This Monday (12th October) I am starting a series of six evenings in church (mainly Monday nights once a month), to help people to learn to pray. I have mentioned before, but I am constantly amazed at the disciples (who remember were good Jews and therefore steeped in the Jewish tradition of prayer) after living with Jesus for while they asked him to teach them to pray. There was obviously something about the way Jesus prayed that inspired them to greater depths of prayer.
However experienced or long we have been a praying people, there is always so much to learn. And we learn to pray by praying. Insights, understanding, encouragement from others can all help to inspire us to pray. But we learn to pray, when we actually pray. So Jesus’ response to the disciples’ question was: “When you pray…” (Lk 11:1-2).
So these series of evenings won’t teach us to pray. But they might help us learn how to pray. We will be looking at different aspects of prayer during the evening, but the main component will be individual prayer itself – trying out different ways of praying, tools and resources! And then some time to reflect and learn together on what was helpful and difficult about the prayer.
The topics we will be looking at include: finding stillness in our bodies and minds; rhythm and liturgy & the structures that helps us when life is busy or prayer is difficult; meditation and imaginative contemplation on Scripture; different personalities and prayer – finding what works for us. All the dates and content each evening can be found here.
If you do wish to come along, please get in contact with me.
Tags: prayer
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