The Center for Prayer & Spiritual Practice is an intentional space for spiritual formation and practice at Grace Episcopal Church–and beyond. The claim that The Center is making is that any renewal of the church as a faithful community must be grounded in a transformation of the heart that comes from deepening our practice of prayer.
A core, foundational vision of The Center is that we seek to transform the community from the inside out. We ask how it might be possible to nurture a contemplative reformation of our community in this day and age. (For a deeper reflection on the elements of a “contemplative reformation,” explore HERE.)
There are three broad focus points in The Center for Prayer & Spiritual Practice:
- Practices of Prayer–What are core practices that we can explore that can nurture a transformation of our hearts? How can we explore an experiential awareness of God’s presence in our lives? How can the richness of other religious wisdom traditions resonate with our own practice? How can we move away from a doctrinal fixation to a posture that seeks to develop a greater awareness of God’s indwelling presence?
- Biblical Proficiency– How can we learn more about our core stories? How do we become aware of the transformational nature of those stories in our lives? How can we move away from a fundamentalist or literalist position to one that embraces the rich and transformational potential of the symbolic in our stories? How do we come to see our lives shaped by the wisdom found in our sacred texts?
- Ethics & Connections to Everyday Life–How does “what we do” actually transform the way we live in the world today? How can we nurture an awareness of the living movement of the Spirit in our lives? How can we nurture a community that supports any reorientation we seek toward wholeness and healing? What insights can we gain from developing a Rule of Life?
It is no secret that the institutional or traditional church faces many challenges today. We wonder how the insights of the Christian contemplative tradition can help nurture the needed reorientation within our communities that can speak to the challenges we face.
To learn more about The Center, you can explore the landing platform on the Grace Episcopal Church website by clicking HERE.
Thoughts on a Contemplative Reformation 