Our Week of Guided Prayer is focussed on enabling participants to attend a prayer "retreat" while still maintaining their normal daily routine.

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Toby Lambert
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1 Week of Guided Prayer What does it mean to live in God s time? We often live our lives in linear time seeing life with a beginning and an end. Stepping back to view life from God s perspective, we open ourselves to new possibilities. Instead of moving from birth to death, we are invited to focus on God s transformative presence in all the moments and cycles of our lives. This Week of Guided Prayer will help us discover how in God s time hidden in joyful endings are challenging beginnings wonderful new beginnings can be revealed through painful endings traumatic beginnings may lead to abundant possibilities despair can open into hope. This Week of Guided Prayer will provide us the opportunity to experience God s presence with us through the moments of endings and beginnings of our lives. Living in God s time is trusting that God is with us through our joys and sorrows our trials and our opportunities we are invited to deepen our relationship with Holy Mystery-the Alpha & Omega Holy Love. Our Week of Guided Prayer is focussed on enabling participants to attend a prayer "retreat" while still maintaining their normal daily routine Living in God s Time Commitment to this Week of Guided Prayer involves spending 30 minutes praying scripture at home, and then coming to our church for another 30 minutes with a "prayer companion" each day of the retreat week, from Monday to Friday.

2 Living in God s Time Dear Friends, The Week of Guided Prayer is a special week in your congregation. Even if you are not participating as a Retreatant, you are invited to share in this "retreat in the midst of daily life". The following are ways in which you can make this a special week for yourself, and share with those on retreat: Pray daily for the Retreatants, Companions and Coordinators. Come to the sanctuary as often as you are able to spend time with God, praying in your own way or as suggested below. Use the daily handout sheets of scriptures on the retreat theme. Walk and pray the labyrinth if available, using the materials provided. Browse at the book table. Borrow a book for the week, sign up to indicate your intention to purchase a book on Saturday or order a copy. Prayer is unique to each person. It is whatever you do to open yourself to the presence and activity of God in your life and in the world. It is your response to God's call and leading. Prayer is communication and communion with God, in set-aside moments of "heart to heart", and in the midst of daily life. Prayer is a love feast; it is a love exchange which nourishes the soul, and feeds the hunger for meaning and purpose in life. Prayer is participating in God's intention for shalom, for peace in our lives, our families, our church, society and world. Prayer is so much more! It is mystery and reality; it is blessing.

3 Some suggestions for personal prayer in the sanctuary: Choose a comfortable place to sit. God is with you. Listen to the quiet around you. Quiet your body and mind by focussing on your breathing. Feel a stillness settle over you. What do you seek from God at this time? Ask for this grace. Allow the Spirit to lead you now, perhaps to... pray with a scripture, pondering and lingering over the words or images that draw you contemplate a window or symbol in the sanctuary pour out your heart before God wait in silence, being attentive to thoughts and feelings as they arise from deep within offer petitions for others as they come to mind give thanks for God's blessings and faithfulness. Some suggestions for personal prayer beyond the sanctuary: Take a prayer walk with God. Allow your attention to be drawn to certain things in nature or people you meet and respond as you are moved by the Spirit. Notice the little "God-incidences" in your day, signs of God's presence, protection, love and caring. Intentionally pause to attend to your breathing and connect with the Spirit. Follow the nudge to do something for someone, a call, a note, a visit... Journal. Give thanks as best you can "in all things"; intend to live with an attitude of gratitude, expectancy and hope.

4 A Week of Guided Prayer in Our Church There are as many ways to pray as there are people. Prayer is two way communication with God. You can pray kneeling, standing or lying down, walking in the woods, at the kitchen sink, in your bed or in the midst of a crowd of people. You can pray out loud, in silence by writing in a journal, by dancing or by repeating a single word over and over until you are in a deep place beyond thought. The prayer happening in our church this week is a prayer of imagination. People read a passage of scripture several times and then using their imagination to place themselves in the passage, seek God s word for them. You can support this week by praying for the participants. You are welcome to walk and pray using the labyrinth. (The labyrinth is a tool which helps us focus on God.) You are also invited to pick up a daily handout sheet in the sanctuary and enjoy the silence of the church. God longs to be in communication with us. During this Week of Guided Prayer pause and speak to God often. Listen and let God speak to you!

5 A Reflection on Praying Scripture in a Week of Guided Prayer My three Retreatants each came away knowing they had heard God's voice of affirmation. Their joy was obvious. I have never before witnessed how two Retreatants, who struggled with health problems and the murky waters of pain, could finish the week calm and reassured knowing they were where God wanted them to be, ready to wait on His guidance. The third was a woman who was so open to learning. She had never talked personally, one to one, with anyone else about her faith. She had participated in many Bible studies, but found this new idea of praying the scripture and hearing God speak to her so valuable. In the rocky boat passage, she said she always thought it was only about Jesus. She found it almost incredible when she heard him say to her, "Be still, be calm in your life". She was so grateful to discover this process and will read the Bible in a new way from now on. The three Retreatants touched my heart and journey, as I sat back even more than normal and let God be God. Together we experienced God's love and caring for us with gratitude, tears and laughter. The more I let go, the more I relaxed into just being myself with nothing to prove. The process of the whole week is such a God given gift. Used with the permission of Joan King and the Retreatants referenced.

6 A Reflection on a Week of Guided Prayer Every year at this time something amazing happens at Bracebridge United Church. For ten years there has been a prayer phenomenon happening here. A group of committed volunteers offer their time to act as companions to others as they participate in a week of daily retreat in the midst of everyday life. This is the third year I have been part of the Week of Guided Prayer. As a participant, each day I am given a reflection with some suggested scriptures passages. I choose one of those passages and spend a time of reflection and prayer. Each participant is encouraged to write in a journal as part of the reflection. Then we each spend half an hour at some point in the day talking to our companion about whatever emerged in our prayer time. There is a very peaceful and comfortable feeling to the week for those of us that spend most of each day in the church. The rhythm of the five days means that the companions arrive in the morning and spend a good part of the day here. The companions meet in the various rooms to talk and pray with the participants. Gentle laughter can be heard from time to time as folks gather by the book display. Today the sound of softly playing music floated up the hallway from the auditorium as people were given the opportunity to walk the labyrinth. But the best part of the week is the delight and amazement that appears when people talk about their experiences. For myself God has come to me in the reflection on the scripture and even more fully in the conversation with my companion. It is a rich and wonderful time. I am so grateful for the gift of this week and the people who make it possible. If you aren't participating I hope that next year you do. Rev. Nancy Knox, Bracebridge United Church

A RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPS BY A PROCESS OF GROWING INTIMACY. increased attentiveness as an encounter with Christ. as a basis for a conversation

GROWTH IN RELATIONSHIP Handout # 1 A RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPS BY A PROCESS OF GROWING INTIMACY With Another Person With Christ (Through Scripture) Acquaintance o Informational o Formal Friendliness o Conversational