How Lenten Guided Prayer Works
Individual Prayer Time The heart of the Lenten Guided Prayer experience is engaging with a weekly prayer sheet, which provides prayerful reflection on selected biblical lectionary readings for the week as well as questions for reflection and suggestions for a variety of additional ways to pray throughout the week if you wish to explore some new ways to pray. While all the prayer options are contemplative in nature, we encourage you to set aside quiet time for prayer and also consider using some of the prayer options to pray on the go.
Small Groups For those who choose to meet with a small group, participants meet weekly with a designated group facilitator to share their experiences of prayer. This small group time is flexible to your situation. It can happen on Sunday morning or at another time during the week. A congregation may have just one or several small groups meeting at different times, or may gather all participants together for the Christian Formation/Sunday School hour and then split into small groups for sharing. It is important to note these small groups are not discussion groups but rather times when each person is given the opportunity to share reflections from their personal contemplative prayer experiences while the rest of the group listens. Sharing prayer experiences in this way deepens the transformative possibilities within the LGP journey. A liturgy has been provided for the first and final group meetings, should you wish to mark the beginning and end of LGP with a ritual. Click here for more information on the Small Group Process.
When Do We Begin? Lent begins with Ash Wednesday. The opening liturgy could serve as material for an Ash Wednesday service. Some individuals and congregations choose to use the prayer sheets to prepare for the upcoming Sunday, while others will use the prayer sheets in the week following the texts being used in Sunday worship to deepen their experience. Note that if you are using prayer sheets in the preceding week for preparation, you will be dwelling in Holy Week before Palm Sunday.
Be Creative! We encourage you use the LGP resources in whatever way works best for your context. LGP may be used by households, ministry teams, community groups, or in spiritual direction settings. Whether a small group option is offered or not, some churches distribute the prayer sheets to interested people in their congregation or attach them to a congregation-wide email. Elements of the prayer sheets may also be incorporated into worship.
Retreats The ideas on the weekly prayer sheets - particularly the opening and closing liturgies - could be used as a jumping off point for a 1/2 day or full day retreat. Open the retreat with scripture and a time of communal prayer, give plenty of space in the middle for silence and for participants to engage with the prayer sheets on their own, and then close with sharing and communal prayer. You may choose to bring in the resource of a spiritual director who could facilitate this type of retreat for your small group or congregation.
Small Groups For those who choose to meet with a small group, participants meet weekly with a designated group facilitator to share their experiences of prayer. This small group time is flexible to your situation. It can happen on Sunday morning or at another time during the week. A congregation may have just one or several small groups meeting at different times, or may gather all participants together for the Christian Formation/Sunday School hour and then split into small groups for sharing. It is important to note these small groups are not discussion groups but rather times when each person is given the opportunity to share reflections from their personal contemplative prayer experiences while the rest of the group listens. Sharing prayer experiences in this way deepens the transformative possibilities within the LGP journey. A liturgy has been provided for the first and final group meetings, should you wish to mark the beginning and end of LGP with a ritual. Click here for more information on the Small Group Process.
When Do We Begin? Lent begins with Ash Wednesday. The opening liturgy could serve as material for an Ash Wednesday service. Some individuals and congregations choose to use the prayer sheets to prepare for the upcoming Sunday, while others will use the prayer sheets in the week following the texts being used in Sunday worship to deepen their experience. Note that if you are using prayer sheets in the preceding week for preparation, you will be dwelling in Holy Week before Palm Sunday.
Be Creative! We encourage you use the LGP resources in whatever way works best for your context. LGP may be used by households, ministry teams, community groups, or in spiritual direction settings. Whether a small group option is offered or not, some churches distribute the prayer sheets to interested people in their congregation or attach them to a congregation-wide email. Elements of the prayer sheets may also be incorporated into worship.
Retreats The ideas on the weekly prayer sheets - particularly the opening and closing liturgies - could be used as a jumping off point for a 1/2 day or full day retreat. Open the retreat with scripture and a time of communal prayer, give plenty of space in the middle for silence and for participants to engage with the prayer sheets on their own, and then close with sharing and communal prayer. You may choose to bring in the resource of a spiritual director who could facilitate this type of retreat for your small group or congregation.