Sunday October 11th, 2026 | Ordinary Time
Guide Goal: Orientation
To orient you to our new Table Community Guides. And to give you a feel for how time during a Table Community might occur, using an initial practice of prayer.
Practice for the Week: Prayer
This week, we’ll begin with the foundational practice of prayer. Don’t worry if you feel new to prayer, or are still trying to figure this prayer thing out. There are many ways to pray, and many ways to practice prayer. Tonight, we’ll simply lean in to listening.
How to use this Guide:
Table Leaders will read aloud their sections marked Table Leader
Table Communities will participate in sections marked with a circle.
Review the Practice (10 Minutes)
TABLE LEADER:
This past Sunday, John preached on “Retrieving Prayer” taking the story of Abraham interceding on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah. In particular, the call towards prayer was one of invitation, contending, and God’s responding to us.
DISCUSS
Have you ever seen God respond to a prayer that you prayed?
What are you praying for in your life right now?
Overview (2 Minutes)
TABLE LEADER:
Tonight, we want to return to prayer. This is because prayer holds endless potential when it comes to our becoming saints together. Prayer is how we slow down and resist the outside forces shaping us. Prayer is how we connect to our own bodies, our own souls, and what it means to be human (and not just an algorithm or efficiency machine). Prayer is how we pay attention to what matters most deeply to us. Occasionally this is quite troubling. We find it hard to pray because we are distracted by many things, competing for our attention. But when we settle into prayer, we find our attention finally returning to the God who is paying attention to us.
So in this theme of paying attention, we want to move tonight from intercession to listening prayer. If you’ve never practiced listening prayer before, this might be a new experience. It’s not too far removed from the latest trends in mindfulness, or meditation. Listening prayer acknowledges that your body contains stress, anxiety, and a whole chemical swirl of emotions. So often our movement reflects our agitation, the hope that some combination of productivity, efficiency, and distraction might provide us some peace. Listening prayer is a resistance to that kind of activity. It is a slowing down. It is a centering ourselves. And it is opening our hearts to hear the still small voice God might be speaking.
So know, if listening prayer is difficult for you, that is very understandable. If this practice in prayer is a bit of stretch, know you are not alone. But if you are willing to learn a new skill, listening prayer becomes the very centering our busy and restless souls need, to not chase our own distractions, or the endless noises trying to speak to us, but instead to actually listen to the God of infinite wisdom and love, who for ages past and right now continues to speak.
Practice for Tonight (25 Minutes)
Let’s Begin with Scripture (4 minutes):
TABLE LEADER:
The Psalms are full of invitations to listen to God. And the Psalms acknowledge that listening requires that we slow down and “be still” so that we can attend to what God is speaking to us. Let’s take a moment to read the following passages (you can go in a circle or popcorn through the following verses). In between each verse let’s pause for 5 whole seconds to let their words linger in the air.
READ ALOUD
Psalm 46:10-11
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” 11 The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Psalm 62:5-8
5 Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.6 Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.7 My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. 8 Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
1 Kings 19:11-13
11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Let’s Practice Listening Prayer (7 minutes).
TABLE LEADER:
The moment has come to practice listening prayer together. Here’s the good news. You can’t mess this up. All you need to do is notice what’s going on as you practice slowing down and being still. You don’t need to force God to speak or get stressed if you don’t hear anything. It’s also very normal to have thoughts race through your head. Just simply and gently direct them back to what you are focused on. And we find it is helpful in listening prayer to have a verse or phrase that you use as your “anchor” when distractions come. Some options might be:
“Be still and know that You are God.”
“The Lord is fighting for me.”
“You are my rock and my refuge.” or simply
“Abba, father. I’m here. I’m listening.”
The idea is that we’re going to set 7 minutes on our phone (you can use 10 or 15 as well, but for tonight we’ll start with 7). We’re going to put our feet on the ground, gently rest our hands on our knees. And we’re going to breathe in slowly, and deeply. And as we do we’re going to be still and listen to notice what God speaks. If you are distracted, or you feel like you can’t hear anything, just simply return to the verse you are praying, “Abba, father, please speak. I’m listening.” Let’s get situated and practice together now.
PRACTICE
(Leaders Note: It can be helpful to have ambient noises on in the background. Set a timer for 7 minutes, with an alarm that signals when it is done.)
Let’s Share How It Went (8 minutes).
TABLE LEADER:
As a reminder, it is very normal to not “hear” anything in listening prayer. Maybe the seven minutes simply let you slow down and notice God’s presence. Maybe it simply let you pray your prayer to God. But when we are still, occasionally God will stir and speak. Let’s di
DISCUSS
How was that experience for you?
Practice for the Week Ahead (5 Minutes)
Turn to your neighbor:
TABLE LEADER:
Our goal is to make this practice part of our every day life. Therefore before we close our time together, we want to set an intention and make a plan for how you might go about integrating this into your upcoming week. Turn to 1 or 2 people next to you, and share how you could practice listening prayer this week with the following prompts.
DISCUSS
What question might you be asking of God?
What time and place could you set aside to listen?
What Scriptural phrase or prayer would you use to center yourself?
How will you mark the time and note when your listening prayer is done?
Who will you text or share with about the prayer you’ve practice?
Move to Prayer (10 minutes)
PRAY
Move to the time of prayer for and with each other, outlined in our table liturgy.
