Centering Down: Contemplative Practices for Diverse Communities

How can we experience God in an age of speed, noise, and division? One way is through contemplative practices where we set aside time and space to take a “long, loving look at the real” (William McNamara). Join us on Tuesdays at the Seminary this fall as we bring in a group of diverse practitioners to teach and lead us in a contemplative practice from their tradition. In the free meal following, we will have a chance to ask questions and reflect on the experience we had and how we can lead these practices in our own faith communities.

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Litany of Gratitude: The Corporate Practice of Enough
September 22 and 29
Rev. Rich Johnson, Director of the Weborg Center for Spiritual Direction (Chicago, IL) and Pastor of Sanctuary Columbus Church (Columbus, OH)
In the Jewish call-and-response song Dayenu,  the community recounts God’s saving acts one by one, pausing after each to declare, “It would have been enough.” Inspired by Dayenu, this corporate contemplative practice trains the heart toward gratitude by refusing to let one gift rush past unnoticed, teaching the community of worshippers to dwell in sufficiency rather than perpetual want.

Ignatian Contemplation: Imaginative Prayer
October 20 and 27
Dr. Lauren Schwer, Director of Ignatian Spirituality at Loyola University (Chicago, IL)
Through use of Scripture, our senses, and an invitation to the Holy Spirit, Ignatian Contemplation invites an individual to encounter God (often specifically Jesus) in the Gospels in a dynamic and unfolding way. By imagining you yourself are embedded within a Gospel story, new conversations and understandings of relationship can unfold.

Praying with Our Ancestors
November 17 and 24
Rev. Dr. Juliet Liu, Co-Pastor of Life on the Vine Christian Community (Long Grove, IL)
Praying with Our Ancestors invites us to recover a biblical practice largely lost to modern Western Christianity: naming and remembering those who carried the faith before us as a way of grounding our own prayer. Together we’ll practice recalling and giving thanks for our ancestors as a communal act of prayer and belonging.