember special gifts of love or care or support you have recently experienced.

“I lift up my loved ones into your care, surrounded by your love and light.”

Pause to see in your mind's eye those whom you love in the light of God.

“I tell you my heart’s desires, those things for which I long.”

Pause to share with God your deepest longings, your greatest sorrows, your highest hopes, your most expansive joys.

“I listen you your word. I open myself to experience you love for me.”

     Pause to hear or feel or become aware of God’s response to you.

“O God, you have taught me that in returning and resting I shall be saved, in quietness and confidence I shall find true strength. Lift me into your presence, where I may be still and know that you are God, through Jesus Christ my Savior.”

Close with a time of quiet, keeping your mind as free of thoughts or worries as you can. This is a time to “just be with God”.

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Prepared for First-Plymouth Congregational Church United Church of Christ, Lincoln, NE.  

The Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ n the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

    If you would like to have a special prayer request added to First-Plymouth Church's prayer list, or if you have a concern you would like to share with our staff, please e-mail us through the Rev. Nancy Erickson
.