Spring Newsletter 2014
Note of Explanation and Clarification regarding Forgiveness test.
In this most recent issue of the newsletter, I posted an article on Forgiveness and suggested the following:
Take the forgiveness quiz and see where you stand on forgiveness. This is from the International Forgiveness Institute website, which is an excellent place to spend some time if you are interested in forgiveness.
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/quizzes/take_quiz/2
I took the quiz first, and got a score indicating that I am have a high tendency to forgive others. I am very encouraged by the numbers of you who have taken the quiz already, however, what I have since discovered is that when you click on the link for the quiz, there are certain profiles of forgiveness scores that link you to a website for a Buddhist meditation prayer by Dr. Jack Kornfield.
It is not the intent of Journey to Hope to endorse Buddhist meditation, but rather just to have you see where you stand on forgiveness. We do not want any confusion for you about where we stand on any therapeutic intervention, and you can be sure that Christ-centered will always be our focus. I would like to offer an alternative to the Buddhist meditation prayer for you to consider as you explore forgiveness. Please find a prayer centering exercise below:
Centering Prayer Exercise
Centering Prayer is a contemporary expression of the ancient custom of contemplation. The focus of Centering Prayer is the deepening of our relationship with the living Christ.
4 Guidelines for Centering Prayer
The first guideline is to “choose a sacred word or verse as the symbol of your intention to consent to God’s presence and action†(the sacred word or verse can be any word chosen by the person that elicits a sense of love for God in that person). For today, the word is ‘forgiveness’ and/or a verse for forgiveness is “ Mark 11:25 “Whenever you stand praying, forgive…..â€
The second guideline is to “sit comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly, and silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your consent to God’s presence and action within.
The third guideline is: “When you become aware of thoughts, return ever-so-gently to the sacred wordâ€
The final guideline is, “At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes.â€
Praying for forgiveness to be strong in your relationships and in your life.
Blessings, Susie
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