Seeking the Father of Light By Drew Trotter President
INSIDE Welcoming First-Year Students
P
rayer has always had a central place in the life of the Center for Christian Study. The first element on each job description of every staff member of the Center has to do with prayer, and a considerable amount of time each week at our staff meetings is dedicated to prayer for each other, for those to whom we minister, and for all the needs and blessings of which the staff
Praying in the Light
Praxis V11 N3 Fall 2007
Pr a xi s
Ministering to Women are aware. Board, fellowship group, and the many individual one-on-one meetings we have here are all bathed in prayer. One of the great differences between a lecture at the Center for Christian Study and those found elsewhere is that those at the Study Center are often begun with prayer, asking God for His enlightening Spirit to work on the hearts and minds of those present. Just last year, we revised the format of our prayer letter, which has gone out regularly to those who request to be added to the list, and which monthly (except summer) lets readers know how they can pray for us. For two years now, the Center has joined in sponsoring a twice-weekly meeting of faculty and staff in the Chapel on the Grounds of the University of Virginia, dedicated to the reading of Scripture and liturgical prayer. Our staff has often lectured on prayer; for instance, an excellent resource is our former Executive Director Skip Burzumato’s lecture series, Liturgy as a Devotional Treasure: Praying With the Church Throughout History, available online at our website (www.studycenter.net). For some time, though, we have felt that we needed a special place in our building, set aside for the practice of the hard work of individual and small group prayer. We believe we have found that place. If you walk up the stairs at the Center and continue straight into the library, you will eventually come
upon a small room, which has plenty of light because of its position high above the ground and its five windows. Its cheery disposition is just the sort that we were seeking for our prayer room. We are happy to announce that, through the gift of two generous donors, we have decorated that little room off the library and committed it to the privileged act of prayer. The room has been repainted, the furniture has been replaced, books aiding in prayer and about prayer have been made available, and soon art work will adorn the walls that will help those who use the room to step into “that single light, and in it abide with that joy with which a happy life is perfected,” as Saint Augustine once described prayer. We are planning unique uses of the room, such as the posting of prayer requests, etc., that will make it the perfect place for individuals and groups alike to engage in prayer of all kinds. Please visit us and use the room, as you sense the need, to bring your praises, thanksgivings, confessions and petitions before the Father of all Light. No article in Praxis on the subject of prayer would be complete without asking for your prayers for us, even in the practice of praying, that whatever is done in that room, as in all the programs and places at the Center for Christian Study, might be done for the glory of the risen King. Thanks in advance for those prayers.
(photos by Carl Briggs)