Here & Now
An invitation to Pause, Encounter, and Grow together.
An invitation to Pause, Encounter, and Grow together.
A contemplative’s journey.
Lent Day 27
For the Gig Harbor Gathering Hub this month, we looked at what a Collect, a short, intentional prayer, looks like for each of us. It’s a simple format of a name for God, the characteristic that describes God for you, an intentional plea, and a closing doxology (a word of praise).
I asked to share some of them with all of you. Here they are:
Loving God, my everything, my creator….I trust you.
You provide safety, wisdom, direction, and most of all unconditional love.
Help my mind to pause, retreat, listen, and always see and be aware of you.
Teach me to share you and give hope to others.
Help me to grow and give myself grace.
In your name I pray….
Amen
Michelle
A Place for God to Dwell
God of tabernacles and temples –
you dwell with us,
you live in us.
You don’t need a man-made home to to dwell in
but you come and fill the space anyway.
Come dwell in me and fill me –
fill every room and space in my heart.
Come fill the places we prepare for you and others,
that your presence,
your brightness,
your love and
your grace
abide and dwell with us all.
Amen.
Christine
Hope
Abba, Father,
In You there is hope, healing and freedom.
You make all things new.
Incubate, penetrate, illuminate what is true in and through me.
Let Your glory shine.
Praise to our Lord and Savior, the risen Christ Jesus. Amen.
Melanie
Creator, Sustainer, Lover,
Freedom, Light, Warmth
You know me; help me be known.
Holy in you; holy in imperfection.
Help me step forward toward your Holy ground
And fall fall fall
Onto your wings.
To fly in freedom in this world
Here and now.
To know you, seek you, find you in them.
Be known to them too.
Katy
O Jesus,
The one who walks, speaks, listens, holds, carries, heals,
and loves.
Set my heart upon your trusting breast.
I hunger for connection, even when I don’t understand.
Expand my capacity to love and more through
fears, named and unnamed.
May I know the well of joy that springs up,
even in the undercurrent of sadness.
You are the holder of sacred space in the hope of transformation.
Amen
Mary
Wisdom and Peace
Spirit of Wisdom, who guides those who trust in You,
show me the way to help my aging beloved one.
Help me to accept his weaknesses with peace and hope.
God, all Love, bring him to know your Eternal Love
and bring peace to both of our hearts
as we journey with You together.
Amen
Jan L.
MEET MONTHLY IN A HOST’S HOME
Gathering Hubs facilitate in-person contemplative community for a specified geographical region. Gathering Hubs cultivate a space to reawaken our deeper presence with God, experience contemplative practices together, share in our experience of life and practice and find support for contemplative living. But also, Gathering Hubs have become a launching point for other special interest groups to form locally, emphasizing deeper listening through contemplation. Search “Gathering Hub” in the Events Calendar for the next Gathering Hub event.
ON THE SELAH CENTER WEBSITE
Go to the Events Calendar for the next Gathering Hub meeting, typically on the second Monday of the month. If this is your first time, contact the organizer through the email provided to find out more.
Currently, two areas in the Puget Sound region of Washington state meet monthly as in-person (and hybrid) Gathering Hubs. One is meeting in Edmonds and drawing people from Everett to Seattle. The other meets in Gig Habor and attracts people from Tacoma and the Kitsap Peninsula.
Mary Pandiani, D.Min, serves as Selah’s Executive Director, leading the community and organization through its current transition into future possibilities. Mary has served in various capacities for Selah, including as a founding board member, seminar/group leader, and co-facilitator for Selah’s extended programs, Living From The Heart and Way of the Heart. In addition, Mary is a spiritual director and coach, a co-facilitator for a spiritual direction training program, and an advisor for doctoral students. Mary received her Doctorate of Ministry at Portland Seminary, and her work focuses on a posture of contemplative living across the seasons of life. Her foundation starts with a love for God, who wants to be known, and a desire to help others to pause-notice-listen-respond in ways that lead to a deeper understanding of God’s divine invitation. With the support of her husband Bill, Mary serves Selah while also enjoying her family of 4 adult daughters and their families. Mary lives in Gig Harbor, WA, where she knows the value of beauty in creation and the gift of community.
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