The Art of Prayer session 2
Elijah Summer School Week 2 Day 3— Tuesday 2nd August 2022
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When Jesus said this is how you should pray it was 5 verses. He had lived out the concept of ‘Our father’ with those following him. They had an idea of what he spoke of as they had heard it and witnessed it in his life.
As we arrived at the sessions with Baruch and Dana they are perhaps as new to us as their teaching on prayer.
The teaching style is very directed not allowing for discussion of the experience of those participating unless requested.
This may be an advantage for those who wish to learn the Art of praying but can be an obstacle if you already have a prayer practice. You may identify your own practices with what is being said and wish to integrate some of the ideas into your prayer practice.
This method of prayer is adapted from the International Foucussing Institute which reads as a psychotherapeutic approach.
It was good for me to contrast my own prayer practice with what was said,
Don’t close your eyes — perhaps it stops me going on autopilot
Feel your body — do I forget the rest of my body?
I did think that many of us may have experienced the stillness and silence spoken yet maybe because it was teaching a particular practice there was little room made for it.
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