January 25, 2002

• Meditation

  
  

  I practice Christian meditation.  I like to make it clear what kind of meditation I practice because most people are more familiar with Eastern meditation.  Eastern meditation is the practice of stilling your mind and emptying it of thought.  The point of Eastern meditation is to move beyond the self, in fact to understand that self is an illusion.  I don't want to seem as though I denigrate this type of meditation, on the contrary I think it is a valuable spiritual tool.

  
  

  Christian meditation goes beyond emptiness to disciplined relationship with God.  The Christian perspective affirms the self.  Self is changed in every encounter with God.   In fact that's the point of Christian meditation, adjustment of self to better relate to God.  The paradox is that the adjustment comes not from an effort of our will, but from a Divine encounter.

  
  

  Some days I meditate on a specific verse of the Bible or on a particular aspect of living the faith.  When the distractions of noise, hurry, or crowd arise, I return to the state of stillness, then begin again.  If you haven't practiced meditation before because you thought that was just something that New Age mystics did, you're missing out on a tradition that goes back to the Old Testament saints.  There have been wonderful examples set for us in the lives of Christians through the millennia and some of them have left written accounts that help us to understand the discipline that enabled them to routinely encounter God.

  
  

  In today's church I think the strongest tradition of meditation may be found among the Quakers.  Alexander Whyte, Brother Lawrence, and Thomas Kelly all have given us wonderful books dscribing the subject.  In addition the Medieval saints Julian of Norwich, Teresa of Avila, Peter of Celles, and Thomas a Kempis have much to say that directly addresses the issues of contemporary Christian life and meditation. 

  
  

  A Benedictine monastery near where I live is sponsoring a retreat this Spring on "Praying Without Words" that I hope to attend.  I expect that will benefit both my prayer and my meditation practice.  One of the things you may note is that though I grew up and have membership in a "Protestant Evangelical" church, I like to read and study what people from different faith traditions have to say about the Christian disciplines.

  
  

  In fact, if I could convince everyone I know to read just one book this year, it would be Richard Foster's Stream's of Living Water in which he explains and discusses the various faith traditions.  I read it last year for the first time, and learned a great deal that helped me to appreciate some Christian brothers and sisters whom I'd previously regarded as .... well .... nuts.

  
  

  He has some great stuff in there that's worth meditating upon.

  • 8:13 am
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