Creating Space for Sacred Listening in Lent
- 14 hours ago
- 2 min read
One of the most effective ways of creating communities of Sacred Listening is to build in communal rhythms that interrupt our lives and help us focus on listening to God and one another. Over time, these rhythms get embedded into our patterns, and listening becomes a way of life. If you are looking to lead your community into new practices of listening, the season of Lent is a perfect time to begin.
On February 18th, the season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday. Whether your faith community regularly uses the church calendar or not, paying attention to Lent in your own life and community is a valuable way to cultivate better listening practices. Beginning on Ash Wednesday with a reflection on our mortality and our need for the grace of God, the season of Lent offers us the opportunity to slow down, pay attention to God, and commit to the radical act of listening. One element of Lent that can change our communities and us is learning how to pray.
In 30 years of ministry, one thing I have become convinced of is that most people find prayer difficult. Prayer is something most of us must learn. We aren’t sure what to say; our minds wander easily; we aren’t comfortable with silence; and we almost always try to pray on our own. Prayer is an opportunity for us to learn how to listen to God and one another. It holds the power to transform us by bringing us into the presence of God.
Rodney Clapp, in his book Living Out of Control, describes it this way. “In prayer we listen and we speak our thanks, praise, confessions, petitions, or intercessions. Two voices are allowed or elicited: that of God and of ourselves. Our gracious God, as the Psalms and other biblical texts demonstrate, allows us freedom to address God boldly, and even to argue and remonstrate with God. Accordingly, prayer invites true resonance – there are two voices, and we are not expected to merely echo God’s voice. All said, then, through its posturing and basic attitude, prayer in its very concept is designed to produce deep resonance.”
If you are looking for a deeper experience of God through sacred listening, here are some ways you might use the season of Lent to cultivate a richer prayer life.
Introduce silent listening into your day. Even five minutes of silence, no devices, no music, no distraction, can make a profound difference. Stop and pay attention.
Have a weekly prayer focus you share as a community. Reflect on how praying for that focus has impacted you.
Read scripture together. Gather with other members in your community and read scripture in a posture of listening. Read a passage and listen to it, prayerfully asking God to speak to you through the passage. Share your reflections together and pray for one another.
Take a walk! I enjoy praying and listening as I walk in the woods. Add motion and movement to your prayers; it can really help.
Memorize a short prayer and use it daily. Obviously The Lord’s Prayer will work great for this, but any short prayer that settles you down, focuses you, and can become a regular rhythm will work.
