What if prayer could be simple rather than strenuous?

News release

February 18, 2019

What if prayer could be simple rather than strenuous?

Cyzewski teaches contemplative prayer in Flee, Be Silent, Pray

HARRISONBURG, Va.— Ed Cyzewski found himself working harder and harder to find God, until he turned to contemplative prayer. The Christian prayer tradition, primarily preserved in monasteries, was the answer he didn’t want to find. In Flee, Be Silent Pray: Ancient Prayers for Anxious Christians (Herald Press, February 2019), the former Catholic turned Evangelical Christian moves beyond his past grudges to learn Christian meditation and contemplative prayer from Catholic teachers.

Going beyond the limits of Bible study and experiences, daily contemplative prayer helps believers rest in God’s loving presence. With the words flee, be silent, pray, Cyzewski found what it means to quiet his religious anxiety by resting in God’s love.

“Contemplative prayer tells us that we can’t add anything to what we already have in Christ,” writes Cyzewski. “We can’t do anything different to make God love us more, and we probably need to buy and own fewer things in order to minimize our distractions. Contemplation is about doing less so that God can do more.”

Anxious evangelicals and Christians on the brink of losing their faith will find an accessible path toward using this simple, proven approach to daily prayer. With helpful guidance into solitude, contemplative prayer, and practices such as lectio divina and the Examen, Cyzewski guides readers toward the Christ whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light.

Jon M. Sweeney, author of The Pope’s Cat series, writes in the book’s foreword, “I was penciling ‘Yes!’ in the margins throughout Flee, Be Silent, Pray: it’s like a toolkit of implements we all can use to shape our souls and change the world.”

Ed Cyzewski is the author of A Christian Survival GuideCoffeehouse Theology, and other books. His writing has appeared in Christianity Today and Leadership Journal, and he blogs regularly at Patheos. Cyzewski founded The Contemplative Writer website and leads contemplative prayer retreats. Cyzewski has a master of divinity from Biblical Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and works as a freelance writer and editor. He and his wife have three children. Connect with him at EdCyzewski.com.

To schedule an interview with Ed Cyzewski, contact LeAnn Hamby at 540‑908‑3941 or [email protected].