Swept Away a Book on Centering Prayer

By Carla J. Wells

Swept Away a Book on Centering Prayer offers a relaxing and rejuvenating prayer method for any age.  It has its origins in well known mystics of old and continues to practiced through the years right to current times.  This book explores the benefits of centering prayer, methods, and history and much more. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Carla Wells
• Release date: Nov 14, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386454779

Book preview

by Carla Wells

Swept Away a Book on Centering Prayer by Carla Wells Copyright 2011

Table of Contents

Introduction

-1 Origins

-2 Practitioners

-3 Centering Prayer versus Regular Prayer

-4 Ordinariness

-5 How To

-6 Quotes for the World

-7 To the Downcast

-8 Swept Away

Introduction

God says, Be still and know that I am God.  I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth, Psalm 46:10, NRSV.  He is exalted in the earth and the nations.  He is not exalted by every human but by many of his creation.  The existence of all nature including living and breathing creation bear witness to the God spoken of in Psalm 46:10.  The author of this Psalm is unknown.  Nonetheless, the author is aware the lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Psalm 46:11.

Be still and know I’m God is a command, it’s also an invitation and guidance.  It is saying, do this, then that will happen.  It reminds me of Matthew 6:33.  Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness then everything else will be added to you.  Seek is imperative, yet hear invitation in the words and guidance being offered.  If you do this, seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then everything else will be added to you.  Matthew 6:33 offers a step-by-step process.  First step, seek the kingdom and his righteousness and the second step is everything else will be added to you.  God’s part is the second step and the first step is our invitation to seek the kingdom and his righteousness.

Psalm 46:10 offers a two-step process.  First step, be still and the second step, know that I am God.  Similar to Matthew 6:33 we have to do something: be still and the second step is God’s part in that he will show himself during our stillness.  He shows himself so we know who he is, similar to being in the company of a human being, whether it’s a friend, parent, boss, or spouse let’s say.  With time we learn their nature.  In the Lord’s company we learn the nature of God.

There are no words imbedded in seek to tell of the difficulties the seeker will face in the quest for the kingdom and His righteousness, referring back to Matthew 6:33.  Nor are there words to let the seeker know the joys to be encountered in the process of going for the kingdom of God and his righteousness. 

Likewise there are no words attached to describe difficult challenges in ‘be still’.  Difficulties are not to be viewed as breath takers, they are not monumental, though they roar.  Little foxes that steal time and desire make knees weak to quit.  They are subtle pulls from time alone with God.  The pull happens oh so slowly, where 30 minutes in his presence gets to be whittled down to 2 minutes on the go.  Unnoticed there is no longer time spent with the Lord.  Yet there are no words attached to ‘be’ letting one know the glee possible in his presence.  Just like there are almost no words available for the afterglow wash given by the Lord of his engulfing love, which pleases, heals and renews.

‘Be still’, ‘seek’ are like saying, ‘look carefully both ways before you cross the street, then you will be safe’.  There is a command, look, there’s an invitation to learn safe behavior and there’s guidance toward the goal, arrival across the street.  In the end we discover it’s wise to look both ways; in time we know it’s a good thing to ‘be still...’  We all need to know God whether we understand the need, whether we recognize the need.  Two senior pastor lost their faith.  One read the bible and became disenchanted with the Lord.  The other pastor read written works of atheist to become better equipped to defend the Christian faith.  In the process he lost his faith in Christ.  These two have suffered loss of faith, even so they continue as senior pastors.  I agree we can’t read the bible or many other complex works safely without God lest we fall prey to our own understanding.  Still time before the Lord acknowledges mutual interests and need. 

Psalmist’s verse number 10 isn’t about bartering with you and me.  Bartering you know the thing we sometimes do with God in order to get our way usually out of a desperate situation or usually to acquire something or someone.  God let me become wealthy, I’ll serve you till the day I die.  There’s no offer of love in that type of barter, slight bit of coercion and certainly an example of self-serving chicanery.  But ‘be still and know I am God’ offers love wrapped in the command pointing to guidance.  When it’s quiet all around you, bring the words close to your ears and heart.  What did you find out?  Say the words out loud, ‘be still and know I am God’.  What did you hear, what did your senses tell you about God and about yourself?

Be still and know I am God.  The author of Psalm 46 got this from God and passed it on to us.  Do we know if the author of Psalm 46 followed this direction?  We don’t know, can only imagine he became still.  After having followed it myself I can only hope he or she followed the direction for all the good it does.  What I do know is God’s word through the author is wisdom for us today just as it was during the time it was written. 

It is wise to be still, for the sake of being still.  Doesn’t have to be a God thing to be beneficial.  Being still, from fretting, cleaning the house, a day’s work, chattering on the phone, television is a relief to the mind and the body.  Being still to commune with God is balm for the soul.  Now you may know this already.  If so, consider this book on centering prayer encouragement for you to carry on.  If this sounds all new to you, consider the invitation to be still and know he’s God an invitation for your further growth in love relationship with the Lord God Almighty.

I don’t think there is a perfect way to be still.  Fight self to make thoughts and hands cease their tendencies to flicker is a futile battle.  This isn’t about achieving the ideal ‘be still’.  Rather it’s about intended focus toward God, which gives him our best efforts at not being distracted, time for you and for him alone.  In similar tone, Shaneen Clarke, author of Dare to be Great addresses fasting.  She’s sensitive to the tendency to beat ourselves up for ‘falling off the wagon’ during a fast.  With compassion she tells fasters and would be fasters to take it slow, prepare for a fast by being clear on the purpose of the fast, when to begin, when to end.  It’s okay to pick up where one stopped fasting to continue the fast from that point.  And so it is with centering prayer, there may be rough starts and stops, mainly in that way of thinking the point is to finish.  God honors effort.

It’s like a time when we want a special person’s full attention.  We don’t want them looking around too much when we’re talking to them, eye-to-eye contact is the desire.  Phone calls are not to be accepted, and certainly not placed during a need for attention.  We want a present person, they don’t need to be as stiff as a board still, just not doing a dirge, break dancing or waltzing across the floor while what we want is their eye contact, and laughter when what we say is funny and expressions of compassion when our words say catch me my heart is sinking.

God wants a special person’s attention.  I’m special and so are you.  The Lord of host wants our best efforts to connect with him and be there before him and only him sometime during the day in which he provided air for our lungs.  Oh, it’s not in a harsh way we owe him our undivided attention.  It’s in the way he’s somebody we want to be with.  We learn in time what it takes to be a good friend.  No phone conversations, no dusting the furniture if you’re into that sort of thing and no jump rope to get skinnier.  At least not when we’ve claimed a time of stillness before the Lord that we might know him better.

Of course, we can speak to God and he to us while we wash windows, type at the computer and eat dinner.  But in our proclaimed time of stillness something else is to be happening – nothing.  Mostly nothing on our part of any routine that would keep us from at last hearing the sound of our breath, till even that sound is no more and replaced by connection with the creator.

With a mind focused on Christ, a mind for him alone, in a time of being still everything else ceases.  You may be twitching and mind fluttering because you can’t help it, so much of time on earth has taught us it is