Adult Formation
Learning to Pray at St. Paul's
Newcomers & Foundations of Faith Series
Sunday Oct. 19, after the 10:30 am Mass – Fr. Martin Smith - Forum: Questions about Prayer
Saturday Oct. 25, 10:30am till 3pm – Fr. Martin Smith - A School of Prayer
Sunday Nov. 16, after the 10:30 am Mass – Dr. John Orens - Intro to Anglo-Catholicism
Sunday Dec. 7, after the 10:30 am Mass – Fr. Richard Wall - A User’s Guide to the Book of Common Prayer
Wednesday Dec. 10, starting at 5:30 pm – Instructed Eucharist (Learn what to do, when and maybe even why...)
A Year of Formation in Prayer, by Fr. Martin Smith
Integrated with our Newcomers & Foundations of Faith Series, Fr. Martin Smith will be leading a yearlong series of formation opportunities starting this October with three goals:
- to re-imagine our relationship with God in prayer
- to receive practical coaching in the various facets of prayer
- to be introduced to a range of different ways to pray
Prayer always involves ‘starting over,’ so our sessions of exploration are meant both for beginners, and those beginning again. Our formation year offers a variety of opportunities, and parishioners are encouraged to invite other friends to participate.
Teaching Sermons
Fr Martin will preach three sermons on topics central to prayer:
- What on earth is ‘the will of God’? (October 19th)
- Intercession: what is really going on when we pray for others? (February 8th)
- Unlocking our capacity for adoration (April 26th)
A Forum for Questions about Prayer (October 19th)
Parishioners are encouraged to stay after the 10.30 am Mass for an open session in which any and all questions about prayer are welcome. (This will be one of three introductory forums for new members of St Paul’s). Fr Martin will draw on many decades of experience in spiritual direction to answer our questions.
A School of Prayer (October 25th)
A half-day workshop (10.30 am to 3.00 pm) designed to help people make a fresh start in prayer, starting just where they are. The emphasis will be on learning to be emotionally honest with God, starting from our actual current experience of life, developing our sense that God wants to be in our life and to awaken our sense of his loving companionship in Christ. There will be several teaching sessions, opportunities for personal experiments in prayer, and open discussion.
Wednesday Evening Lent Sessions “Ways to Pray”
Each session will focus on a particular form of prayer for participants to experiment with during Lent.
- ‘Holy Reading’ A way to meditate with scripture passages (Feb. 25th)
- The Jesus Prayer A way of prayer from the Orthodox tradition that helps us realize the presence of Christ in all places, times and situations, as well as giving us a focus for our prayer times. (March 4th)
- Praying with Scripture Stories A way of prayer which encourages us to use our imaginations to ‘relive’ a gospel story then pray the feelings that emerge. (March 11th)
- First Steps in Contemplative Prayer God often leads us to pare down our prayer to a single word or phrase to center us, helping us through silence to be ‘rooted and grounded in love.’ (March 18th)
