Breathing Through Lent Post #1

Our congregation is joining together in a Lenten spiritual discipline called Breathing Through Lent. This is an individual prayer practice of stopping for a moment with God. It may be as simple as a few moments each day in quiet, rest, and breathing – or you may take more time with God in quiet breath prayers.  Journey alongside others in daily prayer from now until Easter. Sign-up here to participate and receive guided practices, tips, and encouragement along the way.

Breathing can be such a natural, mindless endeavor. Then again – sometimes, it’s almost like we forget to keep breathing and we may notice the effect of not breathing when we’re angry, stressed, or afraid. As we get started on our Breathing through Lent journey – I want to invite you into something different than either of these -- purposeful, prayerful breathing. Breathing with intention. Breathing slowly, fully, expansively. Breathing in a way that interrupts our auto-pilot ways.

One thing I’ve noticed in the first few days of this practice is that it is such an adaptable and flexible prayer practice – that when I settle in for the evening, it can be hard to remember if I actually did it. Did I do it in the car, waiting in line, at my desk, in bed before I faced the day? I decided to pull out this old resource from Praying in Color – to have fun with it and remind myself of where I slowed down for God. If you’d like, you can print a Lenten Coloring calendar off (click here, or let me know and pick one up at Faith). I’m using markers to take a little note each day of how I did breath prayers.

I have our first guided prayer practice for you posted on the Faith Instagram. (Make sure to UNMUTE by pressing the small volume icon in the bottom right corner). This is a great practice if you sometimes need a minute before you take your next step – whether that be walking into a doctor's office, shifting from work mode to at-home mode, or beginning a difficult conversation or task.

If you would like to join us, it’s never too late to start. The sign-up link is here.

God is right here. Right Now.

May your breath be prayer and your prayer be breath,

Deacon Nina

Participants receive guided practices, tips, and encouragement along the way.