I thought I would put my Rule of Life (Personal Customary) here and then comment on how it is going in each area.
True to Christ
Living Prayerfully – Celebrating God’s presence in all things, at all times, through a daily rhythm of prayer and worship.
Daily
This is from the Northumbrian Community. I had read about it in Pete Greig's book How to Pray, and this motivated me to look it up. Then one of my former directees said this was her favorite form of prayer and wanted to send me Book One in lieu of payment. Since then, I purchased the Kindle version with four years worth of daily prayer and the musical version of all the prayers. I also have the musical version alone on Amazon Music. It is lovely. Last month, I meditated my way through the Songs of Ascents along with Old and New Testament readings. It is a very nice addition to my morning time.
I don't remember how I first heard about this lovely guided prayer time. I don't know anyone who was doing it. So I think I just stumbled upon it, and I do believe it is my favorite prayer app (that I downloaded in May of 2019, but I think I was on the web version before that.) I love the variety of worship music from classical to modern. They read a short passage of Scripture two times. Sometimes it is more imaginative contemplation and other times it is Lectio Divina. Today was Peter walking on the water to Jesus. They ask insightful questions and encourage a dialogue with God. I think this is my favorite of all the apps, and it led me to Imagine (see below). I often will walk and pray as I listen to this one either in the morning or on a break during the day.
This is a newer addition to my prayer from September 2020. I think it was released a couple of months before that. This was a result of me reading How to Pray and going on the 24-7 website. It is lovely, and it reminds me of my Order of the Mustard Seed vows. I love that it will have different themes. For instance, this week is the "biblical theme of shalom, peace with God, ourselves and others, through the lens of mission." They have recently added a Night Prayer feature that I love (when I can stay awake listening to it because the voices are so soothing I fall asleep).
Silent Prayer – 2x for 20 minutes (East Mosely, Mercy Center, Presby)
In August of 2018, I read a book called The Sacred Enneagram where he said he did this twice a day for 20 minutes each time, and I thought that was crazy. I also saw the book Centering Prayer by Basil Pennington at the Queen of Angels Monastery during one of my prayer retreats, tried to read it, and quickly was discouraged. I remember talking about it with one of my directees, and I thought she told me about the Centering Prayer app, but when she visited in July, she had never heard of it! I don't know how I stumbled upon it, but I am glad I did. I decided to make Silent Prayer my "spiritual practice" for 2018-2020 while I was with the wonderful Marty and Sandy Boller of Sustainable Faith.
Although I always have silent prayer times before and after meditating on Scripture. They are usually very short. The longer ones came at this 2018 commitment. When COVID hit, I found many Centering Prayer groups who had once met in person doing it on Zoom! So I jumped on first to the Mercy Center, Burlingame group on Sundays and Thursdays with a book club discussion through Open Mind, Open Heart. SO HELPFUL. I did find one time they had a substitute who went on and on in her introduction with non-biblical trifle, but the rest of the time, it is lovely and led by three wonderful people. One of them moved away. I have even been to two morning Centering Prayer times where we do two 20 minutes sits in four hours.
Then I found the lovely group of mostly nuns in East Mosely, London, UK who do it Monday through Friday for 25 minutes in the middle of the day. There is no interaction between us. We are all on mute with the exception of the reader who opens us up with a wonderful quote or Scripture.
Then I talked to the local group here to do it via Zoom. What a warm and welcoming bunch! I love them. We do that on Sundays at 11:30. Now that my church has opened up, I will probably need to ask if we can meet at another time. We will see.
So all that to say is that most of the time, I do it one time with a group and one time on my own every day! I LOVE IT. I wrote a little handout about it, and it is linked to the title above.
Last but not least is a group with Jo of the Order of the Mustard Seed!
I have to stop this post because it is my time to pray for the world from 7-8 am! TO BE CONTINUED!
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