We often tend to slight serious meditation and prayer as something not really necessary. To be sure, we feel it it something that might help us to meet an occasional emergency, but at first many of us are apt to regard it as a somewhat mysterious skill of clergymen, from which we may hope to get a secondhand benefit.
Bill W.
Sample:12 Step Centering Prayer Group Opening
We welcome you to the ______________ 12-Step Centering Prayer group, my name is____________________ and I will be leading the group this month.
First a reminder to please turn your phones off or to Silent mode rather than to vibrate so that we do not experience any interruptions.
We are a 12_Step Centering Prayer group whose purpose is to sustain, support and enrich our communal and individual practice of Centering Prayer as an 11th Step practice.
Centering Prayer comes from the Christian Contemplative tradition however; the focus of this group is on spirituality and not religion. There is no requirement of belief in any faith tradition to be a part of this group.
The only requirements for membership are a desire to establish Centering Prayer as a daily practice in your life and regular attendance in a 12-Step program.
If you have not yet attended an introductory workshop or retreat provided by 12-Step Outreach or Contemplative Outreach we encourage you to do so as soon as possible .
Our prayer meeting is divided into two sections: a 30 minute centering prayer period, a reading and then sharing. The meeting begins promptly at 11 o’clock. We encourage you to be on time, however if you arrive late, please enter as quietly as possible.
Membership in our group is anonymous in the 12-step tradition and cross talk is discouraged. We practice the 7th tradition. While there are no dues or fees, we are self supporting through our own contributions, two dollars is the suggested donation which we split, ½ going to Unity Church to cover the weekly use of this space and the other half to 12-step Outreach in St. Louis in support of our mission to teach Centering Prayer to people in all 12_step fellowships as an 11th step practice.
3 rings of the gong
Reading of psalm by a prayer group member
1 ring of the gong
25-30 minutes of silence
3 rings of the gong to end, and then a few quiet minutes to come back to our surroundings.
Chair person reads the chosen reading and when finished announces: “the meeting is now open for sharing.”
After the reading: pass the basket for 7th tradition
Before we close the meeting: Ask- does anyone have any announcements?
Close the meeting with the Serenity Prayer