Wednesdays, May 28 – July 30, 2025
Centering Prayer Group
LMH Room A, 10-11am
Join Rev. Jane Tuohy and Cynthia Tolbert for a new Centering Prayer Group on Wednesdays at 10am in Lower Meetinghouse Room A.
Centering Prayer is a silent meditation practice, a consent to the presence and action of the Divine within us. It is a wordless, trusting opening of the self to the divine presence, however you name that presence. Centering Prayer, like all meditation practices, tries to put a stick in the spokes of our constantly thinking mind. We spend so much time as adults, thinking, planning, worrying, that we lose touch with the Divine deep within us. Centering Prayer helps to tone down the inner noise, allowing us to encounter the deeper reaches of our being where our own life connects with the Divine.
The practice of Centering Prayer is simple. You sit, either in a chair or on a prayer cushion, and allow your heart to open toward the Divine. Before beginning the meditation, you will choose a sacred word, a simple one or two syllable word. Whenever a thought comes into your mind, you say your sacred word to yourself and let the thought go, returning to the silent opening of yourself to the depths.
Cynthia Bourgeault, a practitioner of Centering Prayer says, “What goes on in those silent depths during the time of Centering Prayer is no one’s business, not even your own; it is between your innermost being and God: that place where, as St. Augustine once said, “God is closer to your soul than you are yourself”. Your own subjective experience of the prayer may be that nothing happened-except for the more or less continuous motion of letting go of thoughts. But in the depths of your being, in fact, plenty has been going on, and things are quietly but firmly being rearranged. That interior rearrangement- or to give it its rightful name, interior awakening- is the real business of Centering Prayer.”
Centering Prayer is easily taught. We will review the method each time we meet and answer any questions, so join us whenever you can. We will sit in silence for 20 minutes, then have time for discussion afterward.