Prayer time 28 January 2026
Metaphysical prayer
Our Unity Five Steps prayer practice, with Thomas Merton’s ‘desert’ of the heart.
Alternative style this evening - more frequent 30 second pauses, returning over and over to the desert of the heart.
Welcome and settling in
Welcome everyone. Let’s arrive together.
If it helps, place one hand on your heart and one on your belly, or rest your hands open. Let your breathing be natural and unforced.
Our purpose and guiding principles
As usual, we will scaffold our prayer in the Five Steps of Unity prayer, and also using the idea found in Thomas Merton’s writing that prayer flourishes in the desert. (Merton was a monk and a modern-day mystic.)
So not only have we pulled away to our shared prayer closet together this evening, but we are also seeking to pray from the desert of our heart. The desert is the inner place where we let go of noise, performance, and strain. We become available to God.
Relaxation, Concentration, Meditation, Realisation, Appreciation.
So our aim is to create conditions where prayer can flourish.
Brief teaching: the Five Steps + our silence rhythm
Relaxation: I become still.
Concentration: I gather my attention in God.
Meditation: I rest in the Presence and listen.
Realisation: I recognise what is true in God, and in me.
Appreciation: I give thanks, and I release.
Tonight, instead of one long stretch of silence, we’ll use a repeated rhythm:
Name of God → 30 seconds silence.
The purpose is to continually return to our desire for stillness and silence, in which the mysteries of God’s love are made clear to us.
So many small bite size silence windows, instead of our longer two and three minute windows. Let’s get into it.
Guided prayer practice
Step 1 — Relaxation
Let the body soften. Unclench the jaw. Relax the forehead. Drop the shoulders. God is here.
I speak the Name: Adonai. 30 seconds of silence.
As we rest, we allow the “desert” to open within.
A spacious place.
The desert of our heart.
I speak the Name: Yahweh.
30 seconds of silence.
Step 2 — Concentration - as usual, Scripture as our anchor
Now, gently gather your attention and we turn our attention toward God as our Source.
I speak the Name: Holy One.
30 seconds of silence.
Scripture reading
Scripture (Concentration anchor) - Psalm 55 - a complaint about a friend’s treachery, combined with Psalm 86 - the song about the joy of worship in the temple
Psalm 55: 1-8
Give ear to my prayer, O God;
do not hide yourself from my supplication.
Attend to me, and answer me;
I am troubled in my complaint.
I am distraught by the noise of the enemy,
because of the clamour of the wicked.
For they bring trouble upon me, and in anger they cherish enmity against me.
My heart is in anguish within me,
the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
Fear and trembling come upon me,
and horror overwhelms me.
And I say, ‘O that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest;
truly, I would flee far away…’
Psalm 84:1 - 5
How lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD of hosts!
My soul longs, indeed it faints
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my King and my God.
Happy are those who in your house, ever signing your praise.
Happy are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
I speak the Name: Living Christ.
30 seconds of silence.
Mediation, where our prayer flourishes
Here is our invitation to rest more deeply. Nothing to conjure up, no experience to seek, no crescendo or decrescendo. (Much violin and cello in my world this week!)
What is this desert where our prayers flourish? It is the inner place of letting go all struggle, noise and strain. Prayer flourishes in the desert of our heart.
So we let prayer be what it is tonight:
A quiet consenting to what appears to you in silence.
I speak the Name: Beloved.
30 seconds of silence.
A faithful turning towards that which you see in the silence.
I speak the Name: Beloved.
A deep listening and a ‘yes’ and ‘amen’ to the same.
I speak the Name: Beloved.
30 seconds of silence.
‘The contemplative life is … to rest from exterior motion and cleave only to the desire of the Maker, that the mind may. now take no pleasure in doing anything, but having spurned all cares may be aglow to see the face of its Creator….’
I speak the Name: God of Mercy.
30 seconds of silence.
In this stillness, we accept our life.
We bring our life into God.
Let the Presence meet the real conditions of your life.
I speak the Name: Jesus.
30 seconds of silence.
Realisation
This is our time where we speak the recognition of Truth.
So we recognise:
God is present where I am. God is active within my life. Divine Wisdom is in the desert, right where I am. We recognise the inner ‘desert’ as the place where our prayers will flourish.
We affirm:
Divine Presence is my centre.
Divine Wisdom orders my steps.
Divine Love steadies my heart.
In the quiet, I am guided.
We speak the name: Shepherd.
Final 2 full minutes of silence.
Appreciation
Now we give thanks: God is Presence, and our hearts overflow.
Thank you, God, for the prayer that is growing in us.
Thank you for the desert-place of the heart where prayer flourishes.
Thank you for guidance. Thank you for courage. Thank you for quiet faith.
I speak the Name: Yahweh.
Close
Now, as one body, we pray the Lord’s Prayer together.
Our Father…
Amen.
Prepared by Jacinda Faloon-Cavander for Unity of NZ