Introduction to Lenten Guided Prayer: Participant Guide
Anticipating the theme and process: Participating in this 6-week experience will take you on a journey of discovery and challenge. As you pray with the scripture texts for Lent, you will be invited to consider how Jesus brings light into the shadow places of our lives and our world. You will be challenged to seek and to shine light, finding hope in desperate times.
Using the Weekly Prayer Sheets: Each week you will have a Prayer Sheet to guide you. Throughout Lenten Guided Prayer (LGP), we will be practicing contemplative prayer which invites you to notice how God’s spirit is moving within your everyday life experience, through listening, pondering, and wondering. We do this using the lens of scripture - in particular, the Lectionary readings from the Sundays during Lent.
Each sheet introduces you to the theme of the week and provides different suggestions for how to pray with the scriptures. Expect that some of the prayer exercises will easily draw you in, while others might stretch you into new ways of praying and responding. Since there are many prayer suggestions, it is not expected that you will pray with each one listed. Be open to however God leads you to express your prayer. There is no limit to how contemplative prayer can happen and where it can lead you. The key is that whatever you do, you do it in a prayerful, reflective way - even if it means getting curious about your resistance. Our hope is that through these prayer options, the themes of the Lenten texts can interact deeply with your life experience.
Sharing and Responding in the Weekly Small Group
For those who participate in a small group (we recommend 3-4 people), each week you will meet with a group facilitator to share some of your prayer experiences. People share only those things they feel comfortable sharing from their prayer times. Perhaps they share recorded reflections from their journal, some created artwork, a hymn that resonated, a calling they felt, what felt challenging, or something they saw that caught their attention.
Spiritual Direction
Spiritual directors are available to help you process your prayer experience throughout and beyond this time of Lent. To find a spiritual director visit:
Using the Weekly Prayer Sheets: Each week you will have a Prayer Sheet to guide you. Throughout Lenten Guided Prayer (LGP), we will be practicing contemplative prayer which invites you to notice how God’s spirit is moving within your everyday life experience, through listening, pondering, and wondering. We do this using the lens of scripture - in particular, the Lectionary readings from the Sundays during Lent.
Each sheet introduces you to the theme of the week and provides different suggestions for how to pray with the scriptures. Expect that some of the prayer exercises will easily draw you in, while others might stretch you into new ways of praying and responding. Since there are many prayer suggestions, it is not expected that you will pray with each one listed. Be open to however God leads you to express your prayer. There is no limit to how contemplative prayer can happen and where it can lead you. The key is that whatever you do, you do it in a prayerful, reflective way - even if it means getting curious about your resistance. Our hope is that through these prayer options, the themes of the Lenten texts can interact deeply with your life experience.
- Praying with scripture is an opportunity to dig deeper into a story or words from the Bible and consider how it speaks to you.
- Praying through your life invites us to be aware of God’s presence in our everyday lives as we go about our days. This option may also invite you to consider praying creatively, in nature or with movement.
- Praying with music provides song selections for those who connect to God and pray through music. You may choose to sing or play the songs for yourself; youtube links are also provided as available so that you can also listen to the musical selections.
- Praying for our world challenges us to consider/notice where God’s Spirit is present and moving in the world around us and invites us to live out God’s hope in intentional ways.
Sharing and Responding in the Weekly Small Group
For those who participate in a small group (we recommend 3-4 people), each week you will meet with a group facilitator to share some of your prayer experiences. People share only those things they feel comfortable sharing from their prayer times. Perhaps they share recorded reflections from their journal, some created artwork, a hymn that resonated, a calling they felt, what felt challenging, or something they saw that caught their attention.
Spiritual Direction
Spiritual directors are available to help you process your prayer experience throughout and beyond this time of Lent. To find a spiritual director visit:
- Mennonite Spiritual Directors at: mennospiritualdirectors.weebly.com
- Spiritual Directors International (SDI) at: sdicompanions.org