Responding to Anxiety: Contemplative Prayer
NOTE: I know that the words “Contemplative Prayer” will violate the ears of some evangelical hearers. It’s important that this term, which is wide, is defined here. I am NOT describing hearing a new Word from God (apart from Scripture) or seeking to have spiritual experiences by simply emptying one’s mind. I am describing a process of praying whereby you pursue peace with God, accepting the world as it comes at you, which increases and relies on trust in the person of God (and all He has communicated to us through Jesus and the Scriptures).
2020 is clearly a time of anxiety. Of the unknown. Of things we cannot control. We need now, more than ever, to come back to the here and now. We need the presence of God. We need peace.
Before 2020, depression & anxiety were at all-time highs (!). Now, it seems that very few have escaped their effects.
WHEN WE CAN’T FIX IT…
Robert Mulholland writes about how early on in our prayer life, most of our prayers are about symptom-management. We try to get Jesus to take away our suffering. And it’s not bad. Even Jesus taught us to pray that way, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Some translators have summarized this as, “Don’t let bad things happen to us.”
But, at some point, we must to mature beyond problem-solving, because there is so much that we cannot solve. Our deepest problems personally and within our world often cannot be fixed by us.
WHAT IS CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER?
Contemplative prayer is…
Less about talking to/at God; more about listening to God.
Less about praying with people; more about praying alone.
Less about changing the world with Jesus; more about accepting the world as it comes to you with Jesus.
In contemplative prayer, we seek to come to peace and experience the presence of God by yielding to Him.
St John of the Cross (the ‘great cartographer of the spiritual life’) wrote, “Our greatest need is to be silent before this great God.“ Or as Jesus might say it, “We need to abide in the vine.” The word in the Greek there is ‘meno,’ which means ‘to rest in’ or ‘to make your home in’ God.
Contemplative prayer is simply seeking to rest in God and have God come rest in you.
THIS IS HARD FOR US.
We are the most distracted we’ve ever been. We fill every waking moment with music, news, Netflix, emails, social media, etc. The volume is always up. In contrast, we are averse to the opposite—making room; having space; being alone; sitting still.
Silence sounds deafening. Maybe even terrifying?
But don't worry, because contemplative prayer is simple and practical. In short, is the the HOW.
WANNA TRY IT?
Below are some simple resources/recordings that have helped us learn how to do this (personally and with clients):
BRIDGETOWN AUDIO PODCAST:
“Breath Prayer” (10 minutes audio demonstration): https://bridgetown.church/teaching/bridgetown-daily/breath-prayer/
“Welcoming Prayer” (10 min audio demonstration) about how to include and become aware or our bodies in prayer: https://bridgetown.church/teaching/bridgetown-daily/welcoming-prayer/
“Imaginative Prayer” (10 min audio demonstration): https://bridgetown.church/teaching/bridgetown-daily/imaginative-prayer/
“Being Present in the Moment” (10 min audio): https://bridgetown.church/teaching/bridgetown-daily/imaginative-prayer/
GUIDED PRAYERS IN THE REACH CHURCH APP
“LECTIO365” (A DAILY CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER APP)