Centering Prayer Program, March 16 2024

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Saturday, March 16, 2024
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Magnolia Chapel @ Matthews Glen
733 Pavilion View Dr, Matthews, NC 28105

Cost: $30
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This program offers a contemporary presentation of the discipline of Centering Prayer as silent communion with God beyond concepts, words, and images. Centering Prayer, traditionally called contemplative prayer, is a method of prayer which prepares us to receive the gift of God’s presence. It consists of responding to the Spirit of Christ by consenting to God’s presence and action within. It furthers the development of contemplative prayer by quieting our faculties to cooperate with the gift of God’s presence.

Centering Prayer facilitates the movement from more active modes of prayer – verbal, mental or affective prayer – into a receptive prayer of resting in God. It emphasizes prayer as a personal relationship with God. At the same time, it is a discipline to foster and serve this relationship by a regular, daily practice of prayer. It is trinitarian in its source, Christ-centered in its focus, and ecclesial in its effects; that is, it builds communities of faith.

Leaders:

Rob Field is an Episcopal priest in Brevard, N.C., where he and his family have lived since 1997. He has had a Centering Prayer practice for 25 years, was trained by Contemplative Outreach as a presenter and retreat leader, and has led many CP workshops and retreats in Western N.C.
Rob served as the minister in charge of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Brevard from 1997 to 2016, when he stepped aside from congregational ministry to found Center for Spiritual Wisdom, a non-profit spirituality center. He has served as the center’s director since its founding, and taught World Religions at Brevard College from 2018 to 2022.
Rob is a graduate of Dartmouth College and The School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee, TN. He also was awarded a Doctor of Ministry degree from Sewanee. He was born in Maine and raised in North Carolina. Rob and his wife, Jayne, live in Brevard with their two dogs.

Richard (Dick) Little is a retired Lutheran pastor who last served for 22 years at Advent Lutheran in Charlotte, NC until he retired in 2008. Upon retirement he began practicing Centering Prayer, facilitated weekly groups, participated in a 10-day Intensive retreat in Snowmass, CO, was certified to lead CP Introductory Programs, and now serves as Co-coordinator of the Circle of Service for COPNC. Sharing the practice of Centering Prayer has become a passion for him in his retirement.

Dick is a graduate of Davidson College and Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Lenoir-Rhyne University. He is a native of NC (8 generations) and spent his entire ministry in NC.

He now resides at Matthews Glen where he and his wife Cherie moved in 2020. They have two children, Shane (Melissa) and Kerri, who live nearby, and 4 grandchildren.