Praying our Experience.

Starting Prayer (10 minutes)

Design this as you wish.There are suggestions in the introductory notes.

Reflection on Our Experience (10 minutes)

Working on your own, make a list of the main groups you belong to, the activities they engage in, the contribution you make to, and what you gain from, each group; we sometimes speak of “wearing our different hats”.Then, if it helps, draw yourself (as a pin person if you wish) wearing these hats. When you have drawn all your hats, go on to write against each one some words which express your feelings when you are in that role.Be as honest as you can.“No praise, no blame, it just is so.”

Sharing (allow 20 minutes)

Share anything in your reflections which you want to share; decide how much you feel comfortable with sharing with others; you are not obliged to share everything you have written.

[This could be done in the full group if there are up to about six people present; with bigger numbers it is probably better to share in twos and threes].

Notice what you have chosen not to share and, so to speak, share that with God.

Experience from the Church (10minutes)

Somebody reads out:-

From the experience of the Christian community down the centuries comes this collect which is used y the church on the first Sunday of Lent:

Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ fasted forty days in the wilderness, and was tempted as we are, yet without sin: give us grace to discipline ourselves in obedience to Your Spirit; and, as You know our weakness, so may we know Your power to save; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

In the bible, the “wilderness” is a place of 1) being sifted, purified and resolving to “return to the Lord” and 2) a place of meeting with God.

The Collect draws upon both of these:

1. Being sifted and purified…… the need to discipline that in us which is not of God…. God knowing, and working with our weakness
2. Meeting with God…. hearing and acting on the promptings of the Spirit (obedience)…..doing something about those things in our life which are out of true…. Drawing from a power, God’s Power, which is greater than anything we are able to do ourselves.The Collect makes a clear link between our knowing God’s power to save and bringing to God our weakness.

Working on your own:

What does “wilderness” mean to you?……. loneliness……. confusion…. beauty…. uncluttered…. or what?Can you find aspects of “wilderness” in those places where you wear your different hats?The following questions may help:

Where are you struggling?Where are you weak?Is part of the weakness to do with needing to sort out how you take up the role?

“Discipline” is not a fashionable word these days.In what way, if at all, do you see the need of discipline being part of your experience of “wilderness”?For example, you might need the discipline to say “no”, or the discipline to make new priorities.

How does God come to you in those wilderness experiences?Are you ever conscious of the power of God flowing through you in spite of yourself, for example, in compassion, in the anger at injustice, making realistic plans, caring foryourself (perhaps learning to say “no”), and so on?Have you ever known that power when you have begun to admit your weakness?

New Directions (15 minutes)

Talk together about anything that is coming out ofthis for you.

Somebody reads out:

Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil.And He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards He was hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread”.But He answered, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”.Then the Devil took Him to the Holy City, and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, “He will give his angels charge of you, and “on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone”.Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, “you shall not tempt the Lord your God”.

Again, the Devil took Him to a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; and he said to Him “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me”.Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written “you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve”.Then the Devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.(St Matthew 4 vv1-11)

What were the thoughts and feelings that Jesus was wrestling with?How did He connect what was happening to him to the experiences of His faith community?How do you respond to this story…. “a one-off episode”…. a long drawn out process…. The sort of thing that probably happened frequently to Jesus….?

Talk together about what we can learn from this story (15 minutes)

Ending Prayer (5 minutes)

You might want to spend most of this time in silence.You might want to offer some informal prayers leaving people free to speak when moved to do so.Become aware of the prayer focus once more.Recall in God’s presence the experiences of this meeting which have been particularly meaningful…. rich…. difficult…. a new insight….

End by saying together the Collect used earlier, or another suitable prayer.

Between Meetings

During the week try to linger with those moments when you get a flashback to the work of this meeting.What was it that activated the memory…. a situation.… a day dream…. a person…. in prayer…. an image…. or….??

Keep a private journal to record your ongoing reflections and connections you make to the work of this course in the time between meetings.Such writing can be a powerful way of loosening the soil of memory and bringing to the surface feelings, particularly those of a more painful kind, and working with them.

In his book Live for a Change, Francis Dewar encourages us to:

“write down your hopes and fears, your angers and frustrations, your fantasies and whims, your dreams of the night as well as the day, the things you would like to say to others that are not possible or not diplomatic, the things you want to say to God, the things you seem to hear him say… writing can be a very helpful aid on your journey, especially at times of change in your life.Reading it over later can give you a sense of perspective and help you to be aware of what is important to you and what is more transcient”.