Unconventional prayer practices

Unconventional prayer practices

Spiritual retreats -- Anglican Communion - Case studies.
Christ Church Cathedral (Ottawa, Ont.) -- Case studies.
Divine office
.

by Dawna D. Wall, 2013 - How do we as people of faith keep ourselves in tune with the rhythm and mystery of God while being inundated with increasing levels of information, noise, frantic motion, and jobs that are more connected to the flow of information than to the flow of body, mind, and spirit? How can communities of faith offer sanctuary to those yearning for it? Learning from monastic communities that help connect individual lives with the Divine by keeping the seven hours, and mingling work and prayer, this project explored the possibility that a modern, accessible retreat could help participants reconnect body, mind, and spirit. In a one-day retreat in an Anglican Cathedral setting, 42 participants, ranging in age from 7 to 86, loosely kept the seven hours and engaged in creative activities: self-directed art projects, needlework, labyrinth walking, illuminating letters, baking, gardening and making rosaries. Participants rated their levels of peacefulness upon arrival and departure, and explored the areas where they had experienced stress during the day, and what they felt led them to a deeper peace. Contained encounters with stress helped participants move to deeper levels of internal peacefulness, as did support and feedback provided through the structure and experience of the event. Seasonal one-day retreats which mingle prayer, creative activity and silence offered in the intrinsic beauty of our churches can help increase inner peace in ways that spill over into daily lives, and can strengthen the ministries of the churches themselves.

Wall, Dawna D.

Alexandria, VA: Virginia Theological Seminary.

2013

Copyright 2013, Dawna D. Wall.

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