Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home by Richard J. Foster
Week 12: Moving Outward — Meditative Prayer & Praying Together
Read Chapters 20–21 of Prayer by Richard Foster ("Meditative Prayer" and "Corporate Prayer" / Praying with Others). Key Scripture: Acts 2:42; Matthew 18:19–20.
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We come to the final chapters of Foster's journey — revisiting meditative prayer in a deeper key and exploring what happens when the people of God pray together. These questions invite you to consider both the depth of your solitary prayer and the quality of your communal prayer.
Discussion Questions
8 questions1.Foster returns to meditative prayer in a deeper form in these later chapters — prayer that involves imaginative engagement with Scripture, especially the Gospel narratives. He draws on Ignatius's practice of placing oneself within a Gospel scene. Have you ever tried this? What happened?
2.Foster encourages praying with 'holy imagination' — vividly entering a biblical scene, noticing what you see, hear, and feel, and allowing God to meet you there. Some find this liberating; others find it suspect. What is your instinct? What do you think might be gained or risked?
3.Foster is clear that the imagination in prayer must always be anchored in Scripture and submitted to the Spirit — it is not a free-for-all of wish fulfillment. Given that safeguard, what biblical scene or story would you most want to 'enter' in prayer? What draws you to it?
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