Lenten Predawn Prayer and Yoga

After His baptism by John the Baptist, Jesus went into the desert for 40 days to fast, pray, and become more intimately connected with His Father. The Christian liturgical season of Lent recalls those 40 days of Jesus as we set aside 40 days. In the Christian tradition, Lent is perhaps the most sacred season of the year. It is a time of preparation, recollection, reconciliation, renewal and transformation. Fox Island United Church of Christ will be offering a very unique practice to support Christians on their spiritual journeys. Many ancient practices of prayer and meditation will be followed. Our intention with these various contemplative practices will be: to consent to God’s healing and action within us, to be transformed in the Spirit, to drop beneath our thinking minds so we can touch a real experience of the Divine, and finally to move into Christ Consciousness.

All are invited to the FIUCC’s Lenten Predawn Prayer and Yoga Practice. This will be a profound spiritual journey for those who embark on it. The Journey will be filled with discovery and challenge, sustained by God’s loving embrace. We believe that all who choose to participate have been called to do so by the Holy Spirit. How else could we explain people being at church for prayer and yoga from 5:00 – 7:00 am every morning for over 40 days?

And why will we be up so early? The predawn hours of the morning are a very sacred time in all major religions: It is when there is said to be a thin veil between this world and the spirit world. According to the Book of Wisdom in the Bible, “When peaceful silence lay over all, and when night had run half way her swift course, down from the heavens from the royal throne, leapt your all-powerful Word.” The divine word enters our world in silence and during the nighttime.

The daily practice will include 1. Yoga (hatha and pranayama), 2. Lectio Divina (an ancient method of reading sacred scripture as practiced by the Mothers and Fathers of the Desert and later in monasteries in the East and West), 3. Chanting, and 4. Centering Prayer (a contemplative Christian prayer practice of meditation).

The Lenten Predawn Prayer and Yoga Practice will run daily from Ash Wednesday (February 18) to Holy Thursday (April 2), from 5:00 – 7:00 am at FIUCC, 726 6th Avenue, Fox Island. Each morning will follow the same schedule: 1. Welcome, chanting and Lectio Divina, 2. Hatha Yoga, 3. Pranayama Yoga, 4. Chanting and Centering Prayer. The practice will be video taped each morning and upload daily so participants can do their practice at home if necessary. A hot link can be found at http://www.foxislanducc.org under the “Resources” dropdown menu. Those joining the practice will be able to attend certain parts if they so choose, whether in the church or online. For more information contact Natalia King (253) 278-1805 or Patty Metzger (253) 303-0005.

This is an amazing opportunity in our rushed and wounded world to enter into a sacred space of peace and transformation.