Read

•    Our Membership Vows pages 4-10: Introduction & Vows Rooted in the Baptismal Covenant

•  1 John 4:7-21

• 1 Corinthians 12:1-30

Spiritual Practice

Centering prayer is like meditation. For meditation, you allow your mind to rest, focusing just on your breath and allowing your thoughts, emotions, and feelings to pass by without judgment. This same non-judgmental approach is essential for centering prayer. Still, you focus on a single word or phrase to give your mind something to hone in on, like an intention. Breath prayers are centering prayers, where you link a phrase or two with a single breath, splitting it between your inhale and exhale. Centering and breath prayers exist across many traditions, typically the more mystical subsets of traditions.
After some time in centering or breath prayer, you may find your mind in a deeper state of meditation, where you no longer focus on the word or phrase(s). Instead, you sit in silence, awaiting the still, small voice of the Divine. Take 5 minutes a few days this week to practice a breath prayer.
Some Breath Prayer Templates/Examples:
Inhale: O God

Exhale: lead me to love.
 

Inhale: May I rest.

Exhale: that I might dream. (From Cole Arthur Riley's Black Liturgies)