February 20, 2014
I especially look forward to Thursday mornings. Several months ago I attended a workshop on Centering Prayer - the practice of being intentionally quiet with God. Listening, resting, simply spending time with God are the principles of Centering Prayer, as I understand it. The practice is not particularly about praying, as in conversation with God, but just being with God. The recommendation is to practice twenty minutes in the morning and twenty minutes in the evening each day. But on Thursdays, I join with a couple of other pastors for a time of "individual" group Centering Prayer. It is a special time, being alone with God with others present.
But this week it was especially difficult to focus. Sometimes there is too much on my mind to simply “be.” This has been a week of grieving for the church - disillusionment as I described yesterday, a local pastor who lost his temper and attacked someone because of road-rage, a snake-handler who was bitten and died from a bite (hard to understand the concept anyway, but it is very sad for this man), and comments on a FaceBook post - I won’t ever go back to church because of what the pastor said to me; I don’t need the church because I can worship God anywhere, etc.
Why do folks consider the church to be a museum for saints instead of a hospital for sinners? Hmmm..that phrase, coined by someone else, just might make Sunday’s sermon.
Blessings.
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