In our busy lives, churches across our diocese are making time for stillness and silence to bring a deeper closeness to God. These include Taizé services and Contemplative Prayer practise, which is a silent form of prayer focusing on listening and being still in God’s presence, as well as the prayerful reading of scripture through Lectio Divina. Here are how some churches in our diocese have recently been exploring silent listening to God:
Upper Itchen and East Winchester Benefice
Over the summer months, members of the two benefices came together to share a time of silence, each taking turns to host an hour of contemplative prayer at St Simon and St Jude in Bramdean, and St John the Baptist in Winchester. The time started with a brief prayer before people found a space to sit in silence. It finished with another prayer to bring everyone gently out of their silence and was then followed by a time of sharing and getting to know one another.
Associate Priest in the East Winchester Benefice Jen Holder said, “We live in a world where there’s a lot of societal pressure for people to feel busy, but this is a way of challenging that. This is an invitation into another way of being, and another way of seeing, that says that you are part of this world, but you’re also part of the Kingdom of Heaven.
“This prayer is very deep, and it brings those worlds together. It’s a place where heaven and earth are touching each other. It’s about being in the present moment, where we can let go of all our thoughts, all the things that are racing around in our heads. We are opening ourselves up to God working within us and praying within us. We’re not telling God what we want. It’s not intercessory prayer. If a thought comes into our head, we just let it go and return to God.”
Jen says anyone can try contemplative prayer. “You’ve got to give yourself time for your thoughts to settle, for your breathing to slow down. You’ve got to intentionally say, ‘I’m giving over this time to God and I’m going to let myself settle down into this prayer’. It should be practiced regularly if you’re doing it as an individual, for maybe a minimum of 20 minutes every day. This different attitude of being and seeing permeates and trickles through into the rest of your life.”
It’s the second year the two benefices have organised this time together and plan to start again next Summer.
All Hallows, Whitchurch
On the first Sunday of the month, All Hallows Church in Whitchurch has an evening of ‘Contemplative Church’. It was established by BCM Prayer Champion Andrew Ricketts and his wife Alison, who are qualified meditation and mindfulness teachers.
Andrew said, “Although I lead Book of Common Prayer meetings, I’ve always found words difficult to negotiate as prayer, but I find silent prayer really easy and so I felt drawn to the contemplative tradition and also explored some of the theology around this sort of path. Prayer is the act of listening to God, listening to us as we seek to be aware of his presence, to remain silently and attentively in that presence, completely open to him. I go away with a feeling of centredness and calmness.”
Alison adds, “Although I do contemplative prayer most days, to pray in a group is very important. I find it a slightly different experience because you’re praying with other souls. In the same way as when you’re committing to go to church, there’s a communion of saints there that is supportive and nourishing so that’s what this monthly meeting is all about.”
The All Hallows prayer meeting follows the pattern of the Julian Meetings, an ecumenical organisation that promotes Christian meditation and contemplative prayer. They gather in candlelight in the church, there’s a short reading and then silence is kept for half an hour. It’s a simple but profound meeting.
Andrew continues, “For me, with worded prayers you are immediately in the mindset of whoever wrote the prayer, whereas when you sit in silence progressively, you lower the barriers until eventually you feel as if you are sitting in the presence of God.”
Alison adds, “I just find a great kind of peace and comfort in sitting in silence. I leave feeling refreshed and ready for the week and calm and at peace. I think everybody gets very anxious about the inner voices and but with practice that decreases, and there’s an understanding that can be part of it too. I think sometimes we can get into the habit of just asking for stuff in our prayers and it can become a little bit of a shopping list, and I think sometimes it’s good to dial back on that and just sit and listen.”
Andrew has offered to talk to anyone who would like to learn more about contemplative prayer. “I would urge anyone, who feels drawn to it, to have a go. I know lots of people feel challenged with the idea of sitting, as we do, in silence for half an hour. There are various methods and approaches to contemplative prayer. There are mantras and there’s the centering prayer which is a simple method for catching the mind when it wanders off and bringing it back in. If people want to come and visit us or want us to come and talk to them, I’d be very happy to do so”.
St Peter’s Church, Shipton Bellinger
A cross of candles is set up ahead of the Taizé service at St Peter’s Church in Shipton Bellinger. The service offers a meditative reflective moment at the end of a Sunday night and ahead of the start of the week. It takes place at the church three times a year. It’s a gentle form of worship involving repetitive chants and an opportunity for reflection, simple prayer and bible reading.
Revd Sarah Sharland said, “I think that you can sometimes get lost in too many words with the beautiful hymns that we have. This is an opportunity to say the same phrase over and over again and I think we can then begin to reflect on it a little more. I think it allows for you to encounter the Lord through that.”
Revd Sarah continued, “I think, in our busy world at the moment, sometimes you can go for a long time without any moments of silence at all. Sometimes at a morning service you can have heard the message but forget it by the time lunchtime is over. This is an opportunity to hear something and reflect on it there and then, and I think that’s helpful.”
Taizé worship services originate from the village of Taizé in the Burgundy region of France. The Taize community, which was founded by Brother Roger Schutz in 1940, has become a focus of Christian pilgrimage from all over the world, with around 100,000 people travelling there each year. It has become well known for its simple style of worship and more recently has gained in popularity amongst young people.
Revd Sarah said, “People just drift in, and they seek the Lord there and I think it’s a different way of finding God and I’ve copied what they did. We don’t do very many of these services, but I think it’s something different and nice to offer.”
Find other resources for Contemplative Prayer in this toolkit from the Diocese of Oxford: Contemplative Toolkit – Diocese of Oxford
