This morning I went to Blue Max for a breakfast meeting with our Faith in Action committee and ran into another church member buying a cup of coffee. This man (I'll call him Dan) had talked with me a few months ago about his spiritual life, saying he wanted to go deeper in his prayers but wasn't sure how to move forward.
I told Dan about centering prayer, and suggested that he look up a few books by Thomas Keating, who developed this prayer method. While Dan was in my office, I did an internet search on "centering prayer" and found a You Tube video of the man himself -- Thomas Keating explaining centering prayer! Nice. The world of technology is like a virtual church.
So this morning Dan told me that he uses centering prayer every day and it has changed his life. Thanks, You Tube.
I was part of a contemplative prayer retreat for clergy a week ago, and we were talking about the importance of humility in the life of a pastor. Our leader Tilden Edwards said we could think about our work in developing a sermon as being similar to making a Tibetan Buddhist sand mandala. I'd heard of these, but didn't know the details.
A quick Google visit brought me to a You Tube video of the Dalai Lama and other priests creating a gorgeous sand mandala, only to destroy it as soon as it was finished. This spiritual practice helps demonstrate the reality of impermanence. It helps Buddhists learn to let go of the results of their efforts on the material plane.
Who knew that You Tube could help us go deeper in our life with God?
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