July 29, 2002
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| SPEAKERS at Texas Leadership Conference included Tim Cummins, Mission Service Corps volunteer from Atlanta, Ga.; Carolyn Porterfield, executive director-treasurer of Texas WMU; and David George and Mary Humphries, representing the Touch Tomorrow Today national WMU endowment. |
WMU LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE:
Listen up when praying down God's help, women urged
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___WACO--To be a true conversation with God, prayer must involve listening as well as talking, a professor of Christian spirituality told a group of Texas Baptist women.
___Deidre LaNoue challenged the women to consider contemplative prayer as "the other side of the conversation."
___LaNoue, a Baptist who teaches spiritual disciplines at the Roman Catholic-affiliated College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati, led a seminar on contemplative prayer during the Texas Leadership Conference, sponsored by Woman's Missi
onary Union of Texas. About 900 women attended the training event July 18-20 at Baylor University.
___Noting the biblical story of Martha, who was busy serving, and Mary, who took time to sit at the feet of Jesus, LaNoue challenged the WMU leaders to "nurture the Mary" side of their nature. She defined contemplative prayer as "loving attentiveness to God."
___Contemplative prayer is an act of worship growing out of a loving relationship with God, she noted. "God is God, and he deserves our worship. He is a God who loves us and invites us into his heart."
___The practice of contemplative prayer leads to personal transformation and empowerment for service, she added. "To serve God with all our heart, all our energy, comes from being in his presence, drawing sustenance from him."
___Contemplative prayer requires quieting the mind, focusing on God and "just being with the one you love," LaNoue said. "It means letting go of competing distractions and being present in the moment with Christ in prayer."
___She distinguished Christian contemplation from the type of meditation practiced by Eastern religions and New Age cults.
___"Eastern meditation focuses on emptying the mind and altering the consciousness in order to become nothing and blend in with reality," she explained. "Christian contemplation is a quieting of the mind and heart so that we can be filled with Christ."
___LaNoue noted six benefits believers receive from contemplative prayer:
___ "You draw nearer to God."
___ "You discover your true identity as God's beloved" child.
___ "Your soul is restored to joy and creativity."
___ "You are empowered for fruitful living."
___ "All other relationships are enhanced."
___ "Corporate worship becomes more meaningful."
___
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