“I invite you to try Listening Prayer,” Jack Tacoma, the ministry specialist who guided last week’s leadership retreat, told us. “Be still for ten minutes. Then tell each other what you saw and heard as you listened for God’s will.” Our group of seven had been told to focus on “Belonging” while the other two groups focused on “Believing” and “Blessing.”
Outside our window, we saw towering white pines, an island and a snow-covered lake. We pulled our eyes away and began a focused time of silence.
Ten minutes flew by. Then someone began our sharing time by admitting, “I saw and heard nothing. Sorry!” We quickly re-assured him and continued around the circle.
“I saw a world pulling us in all directions,” said the next person. “And I saw our church as this calming place to belong.”
“I saw a peacock with seven chicks,” the next person said. “She unsuccessfully tried to put her wings over all of them. It occurred to me that her wings are not big enough to cover everybody; neither are ours. But God’s wings are big enough to cover all of us.”
“Interesting,” followed the next person. “I saw a honeycomb. The side of each hexagonal cell was attached to the side of another cell.”
“I didn’t see anything,” the next person offered. “But I remembered stepping outside to help someone shovel a driveway and having a conversation about faith. As I listened for God, I found myself asking, “What is a meaningful contact with someone else?”
“I didn’t see anything either,” said number six in the circle. “I just found myself thinking that we all belong to God, and that’s why we all belong to each other.”
The last person to speak admitted that he also had not seen anything. “But my mind kept repeating the verse I always say to myself whenever I feel anxious. It’s Psalm 56:3 which says, “When I am afraid, I will trust in you.”
What about the first person who saw and heard nothing? He was more than happy to belong to a prayer circle that had seen and heard so much from God in only ten minutes of intense listening.
- Pastor Peter
Outside our window, we saw towering white pines, an island and a snow-covered lake. We pulled our eyes away and began a focused time of silence.
Ten minutes flew by. Then someone began our sharing time by admitting, “I saw and heard nothing. Sorry!” We quickly re-assured him and continued around the circle.
“I saw a world pulling us in all directions,” said the next person. “And I saw our church as this calming place to belong.”
“I saw a peacock with seven chicks,” the next person said. “She unsuccessfully tried to put her wings over all of them. It occurred to me that her wings are not big enough to cover everybody; neither are ours. But God’s wings are big enough to cover all of us.”
“Interesting,” followed the next person. “I saw a honeycomb. The side of each hexagonal cell was attached to the side of another cell.”
“I didn’t see anything,” the next person offered. “But I remembered stepping outside to help someone shovel a driveway and having a conversation about faith. As I listened for God, I found myself asking, “What is a meaningful contact with someone else?”
“I didn’t see anything either,” said number six in the circle. “I just found myself thinking that we all belong to God, and that’s why we all belong to each other.”
The last person to speak admitted that he also had not seen anything. “But my mind kept repeating the verse I always say to myself whenever I feel anxious. It’s Psalm 56:3 which says, “When I am afraid, I will trust in you.”
What about the first person who saw and heard nothing? He was more than happy to belong to a prayer circle that had seen and heard so much from God in only ten minutes of intense listening.
- Pastor Peter
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