Get the appUnlearning PrayerSample
THE COURAGE TO STAY
KEY VERSE
"Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10
We are addicted to distraction. The moment things get quiet, we fill the space; with our phones, our thoughts, our to-do lists, our very reasonable reasons to be somewhere else.
The Desert Fathers called this restlessness acedia, and they had one cure for it: stay in the cell. The cell wasn’t just a hut, it was the mental space of remaining present to God, and to yourself, without fleeing.
Rowan Williams describes prayer as “exposure,” we stay not to get things done, but to stop running from who we are in God’s sight.
That might feel uncomfortable, but it’s also the beginning of everything. So that’s where we begin, by practicing the courage to stay.
THE PRACTICE
Set a timer for five minutes. Sit in a chair, not on your bed, not on the couch: on a chair with your feet on the ground. Do not read your Bible, listen to music, or say structured prayers. Simply stay.
When your mind wanders (and it will), gently return to these four words:
“Here I am God.”
Scripture
About this Plan
Prayer is strange territory. Some of us arrive here with decades of practice and still aren’t sure we’re doing it right. Some of us arrive carrying a long silence; years where prayer felt hollow, or pointless, or just absent. And some of us arrive simply curious. Drawing on the gritty wisdom of the Desert Fathers and Mothers and on the profound theological insight of Rowan Williams, these six devotions are about one thing: experimenting. Letting go of the habits, expectations, and performance anxieties and embracing some new ways and allowing space for a new openness to God to grow.
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We would like to thank Ashburton Baptist Church for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: https://www.ashburtonbaptist.org.au/
