Lenten Wednesdays

Noon: Midweek Worship and Lunch
6 p.m.: Contemplative Prayer and Conversation

 

Listening for God as Individuals

Contemplative Prayer and Conversation

March 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29 at 6 p.m.
In-person or on Zoom
You are invited to join Pastor Melissa and Pastor Peter for these Lenten contemplative prayer times. Each week we will pause and explore a different prayer form that opens us to listen for God in our personal lives. We will then be sent out for the week to explore this practice and return the next Wednesday to reflect on the practice and explore a new possibility.

Each Wednesday gathering stands on its own, so you are welcome to join one, two, or all five of these important Lenten Contemplative Prayer opportunities. It is offered in person or on Zoom. The Zoom link will be on the website and will be included in the ENews each weekend in Lent. Plan to attend as you tend to your personal listening for God in prayer.

Wednesday, March 8 Lenten Prayer Prompt – Praying the Splashes
Prayer at the Font video

Zoom Link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82982768985
Meeting ID: 829 8276 8985

Lenten Devotionals

The prayer team has put together a Lenten devotional, grounded in a daily prayer written by a member of Central. The devotional is available in print and will be e-mailed each day for your own personal time of prayer and listening for God. Copies of the devotional in print will be available at the Welcome Desk. Thank you to all who were able to contribute a prayer to help us listen for God each day.

Download here: Lenten Devotional 2023

 

Listening for God as Community

Adult Forums

You are invited to the Sunday morning adult forums in the season of Lent. Coffee and cookies are served down in the lower narthex. Here is the schedule as we gather to listen for God as a community.

Sunday, February 26
“Ten Ways to Listen for God”
Pastor Kathie Nycklemoe will be here to lead us as a community in a reflection on ten essential ways to pray, ways to listen for God in our lives. This is the perfect forum to attend as Lent begins and we enter this intentional time of prayer as individuals, a community, and neighbors.

Sunday, March 5
“Life Together: Day Alone & Day Together”
Join Pastor Peter for the reflection on life together as the day alone and the day with community, confession, and care for the neighbor. We will return to Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s classic, Life Together, to ground us in the conversation.

Sunday, March 12
“Contemplation and Action”
Join Pastor Melissa as she leads the conversation on how contemplative prayer leads to action in the world and how action in the world leads us back to contemplative prayer. It is in this exchange that prayer as individuals and community leads us to our neighbor.

Sunday, March 19
“Being a Contemplative Congregation”
Join Pastor Peter for a conversation on what it means to be a contemplative congregation. We will explore the possibilities of how a congregation that tends the pathways of prayer is also a congregation that welcomes all, no exceptions. Contemplative prayer shapes our life in God and so we innately go out to serve.

Sunday, March 26
“A Spiritual Practice of Listening”
Join Pastor Melissa as she picks up on the invitation to listen for God in our neighbor. What does it mean to walk with all the beloved of God? How does walking with shape prayer and the ways we listen as individuals, a community, and neighbors? How is the spiritual discipline of listening shaping the current offering of the Ignatian Spiritual Discernment movement?

Palm Sunday, April 2
“Holy Week in Matthew’s Gospel”
Join Pastor Peter for a reflection on Holy Week and how Matthew’s Gospel leads us to the cross and empty tomb. What are the moments of prayer in Holy Week and how do they share our individual, community, and neighborly listening for God?

 

Listening for God as Neighbors

“Walking With” Initiative

The Council has spent significant time over the past year listening for God as we seek to walk with our neighbors. Two experts on people at the margins have helped the Council in their listening. The Council has developed four initial pathways that now need your collective wisdom and listening. Plan to attend one of these small group conversations and offer your faithful insights and deep listening for God.

Sunday, March 5 at 12:30 p.m.
Wednesday, March 15 at 1 p.m.
Thursday, March 23 at 10 a.m.
Sunday, March 26 at 12:30 p.m.

Pastor Peter will facilitate these sessions and some Council leaders will be present as we listen together.