At the beginning of this new week we invite you to take a few minutes to prayerfully place yourself in a posture of openness to God. Whatever lies ahead in the day and week to come, we don’t want to miss one ounce of God’s presence within it. This prayer can help attune our awareness to that presence.

Click Here for a guided posture prayer experience “I Open”

* Consider pausing the video with each section, to spend even more time than the short video allows.

Prayer in 6 Directions Practice

In an unhurried fashion, we invite you to greet the 6 directions in prayer, turning your body in the direction indicated with each prayer movement. 

East: We turn to the east and face the rising sun. Praise God for the gift of new life, of new days, of youth, of belonging.

South: Turning towards the south, thanks are given for those people, events, and things which warm our lives and help us to grow and develop.

West: The sun sets in the west, and so we praise God for sunsets, nights, for endings in our lives.

North: As we face the north, we remember the challenges and difficulties in life.

Down: Bending down to touch earth, we praise the Creator for the things which sustain our lives.

Up: Finally, as we gaze into the sky, we thank God for our hopes and dreams. Centered in the Creator’s universe, we remember God’s mighty deeds in our lives and can thus move into the future.

One of the most soul-restoring practices you can engage in is to immerse yourself in the presence of Jesus through the great big wild and diverse beauty of nature, God’s own creation.

Today we invite you into a 10 minute quiet pause, to rest, to be refreshed, and to re-affix your gaze on the God of Wonder who loves you very very much, through this video practice. After you’re done, why not take another 10 minutes to stroll outside and witness in whole-life experience the closeness of God through the natural beauty all around you?

Click Here for a 10-minute contemplative experience: Beauty In The Chaos

Scripture: Click Here to read Psalm 51

Read the passage over slowly, prayerfully and attentively a few times. As you do, allow God to highlight a word, phrase or verse – something that jumps out at you personally.

Observations: Think about what is being said, by who, and why they might be saying it the way they are. What is the surrounding context? What other background information do you have? How and where do you see the heart of Jesus in this? Don’t make conclusions or applications yet, just observe everything you can.

Application: Now consider how this passage might apply personally to your life. In what way does it speak to your own circumstances? How can it help you? How does it challenge you? How does it call you to love both God and others better? How does this word from God apply directly to your day-to-day life and how you are learning to follow Jesus?

Prayer: Now that you’ve read and reflected on God’s word and begun the process of application to your life, simply talk to God about it all. Share what’s swirling in your head and heart, allow space to listen for what the Holy Spirit is wanting to say to you in return as well.

The Prayer of Examen is a classic spiritual practice the church has been engaging in for hundreds of years. It’s an exercise meant to attune us more sensitively to the activity and presence of God in and around us – knowing that the busy demands and general noise of our lives tend to drown out that natural awareness.

Examen is a practice of looking backwards and re-examining where God was at work, in the hopes that it will train us to more readily spot and cooperate with where God is at work in our present moments.  Which is 100% a learned – and learnable – skill!

So today we invite you to engage this classic discipline – click here for a 10-minute guided experience.