The most tasteful invitation to contemplative prayer I have ever experienced was in a garden next to a charming British mansion. Along a path meandering through flowers and shrubs a series of interactive spaces featuring signs with relevant Scripture passages and instructive prayer prompts—specifically designed to help the visitor process grief after loss.
In this garden, I am encouraged to sit on a bench and imagine a lost loved one in the empty seat next to me. I can sit in a rowboat near a stream and recall the stormy waters I have endured in life. I can pick up a stick from a pile, identify a concern or wound, and release it to God by tossing the stick into the stream. I can even download an app to play meditative music along my journey.
My wife, Cheri, and I visited this Remembering Garden at Waverley Abbey in Surry, England, founded by the Order of the Mustard Seed (OMS) community as part of their 24-7 Prayer initiative. We went there after attending and speaking at the New Monastic Roundtable in Switzerland in 2023, which is a global network of 20 different intentional Christian communities like OMS who are seeking to adapt ancient monastic principles and practices to enrich modern faith and life, including designing sacred public spaces for contemplative prayer.
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