Daily Centerings
A daily discipline: universal devotions that transcend belief (or unbelief)
(more about the Centerings)


Practicing Your Daily Centerings with Others

Most of us will be practicing the Centerings alone. If there is an opportunity to gather with friends or family, however, I have built in some means of saying the Centerings with others.

I grew up in the Episcopal Church, which taught us four common ways of using "prayers." These are:

  • Listening: A leader reads, the others listen
  • Unison: All participants read together
  • Call and Response: The leader reads a line, and the other participants (often called "the people") answer
  • Antiphonal Reading: the participants are divided in half, each group reading part of the material

Have you noticed the asterisks (*) in the Centerings? These are designed to facilitate Call and Response or Antiphonal Reading. (No such marks are necessary for Listening or Unison).

So with this line:

If you die to yourself
*you will attain peace

In Call and Response the leader would say "If you die to yourself" and the people answer "you will attain peace." In Antiphonal Reading one "side" would say the first line, the other "side" the second.

Decide in advance how to handle each Centering you use (some through Listening, others in Unison, etc.) and who will do what. Then go!


See also:

How to Use Your Daily Centerings

Preparing for Your Daily Centerings

A Word on Wording

A Word on Times

The Purpose of Each Practice

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