Ways to Pray
PRAYER IN AVENUE ST ANDREW’S
In addition to our Sunday services, which you can always watch during the week on Facebook or YouTube, and the virtual prayer tree on our website, we encourage you to pray your way – and there are as many ways to pray as there are people!
The URC Daily Devotions (see link on website front page) offer a daily reflection and a short prayer delivered to your email inbox. Further URC prayer resources can be found at:
https://urc.org.uk/your-faith/prayer-and-worship/
Meditation is found in many traditions of faith and philosophy, and Christianity has its own riches to share. The word meditation comes from the Latin word meditārī, which has a range of meanings including to reflect on, to study, and to practise. Christian meditation is the process of deliberately focusing the mind on specific words or thoughts and reflecting on them in the context of God’s love.
There are various online resources for people interested in exploring this approach to prayer. Some links follow which approach Christian meditation in different ways. Why not try them all out and see which approach works for you?
The World Community for Christian Meditation:
The approach here focuses on continually returning to a single prayer word or phrase during the time of the meditation. Constant attention to the prayer-word or phrase is emphasised.
https://wccm.org/meditate/how-to-meditate/
Contemplative Outreach:
Contemplative Outreach speak of Centering Prayer rather than meditation, . They emphasise our intention in their method, rather than constant repetition and attention to the prayer-word.
https://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/centering-prayer-method/
Julian Prayer Meetings:
Julian Meetings are named after the medieval mystic Julian of Norwich, famous for her insight that ‘all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.’ They encourage the practice of contemplative prayer and meditation in daily life and offer general guidance rather than promoting a specific method.
https://thejulianmeetings.net/contemplative-prayer-and-meditation/
Ignatian Contemplation
The style of meditation developed by Ignatius of Loyola, though still known as contemplation, involves a more active use of the imagination in prayer, deliberately engaging the mind and heart and stirring up thoughts and emotions. It focusses on a particular biblical passage, often from the Gospels, inviting us to let the events described become present to us now, and placing ourselves in the scene.