Download CD ‘Movements into Silence’
Movements into Silence (listen to individual tracks online by clicking below)
Continuous Prayer and Silent Prayer
Growing up going to all night prayer meetings with my dad while I was in high school nurtured in me a life of prayer. Years later I found myself in an all night prayer service at a Romanian Orthodox monastery on the other side of the ocean. The fellowship hall of my dad’s prayer meetings couldn’t have been more different from the icon filled and gold leafed ancient chapel, but despite the differences I felt strangely at home.
Known as Hesychism in the Orthodox east and now popularized in liturgical churches in the west as the Centering Prayer movement, the heritage of continuous prayer is the wealth of our Christian faith. Many believers are rediscovering the rich traditions of prayer practices in works like ‘The Way of the Pilgrim’ which describes a Russian peasants journey from destitution into the life of continuous prayer. He learns to pray the Jesus Prayer, ‘Lord Jesus Christ have mercy’ continuously and we watch it turn from ritual habit into intimacy with God. As we walk, we pray; as we breathe, we pray; as our heart beats, we pray; as we encounter the poor, we pray; as we do justice to the image of God now seen in the poor, we pray; as we sleep, we pray. Centering prayer is a habit of prayer which refocuses our attention, centering us on Christ twice a day so that we can live continuously in Him.
‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength’, Isaiah 30:15
Silent prayer is a purifying fire. This sanctifying movement of the Spirit within us calls us to bring our histories, and everything within our spheres of life into submission to Christ. This recording was born out of desire to be faithful to the spirit of contemplative prayer. It is my prayer that we may return continually to Christ, to meet Him in silence, and allow Him to unmask our false selves and offer us back into the world as a whole persons capable of encouraging wholeness in the Body of Christ, that we may be a fragrant offering for the life of the world.
In centering prayer we are encouraged to make a habit of 20 minutes of complete silence in the morning and 20 minutes before the evening meal. Without distraction, relaxed, and concentrated on a word or phrase such as, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy”. The word or phrase helps to refocus us as we are distracted by a myriad of thoughts. Track 1-4 are10 minute instrumental pieces and Track 5 is 20 minutes of silence begin and end with chimes. Below are two prayers I find helpful for beginning and ending times of prayer.
If you found this helpful, I would recommend, far more than my own music, recordings of the music written by of Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179). Also, consider Arvo Part’s ‘Alina’, and a collection of choral and violin pieces by Bach called ‘Bach: Morimur’ for facilitating times of silence and contemplation. For more reading on continuous prayer see The Pilgrim and the Pilgrim continues on his Way, anonymous, works by Thomas Keating on centering prayer, and one of my favorite books on prayer and contemplation Clowning in Rome, by Henri Nouwen .
The artwork for the CD comes from a series of meditative wash drawings based on slow blind contours.
All this music is free to download, share and you are free to delete it when it is no longer useful to you, any comments are welcome, please e-mail them to jamklepac@gmail.com.
