I want to suggest something different for some of us during Advent this year. I would like to form, basically, an E-mail group of people who want to take on a single spiritual discipline from November 28th through December 24th, and to share a bit of what that is like with the larger group. We will try to meet together in person one time, to get our supplies and some helps, and then go our way, practice our discipline privately, and occasionally reflect on it by E-mail with the rest of the group.
While we will talk about a variety of possible disciplines, there are a couple I do want to stress. These are different disciplines of prayer. The first is using the Anglican Rosary, which is an adaptation of the Catholic rosary, which has been in use since the 13th century. The Anglican Rosary is quite different, but uses the same principles of having beads as an aid to prayers.
The second is much more ancient, and that is the Prayer Rope, which goes back to the 300′s, and is usually used in conjunction with the Jesus prayer. I will have a supply of both Anglican Rosaries and Prayer Ropes on hand.
The discipline is to make a commitment to a set time of prayer each day; and then simply to do it. Such disciplines often get us thinking about a number of things, and the E-Mail group is a way to share these thoughts. If you are interested, let me know, and we will start making some plans.