Move closer to God in silence and prayer

The following post is provided courtesy of Contemplative Outreach of Chicago:

For years, Christians from various denominations have engaged in the ancient practice of Centering Prayer.   All are invited to be part of an introductory workshop being held in nearby Western Springs.  If you have an interest and desire in getting to better understand what Centering Prayer is all about, please join in this transformative workshop.

Centering Prayer Workshop Offered November 1 in Western Springs

Many Episcopalians and other Christians are finding that a method called “Centering Prayer” helps them move toward a closer and more meaningful relationship with God. Centering Prayer is a well-grounded method of silent prayer and meditation that prepares us to experience God’s presence within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than consciousness itself. Contemplative Outreach, an organization founded in 1984 to serve those interested in Centering Prayer, is offering an introductory workshop on the method on Saturday November 1 in Western Springs, Illinois. Workshops on related topics are also part of the day’s agenda, including sessions on the Transformative Power of Dreams, Healing Touch, and “Emptiness” as a posture that helps us be open to the full indwelling of God’s presence. All are welcome. For further information or to register, please visit www.centeringprayerchicago.org or contact Phil Jackson, jaxson900@aol.com, (847) 778-1022.

Background on Centering Prayer

In the early 1970s, Trappist monk and priest Thomas Keating and two other Trappists, Fr. William Meninger and the late Fr. Basil Pennington, worked to bring people living outside monasteries a form of silent prayer now known as Centering Prayer. With roots in the fourteenth century book, The Cloud of Unknowing, this kind of prayer allows people to sit silently and become receptive to God’s gift of contemplation.

Of course, contemplation has been an important part of Christianity from the beginning. Centering Prayer presents the teachings of earlier times in an updated form. This method of prayer is both a relationship with God and a discipline to foster that relationship.

Centering Prayer is not meant to replace other kinds of prayer. Rather, it adds depth of meaning to all prayer and facilitates the movement from more active modes of prayer – verbal, mental or affective prayer – into a receptive prayer of resting in God. Centering Prayer emphasizes prayer as a personal relationship with God and as a movement beyond conversation with Christ to communion with Him.

Background on Contemplative Outreach, Chicago

Contemplative Outreach of Chicago has been serving the contemplative community in northeastern Illinois and northwestern Indiana since 1989. We are a chapter of Contemplative Outreach, Ltd., an international spiritual network with offices in Butler, N.J. Our mission is to teach the method of Centering Prayer and to support those whose Spiritual Journey includes a practice of this prayer. The volunteers in our chapter are grounded in contemplative service – “God in us serving God in others.”