The Spirituality Center at St. Mary's

Welcome to an emerging ministry at St. Mary’s, born out of the hard work of hands-on outreach ministries and nurtured through prayer, silence and mutual conversations. We all need opportunities to rest and restore our spiritual, emotional and physical selves. 

Be still and know.  The root of the word obey means to listen.  This center supports those longing to step back from the busyness of daily life and ministry for a chance to be grounded, to listen to the Spirit, to be renewed, refreshed and even inspired. 

Current center activities include:

• Morning Prayer. Mondays at 7:30 a.m. in Dearing House. 
• Exploring meditation.  This is appropriate for beginners as well as longtime meditators. Join us on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m. in Dearing House.
• Centering prayer practice.  Sitting in group reinforces our personal prayer practice.  Join us Wednesdays at 12:05 p.m. in Dearing House for 20 minutes of silence.
• Lectio Divina. Combines an immersion on holy scripture with periods of silent reflection. Thursdays at 11:30 a.m. via Zoom. Contact the Rev. Deacon Dianne Larson at dlarson@minervamedcomm.com for more information.

Individual spiritual direction. Spend time with a spiritual director, who is trained to listen closely and facilitate your process of self-discovery and spiritual journeying. Spiritual direction is a bit of a misnomer in that the goal is to facilitate your process of self-discovery and meaning-making and to support you as you find your own answers. This poem by Jan Richardson captures the spirit of this sacred relationship

What I Mean by Blessing

is that you are welcome here

is that you are safe here

is that you can breathe here

is that you can speak here.

What I mean by blessing

is that this is a place to question

is that this is a place to dream

is that this is a place to rest

is that this is a place to sing.

What I mean by blessing

is that we hold you in your pain

is that we meet you in your fear

is that we see you in your hope

is that we take joy in you.

Contact the Rev. Canon Beth Tjoflat at bethtjoflat@stmarysjax.com to learn more.