Program for an online Centering Prayer Meeting
Co-Leaders’ Script with Musica Divina
This program is taken from the book Centering Prayer for Everyone.
This program, for use by Zoom, allows for one twenty-minute period of centering prayer and a lectio divina. Additional instructions are provided that may be added if beginners are present. The leader or technical coordinator may mute all participants and invite them to unmute themselves during intercessory prayer and lectio sharing.
Screen sharing may be used to display the opening psalm and the closing prayer. The program takes approximately forty minutes.
Before you begin, take a few minutes to choose a brief reading for lectio divina or an alternate psalm and assemble anything else you might need, like a timer or a bell.
Psalm, Chanted or Spoken by the Leader
Welcome!
Welcome to this digital contemplative prayer group. This is a place for all God’s people. Whatever your beliefs or doubts you are welcome here. If you are new to centering prayer, just follow the instructions as the session unfolds. You are also welcome to use the silence in any other way that is right for you.
Intercessory Prayer
Leader
Loving God, we ask for your blessings upon this gathering. Recognizing that we bring the joys and sorrows of our lives here today, if anyone would like to mention silently or aloud expressions of gratitude or concern for ourselves, our families, our friends, our society, or our fragile planet, please do so now.
The people offer prayers, silently or aloud.
Leader
God, we trust that you hear our prayers, silent or spoken, wordless or in words.
Centering Prayer
Leader
We begin the first period of centering prayer.
Optional instruction for beginners may be added if appropriate:
We will sit in silence for twenty minutes. I will read the instructions and lead you into the centering prayer. Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to say yes to God’s transformative presence. Choose any short word with which you are comfortable and that reminds you to be present to God. Examples of a sacred word are Love, Peace, Mercy, Let Go, Silence, God, Amen, Yes.
Continue with regular instructions:
Sit with your back straight and your feet flat on the ground or in another stable position, your hands on your thighs or in your lap. Gently close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths and notice if there are any adjustments you’d like to make to be comfortable for the prayer period. Take a moment to notice who God is for you right now, whatever that might mean, and renew your commitment to be open and present to the divine. Silently begin to repeat the sacred word or touch your breath gently with your attention, using your sacred symbol to orient yourself towards God. During the prayer period, whenever you notice that you have become engaged with your thoughts, gently disengage yourself, returning to the sacred symbol if necessary.
Before or just after the leader sets the timer for the prayer period one of the following short prayers may be said:
Loving God, deepen our longing for you.
Loving God, may we rest in your presence.
We let go of trying to change ourselves, and let you, God, arise in our hearts.
Sacred One, awaken us.
Loving God, help us be friendly toward all that is within us.
Our hearts are restless until we rest in you, O God.
Loving God, we listen for your voice.
Loving God, let us yield to your love.
Loving God, lead us beside still waters; renew our spirits.
Come, Holy Spirit, open the gates of our hearts.
Help us to bask in your loving presence, O God.
Loving God, for you alone our souls wait in silence.
The leader sets the timer for the twenty minute prayer period and rings a bell or gong.
The timer sounds or the leader rings a bell or gong at the end of the prayer period.
If beginners are present, at the end of the twenty minute period, as the timer sounds or the leader rings a bell or gong, the leader reads the fourth guideline, followed by a period of silence:
At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes. This is an important transition for bringing the prayer into daily life. If you would like, you can dedicate the period of prayer to a person or concern.
MUSICA DIVINA
While lectio divina is a traditional way of listening to a spiritual reading with the ear of the heart, in musica divina we listen to a short piece of music with the ear of the heart. We may hear God speaking to us through the music or simply rest in God’s presence as we listen to it.
I'm going to play a short piece of music three times, interspersed with periods of silence, and I will ask questions that you may reflect on if you choose as you listen to the music three times, or you may ignore the questions.
Listen with the ear of the heart.
______________________
As you listen to the music, notice your breath and your body. Simply be present to the music and allow it to speak to your heart, without any particular agenda.
• Play music first time.
How do you feel listening to the music?
• Play music second time.
Do you get a glimpse of the sacred from this music? Is God speaking to you in this music?
• Play music third time.
If you choose, share aloud a word or phrase to express your experience of the music.
Closing Prayer
Leader
Let us close by praying together The Prayer of Jesus or the Night Prayer.
If possible, the leader shares his or her screen the prayer so that the group may read along. In order to avoid latency issues, it is recommended that the leader read the final prayer while participants may follow along with themselves on mute.
The Prayer of Jesus
Ground of all being, Mother of life, Father of the universe,
Your name is sacred, beyond speaking.
May we know your presence, may your longings be our longings in heart and in action.
May there be food for the human family today and for the whole earth community.
Forgive us the falseness of what we have done as we forgive those who are untrue to us.
Do not forsake us in our time of conflict but lead us into new beginnings.
For the light of life, the vitality of life,
and the glory of life are yours now and for ever.
Amen.
—a paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer by John Philip Newell
Night Prayer
Lord,
it is night.
The night is for stillness.
Let us be still in the presence of God.
It is night after a long day.
What has been done has been done;
what has not been done has not been done;
let it be.
The night is dark.
Let our fears of the darkness of the world
and of our own lives
rest in you.
The night is quiet.
Let the quietness of your peace enfold us,
all dear to us,
and all who have no peace.
The night heralds the dawn.
Let us look expectantly to a new day,
new joys,
new possibilities.
In your name we pray.
Amen.
— A New Zealand Prayer Book - He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa
This program is taken from the book Centering Prayer for Everyone, which contains additional programs and a chapter on visio divina.
Thanks for permission to reprint excerpts from the following previously published works:
“Night Prayer” reprinted with permission from the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia—Te Haahi Mihanare ki Aotearoa ki Niu Tireni, ki Nga Moutere o te Moana Nui a Kiwa, A New Zealand Prayer Book—He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa (San Francisco: Harper SanFran- cisco, 1997), 184.
“The Prayer of Jesus” (a paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer) reprinted with permission from John Philip Newell, Sounds of the Eternal: A Celtic Psalter (San Antonio, TX: Material Media, 2012), 86.