Centering Prayer Group Guidelines

Here are the guidelines for the Grace Church Brooklyn Heights contemplative prayer group.

• The group meets from 7 pm to roughly 8 pm on Tuesdays. 

• The group usually meets from the second week of September through the first week of June and breaks for the summer.  It does not meet during the weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year's.

• The group is open to anyone who would like to attend. Members may come as frequently or as 
infrequently as they would like.

• The Hicks Street entrance is only open from 6:45 until 7:15, so please arrive during that time.  After 7:15 the door will be locked and we will not be able to open it without disrupting the group.  If you enter after 7 pm please do so quietly.

• During the lectio divina, we listen in a prayerful way and speak from our hearts. We avoid an intellectual discussion. If anyone has anything to say that feels like it might not fit into the lectio format, a discussion after the group might be a good place to share this. We do not interrupt each other during the lectio and we do not judge or criticize each other. We speak out of our own experience. We resist the urge to give advice or fix things. We listen to each other with respect. If anyone would like to speak more than once, he or she may do so.

• No one is required to speak or to share anything if he or she is not comfortable doing so.

• It is not necessary to make eye contact during the group.

• We maintain confidentiality about what is shared in the group.

• Lindsay Boyer, Jim Connell and David James are the primary facilitators of the group, rotating regularly.