‘Resting in God’s Presence’

By Gretchen Murray
TRAVERSE CITY RECORD EAGLE (TRAVERSE CITY, Mich.)

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. November 21, 2007 11:21 am

— Life is full of distractions, and like everyone, Marilyn Dressel has her share.
But the retired Episcopal priest from Traverse City has a tool for keeping her life balanced and on a spiritual path. Dressel practices Centering Prayer, a method of silent meditation that allows the mind and heart to be open to the presence of God.
Dressel practiced the ritual at home and facilitated a Centering Prayer group at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Midland where she served as pastor.
Shortly after retiring and moving to Traverse City 11 years ago, she started a Centering Prayer group here.
“When I retired I finally had the free time to do Centering Prayer twice a day, but after a few months of going it alone, I decided I also needed community,” Dressel said.
She called four or five women from Grace Episcopal Church and asked if they would sit with her. Ten-and-a-half years later those women are still meeting from 11 a.m. to noon each Wednesday to sit together in silence.
“Centering Prayer doesn’t replace other prayer, and it’s not for everyone,” Dressel said. “But it’s a beautiful way to approach God’s presence.”
She said it takes some practice, but that after a while, the prayer produces the same comfortable feeling as spending time with an old friend.
“When my husband and I walk or kayak, we don’t talk a lot. We don’t need to talk. In Centering Prayer you’re simply resting in God’s presence,” Dressel said. “It’s not a Buddhist thing, but it does have a Zen quality. It’s life in the moment.”
And out of silence comes action.
“It affects how you drive, how you stand in line at the post office, your relationships. I can’t give peace if I don’t feel it,” she said.
Dressel said that historically Centering Prayer was a part of everyday religious practices for the first 16 centuries, but it was lost during the Reformation. In the 1970s Father William Meninger, a Trappist monk, and his associates at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Mass., Father Basil Pennington and Abbot Thomas Keating resurrected it as a means of teaching Christian contemplative meditation to offset the movement of young Catholics toward Eastern meditation techniques.
A Christian life is a disciplined life, and Dressel feels that it has to be lived intentionally.
“Every day of our life is a gift for us to live fully. To know you’re loved in both silence and community,” she said. “We’re not to journey alone. There’s wisdom in one another.”
She fears people might get the impression that they are a group of introverts, but that is far from reality. Some women arrive a little early to chat, but at 11 a.m. they settle into silence.
Dressel says the 10 women who currently make up the group have become close over the years, and always welcome new members.
“We want new life in the group. We’re not a sorority,” she said.
They hold special mini contemplative retreats during Lenten and Advent seasons, and are offering two 40-minute Advent Quiet Morning Retreats between 10 a.m. and noon on Dec. 8 at Grace Episcopal. The sessions will take place in conjunction with the church’s annual cookie walk and craft sale as a way to quietly center participants in the meaning of the holiday while in the midst of preparations.
The mini contemplative retreat will feature the ancient practices of Lectio Divina, (praying scriptures) and Taize prayer, (informal singing and mediation) and sitting in silence for a short period of time.
“For years I did all the talking,” Dressel said. “We have many prayer times in the Episcopal Church, and I led them all, but now I take the time to listen.”
Grace Episcopal Church is at 341 Washington St., Traverse City. To learn more about the Centering Prayer group, call 947-2330.

Gretchen Murray writes for the Traverse City (Mich.) Record-Eagle..

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