Unforced Rhythms of Grace, Pt. 3: Solitude
Take Communion
Leader: Begin your time together by taking communion, whether as a full meal or some version of the bread and the cup before or after your meal. If you don’t already have a Communion liturgy, have someone read from the gospel of Matthew 11v28–30
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Review the Last Practice
Leader: As you review last week’s Practice, it may be helpful to remind everyone that this is a space to simply notice how it went, not to correct or advise anyone.
Before we jump into tonight’s Practice, let’s reflect and talk about how this previous week went with setting aside intentional time to read the Scriptures daily.
Whether you used BREAD or some other reading plan, what was your daily rhythm of engaging the Practice of Scripture? How has God met you in that daily rhythm?
How do you think this daily Practice impacted your week as a whole?
Read This Overview Aloud Together
There are more ways than ever for us to be well connected and informed in the world: networking, social media, cell phones, etc.. We can be tempted to think that all these ways have led us to where we are – a hyper-distracted, attention-deficit world. But the primary offender seems to be the amount of information we take in. We are being fire-hosed with far more content than we can actually process. Our inner lives, then, often become reflections of our outer lives – noisy and busy. The real issue, though, is that we import the culture of our pace into our spiritual formation, assuming we know where the story is going, often getting ahead of Jesus or just kicking and screaming, demanding that God moves faster. We tend to think peace is what we’re wanting from God because life is so busy, and waiting is uncomfortable. Instead, God teaches us that it’s actually hope we’re needing in our waiting. It’s hope that redeems our way of seeing God’s presence at work within us, even amidst a noisy and anxious world.
Solitude is the spiritual practice of allowing Jesus to form our inner lives according to his pace, growing us up in the process.
If our aim is to become people of peace in a culture of noise, God invites us to be like a weaned child who finds peace by God’s presence, not by his provisions. Growing up in the way of Jesus is uncomfortable and will, at times, feel like chaos that God isn’t doing anything about. That means that the only way we can grow up in the way of Jesus is by the uncomfortable imperative of waiting. The spiritual practice of waiting with hope is Solitude. While Solitude can outwardly look like a practice of retreating from the world, the truth is, Solitude is a way of being with God that we might live hope-fully for the sake of others.
Do This Practice Tonight
Leader: For tonight, you will need a way to keep track of time as you’ll enter 5 minutes of silence as a Community. If there are kids present, share with the parents that the first part of the Practice tonight will include silence and stillness so they can best support their kids. If it’s helpful, consider playing light instrumental music in the background so that distractions are minimal.
Solitude can be practiced in several ways: annually, quarterly, monthly through a retreat. Solitude can also be practiced weekly by spending an hour in quiet, prayerful silence. For tonight, the best place for us to start is with Silent Prayer, also known as Contemplative Prayer or Beholding Prayer. It’s exactly what it sounds like – a prayer either without words or with very few words, with the focus on watching and waiting with hope. Silent prayer is directing our full attention on God, beholding him, beholding me.
Get comfortable. As we begin, let’s take a moment to get comfortable. This can involve putting our phones aside, making sure the kids are doing ok in the other room, and getting into a posture that helps us feel open to the Spirit.
Spend 5 minutes in Silent Prayer. Next, let’s pray and invite the Spirit to come guide our time. We will then enter into 5 minutes of Silent Prayer. Remember, our minds tend to seize the moment in silence and multiple thoughts tend to surface. Picture each thought in your mind's eye, simply as a cloud: notice the thought and let it float on by. Each time you catch your distracted mind, you can return to a simple breath prayer, “In you, I live” or “In you, I rest” or “In you, I delight”, to anchor you back in Silent Prayer. You can open your hands in a posture of prayer that helps redirect your attention on God. When we come to the end of our 5 minutes, I will break our silence by saying “Thank you God for being with us tonight.”
Leader: Pray “Come, Holy Spirit” and then sit in silence.
Read Psalm 131. Let’s have someone read Psalm 131. Afterwards, we’ll take time to talk through a few or all of these questions:
As a baby is weaned by learning to trust, how might God be inviting you to greater levels of trust in him? What challenges or uncomfortability do you face in this?
How and when do you resist or avoid being alone? When have you felt the most present being alone with God?
Have you ever considered Solitude the spiritual practice of learning to wait on God, so that he can grow you up in trust? How does this understanding change your desire to practice Solitude or perspective of the practice?
What commitment, if any, do you feel the Spirit inviting you to regarding the practice of Solitude?
Read The Practice for the Week Ahead
This week we want to engage the Practice of Solitude by setting aside intentional time for Silent Prayer.
First, identify a time and place that works well for you. For most people, the first thing in the morning works best. You’re rested, fresh, and the day is young. For others, a more optimal time slot is when kids are napping in the late morning, or on a lunch break, after work, or before you go to bed. Feel free to experiment until you find the right fit.
Next, set a goal for how you’d like to practice Solitude through Silent Prayer this week. It could be helpful to start at 2 minutes per day if this is an entirely new practice. As you build stamina in Solitude, add time, moving to 5, then 7, then 10 minutes. When beginning any new practice, it's important to start slow and start where you are. Consistency is far more important than duration. If you already have a daily practice of Solitude, consider incorporating a weekly ritual of extended quiet reflection or perhaps a monthly, quarterly, or annual rhythm of retreat.
Then, for the Practice itself: (similar to how we did it tonight)
Put away your phone or any other distractions, settle in, and get comfortable.
Begin with a breath prayer. Close your eyes and release the constant chatter in your mind. Let each thought come and go, releasing it back to the Lord. When you notice your mind start to wander, just recenter with a quick prayer, like, “Jesus” and come back to your breathing.
Spend a few minutes noticing God’s presence. Set a timer on your phone (2-10 minutes), open your hands in a posture of prayer, and pray aloud, “Come, Holy Spirit,” and then sit in silence.
Close in a prayer of gratitude and commit the rest of your day to the Father.
Finally, with the goal of helping families at Bridgetown engage these core Practices in their homes, similar to how we do in Community, we have also released a Family Guide for Solitude. These Guides are written to be conversational and to include all members of the family. That Guide can be found by clicking the button below or on the teaching page for this series.
The next time we meet, we’ll take time to hear about how this Practice of Silent Prayer and Solitude went for each of us.
End in Prayer
Leader: Close your time together in prayer, asking God to continue teaching your Community that his yoke is easy and his burden is light through the Practice of Solitude.