Prayer Practice: Breath Prayer

The Second Sunday in Lent offers us a new prayer practice “breath prayer.” Many religious traditions us this practice as a way of paying attention not just to our breath, but to the very presence of the Divine. On the website, the practice is described in more depth. You do have to scroll down to get to the current post.

In the midst of worship we practiced a breath prayer. In the sermon, I noted a post I had seen on social media written by – Sandra Thurman Caporale from the Memorial Church of Christ in Houston. It included a graphic with a picture of our lung and YH on one lung and WH on the other. It refers to the name of God given to Moses as YHWH, or I am what I am, or I will be what I will be. In short, our breathing in and out proclaims the name of God.

I was so taken by that thought and by Michael W. Smith’s lyrics “This is the Air I Breathe,” that I shared how much I believed we needed God presence. You can view the whole service here.

Last Tuesday night I shared a Facebook Live on Lectio Divina. I will do it again this Tuesday, March 15 at 7:00 p.m. I am hoping for no technical difficulties this time.

Lenten Prayer Practices

The forty days of Lent have begun. Ash Wednesday was a lovely day weather wise and it felt so good to gather in person for worship. The Covid numbers are very low, so opening everything up is a blessing.

We started a new sermon series “Prayer Practice.” The focus for Sunday morning and the following week will be a different prayer practice. Using Patricia D. Brown’s book Paths to Prayer, we will explore a variety of ways to prayer. The congregation received a Prayer Assessment Guide (taken from Patricia Brown’s book) in which to discover their preferred method to pray. The key provides insight into each category.

This week’s practice is “lectio divina” or praying the scriptures. You can find all the information for Sunday March 6, including the bulletin and an explanation of the practice here.

During worship there is a prayer prompt where each week each person can write their response on a post-it. For those who are no in person, there is an online version. These are gathered up and then a different group in the church will be praying over them. You can find the entire Sunday worship service here.

There are many reasons to learn how to prayer more deeply and in different ways; natural disasters, wars, continuing infighting among people of faith and political parties. For me, the best reason is that I need it….for my walk with Christ and for deepening my faith. On Tuesday nights at 7:00 p.m., I will go live on Facebook to pray with anyone who will join me in a new ways. This week, we will participate in lectio divina.