Review the Eight-Week Journey
If you’re considering offering the Creating Space Eight-Week Journey to a group, these overviews describe what participants will hear and be invited to do each week. You can also read the transcript of the guided prayer for any session.
Gathered use. The recording carries the guided prayer. The facilitator leads the group’s welcome and any sharing outside the recording.
Week 1 · You Are Loved
Theme. Receiving God’s love and recognizing ourselves as God’s children.
Breath prayer. Inhale “Beloved Father.” Exhale “we are your children.”
Personal witness. A question about being special follows the narrator into six weeks with Psalm 139. He begins to understand being known by God as a gift shared with others.
Scripture. 1 John 3:1–3 (NRSV-CE) is read three times. The passage names the love of the Father and our identity as God’s children.
Prayer. Participants notice a word or phrase, stay with what it awakens, respond honestly to God, and rest in silence.
Week 2 · You Are Gift
Theme. Receiving who we are as a gift from God.
Breath prayer. Inhale “I am fearfully.” Exhale “and wonderfully made.”
Personal witness. After Mass at a formation weekend, someone tells the narrator, “You are gift.” The words stay with him on the drive home and invite him to consider what he has to offer.
Scripture. Psalm 139:13–18 (NRSV-CE) is read three times. The psalm gives thanks for being wonderfully made and known by God.
Prayer. Participants notice a word or phrase, stay with what it awakens, respond honestly to God, and rest in silence.
Week 3 · You Are Not Alone
Theme. Recognizing God’s companionship in uncertain times, sometimes only in hindsight.
Breath prayer. Inhale “You are here.” Exhale “I am not alone.”
Personal witness. After a divorce and a move to South Carolina, the narrator begins to feel at home when someone helps him make a place to play guitar. Only later does he recognize God’s presence in that experience.
Scripture. Genesis 28:10–22 (NRSV-CE) is read three times. At Bethel, Jacob receives God’s promise of companionship and wakes to recognize God’s presence.
Prayer. Participants notice a word or phrase, stay with what it awakens, respond honestly to God, and rest in silence.
Week 4 · Learning to Notice
Theme. Learning to notice how God draws us through desires and through what others see in us.
Breath prayer. Inhale “Speak, Lord.” Exhale “for your servant is listening.”
Personal witness. An invitation to join a formation team and a description of the narrator as contemplative help him recognize a desire for a more attentive life.
Scripture. 1 Samuel 3:1–10 (NRSV-CE) is read three times. Eli helps Samuel recognize and answer God’s call.
Prayer. Participants notice a word or phrase, stay with what it awakens, respond honestly to God, and rest in silence.
Week 5 · Learning to Trust
Theme. Trusting God when letting go brings both relief and grief.
Breath prayer. Inhale “Trust in the Lord.” Exhale “with all your heart.”
Personal witness. As the narrator considers ending a newsletter he started, a story about building a house helps him see that he is ready to release responsibility for it.
Scripture. Proverbs 3:5–6 (NRSV-CE) is read three times. The passage invites trust in God beyond what our own insight can tell us.
Prayer. Participants notice a word or phrase, stay with what it awakens, respond honestly to God, and rest in silence.
Week 6 · Learning to Receive
Theme. Recognizing gifts and invitations whose meaning becomes clear over time.
Breath prayer. Inhale “Stay with us.” Exhale “and open our eyes.”
Personal witness. The narrator recalls a medical school classmate’s invitation to Mass and breakfast and how it felt at the time. Years later, after returning to his Catholic faith, he sees the invitation differently.
Scripture. Luke 24:28–31 (NRSV-CE) is read three times. At Emmaus the disciples welcome Jesus and recognize him in the breaking of the bread.
Prayer. Participants notice a word or phrase, stay with what it awakens, respond honestly to God, and rest in silence.
Week 7 · Learning to Remain
Theme. Discerning what it means to remain when we would rather move on.
Breath prayer. Inhale “Come and see.” Exhale “remain with Me.”
Personal witness. The narrator recalls wanting to leave a job during a difficult period in his marriage. Staying gives him time to discover friendships and recognize the value of his work.
Scripture. John 1:35–39 (NRSV-CE) is read three times. Two disciples follow Jesus, hear his invitation to come and see, and remain with him.
Prayer. Participants notice a word or phrase, stay with what it awakens, respond honestly to God, and rest in silence.
Week 8 · God Has Been Here All Along
Theme. Looking back over the journey and recognizing where God may already have been present.
Breath prayer. Inhale “Here I am.” Exhale “here You are.”
Personal witness. After divorce unsettles the narrator’s understanding of prayer, spiritual direction gives him room to live with his questions. Looking back, he recognizes God’s presence in the life that emerged.
Prayer. A guided examen invites participants to remember moments from the eight weeks, notice what they see differently, receive what was given, and bring the whole journey before God in silence.