This evening we begin. For those of you following at home, this is the format we will follow and the outline for the evening. At the start of each evening I will post the Scriptures and thought provoking items for the night and the follow up suggestions for at home work. That comes later today.
Here is the outline of the study:
Space for God.
Purpose:
- To deepen your life and your prayers
- To learn some new ways to pray
- To develop a discipline of prayer
- To become more aware of the presence of God in your lives
Home Spirituality Time Goals:
To reflect on each week’s class
To meditate on the reflective material for the next class
To develop a time for silent prayer. First 2 min. Then 5 min. Challenge yourself with 10
To journal on the spiritual challenges of this journey. How does it make you feel? What are the things that distract you from God? What inner revelations are you discovering? Note: the journal, should you keep it is private. There is no need to share any of it with the class unless you choose to.
For these 10 weeks we will be using a study guide prepared by Don Postma, which I have tweaked to include things that I have discovered are important for growing a devotional life.
Outline:
Gather at 7
Gathering Prayer
Check in: thoughts and reflections on assignment from last week
Readings: may include some, or all, of the following. Discussion
- Scripture Lessons
- Hymns or Poems
- Insight from the Desert Tradition
- Art
Introduction to a new prayer style
Silent Prayer. We will begin with two minutes and build our way up to 5
Reflections on the evening
Assignment for next week
Closing Prayer
Even before we start though I want to share a blog that I wrote on Monday. One of the goals of this study is to be more aware of the presence of God in our lives. This blog post is about dreams. We are not talking about dreams in the course, because I am woefully lacking in understanding of how God works in dreams. But it is important for some people.
On Monday there was a dream that was a jumping off point for me to think about God. So as a part of my commitment to be more aware of God’s presence in my life I include it for you here. when you click on it, you should come to the article.
More from me later today, Ena