Contemplative Prayer, Part Six
The Distraction of Many Things

Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.”
But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Luke 10:38-42

Intro: Toward the end of the fourth century two young men went into the deserts of Egypt

John Cassian and his companion, Germanus, visited monasteries and interviewed monks
– the first of those interviews Cassian’s recorded was with Abbot Moses
• they asked him what was the goal that inspired him to suffer the deprivations of the desert?
◦ he said his ultimate aim was the kingdom of God, but his immediate goal was purity of heart
• since it is the “pure in heart” that see God (Mt. 5:8), he wanted to hold himself to this goal

“. . . let us direct our course as straight towards it as possible, and if our thoughts wander somewhat from this, let us revert to our gaze upon it, and check them accurately as by a sure standard, which will always bring back all our efforts to this one mark, and will sho at once if our mind has wandered ever so little from the direction marked out for it.”
He later explains:
“We have an excellent illustration of this state of mind and condition in the gospel in the case of Martha and Mary: for when Martha was performing a service that was certainly a sacred one, since she was ministering to the Lord and His disciples, and Mary being intent only on spiritual instruction was clinging close to the feet of Jesus . . . [Mary] is shown by the Lord to have chosen the better part . . . .”

– the motive for Christian service is not always devotion to God
• it is possible to do right things for wrong reasons (cf. 1 Cor. 13:1-3)

Abbot Moses, “You see then that the Lord makes the chief good consist in meditation, i.e., in divine contemplation . . .”

• although every other activity is useful and good, this is the heartbeat of our spiritual life

I have a reason for beginning with John Cassian’s writings
– a number of Christians are self-appointed watchdogs
• because they do not understand contemplative prayer, they condemn it
◦ it has been described as New Age, Eastern Religion and Roman Catholic
• but it’s hardly “New Age” if monks were practicing it as early as 380 AD
– early in Christian history, devout believers realized they had a hunger that was not being met
• Christianity had been legalized, but Roman society in general was still corrupt
◦ from the time of Constantine, the church entered politics and internally became more political
• monks felt they had to leave their pagan cities and the institutional church to be alone with God
◦ they devoted long hours to scripture reading and private and communal prayer
◦ eventually they became recognized as guides to a deeper spiritual life

Cassian’s writings demonstrate the importance of the contemplation of God in Christian prayer
– it is a practice that was largely lost to the hyper-rational, modern era Protestant churches

Our topic is expressed well in a question Germanus raised

“How is it then, that even against our will; [yes] and without our knowledge idle thoughts steal upon us so [subtly] and secretly that it is fearfully hard not merely to drive them away, but even to grasp and seize them? Can then a mind sometimes be found free from them, and never attacked by illusions of this kind?”

The struggles of those saintly followers of Christ were the same as ours
– distraction is one of most common and most difficult challenges to prayer Continue reading →

Contemplative Prayer, Part Five
The Soul’s Mirror

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”Matthew 16:13-20

Intro: This is the fifth week in our study of Contemplative Prayer

Today we are going to venture into one of its personal difficulties

You have placed our iniquities before You,
Our secret in the light of Your presence. (Ps. 90:8)

Some remarkable things happen in this story of Jesus and his disciples
– we notice the unfamiliar Aramaic expression Bar-Jona–most likely Jesus’ actual words
• that Matthew did not translate this into Greek draws more attention to it
◦ Jesus referred to Peter as “son of Jona” — it was an insight into his identity
• previously, Jesus referred to himself as the “Son of Man”
◦ an insight into his identity (his solidarity with humankind); he was that, but more
◦ that Peter saw the more is evident when he identifies Jesus as “the Son of living God”
– Jesus congratulated Simon for the insight that had not come through “flesh and blood”
• that is, Peter could have learned or made this discovery by any natural means
◦ it is not the sort of knowledge that enters us through our intellect (cf. 1 Cor. 2:6-8)
◦ a person receives it in his or her soul through an encounter with the truth

Jesus went on to tell Peter, “I also say to you” – why “also”? I see two possibilities:

1. “I’ve told you, you’re blessed, I also say to you . . .”
2. or, “You’ve correctly identified who I am, I also will tell you who you are”

– in effect, Jesus was saying, “As I am Son of Man, yet more, so you are the son of Jona, yet more”
• this step up required a new identifier, so Simon son of Jona becomes “Peter the Rock”
• Jesus has revealed to Peter his true self – the “new creature” he is in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17)
◦ Peter’s challenge is not to act like a rock, but to become this person
◦ his destiny requires him to slough off the old self and become his true self
• and this is where Peter immediately screwed up

Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

◦ the old self thinks like everyone else, but the new, true self is God-minded Continue reading →

Contemplative Prayer Part Four:
Listening to God

And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city. (Acts 18:9-10)
It happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I fell into a trance, and I saw Him saying to me, “Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.” (Acts 22:17-18)

Intro: From its infancy, Christian experience took this for granted: God spoke to people

Besides the verses above, the book of Acts provides many instances (e.g., 10:9-16; 16:6-10 & 23:11)
– notice that it was frequently while in prayer that people heard from God
• the means God used varied–in visions, by angels, in community and through his Spirit

We know Christians who seem to have open channel to God
– as though he talks to them all them time – even about trivial issues
• others of us feel like God never talks to us
◦ at least not audibly or all that clearly
• does God want to communicate with us? Does he talk to people today?
– Jesus’ promised to disciples:

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot hear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. . . . He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. (Jn. 14:18; 16:12-14)

• the Book of Acts provides examples of the fulfillment of his promise
◦ if God wants to speak to us, when and in what ways can we try to “hear” him?
• God typically speaks to us by his Spirit, through the Scriptures and in prayer
◦ however, we do not want to limit our willingness to hear him by any means he chooses
◦ to hear directly from God is always a gift of his grace

To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. (Mt. 13:11)
I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.” (Lk. 10:21)

Contemplative prayer is a moment of focused attention on God with an openness to his grace

God’s voice enters us by way of our spirit, not our ears

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God. . . . But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised [discerned]. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Cor. 2:12:14-16

Living in the Spirit deepens our understanding of God — through an “inner knowing”
– God’s work in our lives becomes clearer to us, because “we have the mind of Christ”
• but the process is subtle and mostly hidden from our intellect and senses
• stillness and silence are our best means of developing sensitivity to the motions of God’s Spirit Continue reading →

Contemplative Prayer Part Three
One Way To Get Started

Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and the bitterness.
Surely my soul remembers
And is bowed down within me.
This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
The LORD’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new ever morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.”
The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.
It is good that he waits silently
For the salvation of the LORD. Lamentations 3:19-26

Intro: Almost dead center in this heartbreaking song of despair, a light shines

One minute, the poet’s “hope from the LORD” had perished (v. 18)
– in the next minute he announces, “I have hope” (twice: vv. 21 & 24)
• nothing of his world had changed in his favor
• but he remembered something and realized something (besides his “affliction”)
◦ that God’s mercy and compassion never fail, but are “new every morning”
◦ and the LORD was his “portion” – not things of this world that lay in ruin around him
– in his worst misery, he could turn toward God and find relief — How?

The poet used well-known ways of being with God in prayer
– he knew to seek God and he knew to wait for God
• to be in prayer like this anticipated an encounter and required the soul’s full attention
• it is tempting to think of this as Christianity’s lost legacy of prayer
◦ but Christian traditions, not co-opted by rationalism, have kept seeking and waiting alive
– Contemplative Prayer is very much a matter of seeking and waiting
• here I will suggest one of the possible ways of entering Contemplative Prayer

When you want to be with God for himself

SIT somewhere quiet and peaceful
– it’s not necessary to sit or to have absolute silence
• for some of us, that is impossible, but it is optimal
• think, “When I sit, I situate myself”–in this place, at this time
◦ I am orienting my life and everything in and around it to God
– I want to adopt a posture that is respectful and alert (more on this further down)
• but I also want to relax into God’s presence
◦ when we relax our body, mind is at peace
◦ a stressed mind, tenses the body
• a simple relaxation exercise can be a first phase of prayer

SAY A SHORT, SIMPLE PRAYER — “Call on Me,” God tells us (Ps. 50:15)
– God revealed his name so, by it we reach out to him

In my distress I called upon the LORD,
And cried to my God for help;
He heard my voice out of His temple,
And my cry for help before Him came into His ears. (Psalm 18:6)

• this is our objective, to become aware of our connection to God
• I like to say, “Here I am”
◦ but you could also take a deep breath and as you exhale, say, “Jesus”
– begin wherever you are in that moment
• what is your mood? what do you feel? – label like you would a lab specimen
◦ present whatever you have to God, “Here I am and here is what I am feeling”
• when you cannot pray or do not feel like praying, that is where you begin your prayer
◦ we can only give God what we have now and only be with him as we are now
◦ there is no reason to hold back anything, because all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do (Heb. 4:13), and it is within his power to change us Continue reading →

Contemplative Prayer Part Two:
Entering God’s Rest

Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,
Today if you hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness . . . .
As I swore in My wrath,
“They will not enter My rest.” Hebrews 3:7-11 (read also chapter 4:1-11)

Intro: Last week I introduced Contemplative Prayer as a helpful skill in our spiritual journey

Today we’ll go further into Contemplative Prayer
– in it, we learn to rest mindfully in the eternal now
• I realize this statement is too abstract to be really useful, so to simplify:
◦ sitting in silent prayer, we want to rest in direct awareness of God–his immediate presence
– I wanted to begin with the more philosophical or poetic statement
• such statements sometimes touch and stir the soul before the intellect gets in the way
• so “resting mindfully in the eternal now” is not a bad place to begin – it just needs clarification

A brief explanation of the biblical reading

The first reading is a quotation from Psalm 95
– it indicates two historical situations:
• an event – when Israel was prevented from entering the promised land
• and a comment God made regarding that event hundreds of years later – an “update” of sorts
– our second reading (Heb. 4:1-11) is an update on the update: “it is still called ‘Today’” (v. 13)
• in other words, when the Psalm was written, Israel was given another chance to enter God’s rest
◦ and then, when Hebrews was written, Christian believers were given that chance

Our author points out that the psalm was written “after so long a time” (several centuries! Heb. 3:7)
– so the “today” persists through time
• from Israel’s wandering in the wilderness to when the psalm was written
◦ whenever a community hears the invitation, their opportunity to respond is today
• in 3:7, the Greek word for time is chronos, or measured time (minutes, hours, days, and so on)
– with God, “today” is not static nor confined to one calendar day
• this is the first of several surprises – God’s Spirit says “today,” today!

Another surprise is the way our author reinterprets the term, “My rest”
– in the context of the psalm, it referred to the promise land
• they made that arduous trek through the desert, looking forward to resting in their own land
• but our author goes all the way back to creation, when on the seventh day God rested
◦ this was Israel’s reference point for their Sabbath
◦ and it is our author’s reference point for the rest we can experience in God

So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God (Heb. 4:9)

– God’s rest is, in a sense, a return to Eden, where we rest in him
• but now we see a pattern:
Adam and Eve were not allowed to return and Israel was not allowed to enter the land
◦ that is the warning our author raises

Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. (Heb. 4:1)
Andrew Murray commented, “We have . . . the most precious assurances of a rest for the soul . . . . But when they are not believed they cannot be enjoyed. . .”

• if people hold back, they are held back permanently
God invites us: “Please come and sit with Me for awhile”
We answer: “I would love to, but I’m very busy” or “I’m too upset right now”
◦ and then the door closes–in fact, it is precisely where Psalm 95 ends

A third surprise: We “enter that rest” (4:3)
– the author takes for granted that God’s rest is inherent in the Christian faith Continue reading →

Introduction to Contemplative Prayer

“Be dressed in readiness; and keep your lamps lit. Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will girt himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them. Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. . . .”
Peter said, “Lord, are You addressing this parable to us or to everyone else as well?” And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time. Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes.”Luke 12:35-38, 41-43

Intro: Our list of skills for the spiritual journey must include Contemplative Prayer

I want to spend several weeks with this subject
– not because it is complex–it is, in fact, simple
• but it is also difficult and challenging
• especially in our ADD, cell-phone culture

Contemplative prayer means different things to different authors–there is no standard meaning
– for some, it is an ultimate, unique and mystical encounter with God
• unlike any other type of prayer, the “beatific vision” or “union with God” is pure grace
• few people have ever had this type of experience and for those who did it was rare and brief
– my use of contemplative prayer is somewhat different–here is its essence:

To be with God in attentive silence
(in which the mind and heart are totally absorbed with God)

A time comes when we have to get out of our prayers to get into prayer
– like when every time we pray, we repeat the same anxious thought or concern
• we don’t feel relief after such prayers, because we’ve reinforced our negative feelings
• it’s important to stop going in circles when we pray and getting nowhere
– typically, when we sit with God in silence, our minds say, “Nothing is happening”
• so they commandeer our prayer time
◦ filling the silence with thoughts and words — not always spiritual or edifying
• again, there is a difference between saying our prayers and contemplative prayer
◦ we can say prayers without needing to be aware of God
▫ our minds can be in another place or time — past or future
▫ we can be cut off from our surrounding and our inner life–e.g., our motives in saying prayers
◦ we brush our hands and think, “There! I’ve said my morning prayers. Now, I’m off to work”
▫ but assuming we don’t have to be there with our whole attention displeases God

This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me (Mt. 15:8)

Emily Herman, “The sense of unreality which so insistently haunts the beginner in prayer is due to the fact that he is engaged in a monologue and not in a conversation. . . . it is as impossible to realize our communion with God without the practice of silence, as it is to conduct a conversation [alone]”

Contemplative prayer is being fully present to the moment
– which we receive as a gift and use come close to God Continue reading →

The Soul Awake and Alert

To the angel of the church in Sardis write:
He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars says this: “I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.” Revelation 3:1-3

Intro: The book of Revelation begins with a vision of Jesus Christ

The imagery of the first chapter depicts Jesus as being present in his churches
– before the action begins, Jesus dictates seven letters to seven churches
• these were not the most important or prominent churches
◦ there is no mention of the churches in Jerusalem, Antioch, or Rome
• the seven churches are representative of all churches at all times
◦ Jesus addresses what each church has right and what they’re doing that is wrong
– people in the church of Sardis had been busy
• they had done things that earned them a “name” — a reputation
◦ they were known for being a lively church
◦ but they weren’t alive, they were dead
• what is the Lord’s counsel to Sardis? “Wake up”
◦ this is the skill we’ll explore today that will assist us in our spiritual journey
◦ learning to wake ourselves up – or to allow God to wake us up

From Adam and Eve on, the Bible’s ongoing story is about waking up

Adam and Eve woke up after eating the fruit and facing the consequences
– Jacob had a vivid awakening – so did Moses
• Elisha lived in an awakened state and asked God to awaken his servant (2 Ki. 6:15-17)
◦ this continued on through to prophets who tried to get Israel to wake up

Rouse yourself! Rouse yourself! Arise, O Jerusalem . . .
(Is. 51:17)
Awake, awake,
Clothe yourself in your strength, O Zion;
Clothe yourself in your beautiful garments,
O Jerusalem, the holy city . . . .
Shake yourself from the dust, rise up,
O captive Jerusalem;
Loose yourself from the chains around your neck,
O captive daughter of Zion. (Is. 52:1-2)

– Jesus’ first message was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
• metanoia – meta = change nous thinking, mind, perception
◦ the time had come, kingdom had arrived, but it was invisible to the eye
◦ people had to wake up to it — they had to change the way they perceived in order to see it
• the disciples alternated between falling sleep and waking up
◦ on the mountain when Jesus was “transfigured”

Now Peter and his companions had been overcome with sleep; but when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him (Lk. 9:32)

◦ their most dramatic awakening, was in Gethsemane

He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” (Mt. 26:40-42)

This brings us to our first challenge–and it’s a big one:
– we don’t want to wake up – we think we do, in theory, but “the flesh is weak”
• the spirit is willing, but in actual practice we prefer to roll over and stay in bed
◦ do remember a time when you tried to wake yourself from a deep sleep?
◦ it is like being held underwater – you have to fight to reach the surface
• sometimes I feel I’m being dragged back into sleep
– waking up means we must come to terms with reality
• therefore, waking up could change everything
◦ my values, commitments, friendships, mind set, all of it
• so I would rather dull my mind with entertainment or alcohol
◦ or live in the dream world of my illusions Continue reading →

Pulling Ourselves Together

When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetitions as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Matthew 6:5-8

Intro: The spiritual skill we will consider today is Recollection

Some writers see Recollection as preparation for prayer and others as a form of prayer
– but this is not a serious or heated debate
• the moment you prepare to pray, you are already praying
– to get an overview of Recollection, I want to hop through Matthew chapter 6

This is the middle section of Jesus’ “Sermon On the Mount”

What Jesus is doing in this sermon, is leading his disciples into a genuine life in God
– to get there, he has to guide them between two failed alternatives
• they were “not to be like the hypocrites”  or “the Gentiles” (vv. 5 & 7)
• the prayers he describes are inconsistent with a real encounter with God
◦ he is our Father “ who is in secret,” so that’s where we meet him – not on a public stage
◦ he is our Father and he already knows our needs, so it isn’t necessary to pile up words
• the genuine prayer is a real conversation with God
– at this point, Jesus taught them the “Lord’s Prayer,” which begins with “Our Father”
• we do not converse with our Father as stage actors or beggars
◦ but as children with a loving parent

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Matthew 6:19-25

Jesus is concerned with divided loyalty
– notice how verse 19 works on us: the potential loss of earthly possessions can stir up anxiety
• yet anxiety is exactly what he wants us to live without
• the solution is to transfer our treasures to heaven
◦ having our treasures in heaven draws our hearts to heaven
◦ this gives us an entirely new perspective — one that is free of worry over worldly “things”
– once our hearts are oriented to heaven, our bodies need to be adjusted to the new reality
• the eye (or sight) is what admits light into body
◦ “clear” translates a word that means “single” – that is, focused on one thing
◦ St. James described the opposite condition:

A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways (Jas. 1:8)
– and this is why the psalmist prayed:
Unite my heart to fear Your name. (Ps. 86:11)

• it is like having two masters – you can’t serve both
– “For this reason” connects verse 25 with verse 24
• in other words, anxiety is service to wealth (or Mammon–i.e., materialism, as if it were a god) Continue reading →

Listening At God’s Door

Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD before Eli. And word from the LORD was rare in those days, visions were infrequent. It happened at that time as Eli was lying down in his place (now his eyesight had begun to grow dim and he could not see well), and the lamp of God had not het gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD where the ark of God was, that the LORD called Samuel; and he said, “Here I am.”
Then he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, lie down again.” So he went and lay down. The LORD called yet again, “Samuel!” So Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he answered, “I did not call, lie down again.” So he went and lay down.
Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, nor had the word of the LORD yet been revealed to him. So the LORD called Samuel again for the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli discerned that the LORD was calling the boy. And Eli said to Samuel, “Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, taht you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening.'” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
1 Samuel 3:1-9

Intro: As a child, every time I heard this story I thought, “This is how I want God to speak to me”
– audible, clear and direct (today I’d be happy to receive an email or text from him)
• although God has never has spoken to me this clearly, my role remains the same as Samuel’s
• to sit with God, silence my heart and say, “Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening”

God has never stopped communicating with humankind in general or his people in particular
– we just have to work harder at hearing his voice than Samuel did
– “spiritual listening” is like other forms of listening
• a skill that we can develop with practice
• like music lovers who can:
◦ identify each instrument in an orchestra
◦ or tune in to the bass line in rock music

For the last few weeks I’ve talked about forms of meditation that require mental focus
– this morning we are going a new direction and I’ll be talking about prayer
• so why begin with listening as an introductory stage to prayer?
◦ first, because we already know how to ask for stuff

Joan Chittister, “It would be impossible to have spirituality without prayer, of course, but it is certainly possible to have prayer without having spirituality at all.”

◦ what she describes is religious practice that amounts to no more than an empty shell
• Samuel’s story illustrates the importance of listening
– although Samuel heard God’s voice he did not know it was God who spoke
• the reason for this is given in  verse 7, “the word of Yahweh” had not “yet been revealed to him”
◦ he began his apprenticeship in prayer (and prophecy) by listening to God and getting to know him
◦ it was through his word that God “appeared to Israel” and “revealed Himself to Samuel” (v. 21)
◦ this is still how we come to know God and put our faith in him

How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? . . . So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ (Ro. 10:14, 17)

• anyone can learn to “say prayers”
◦ but the real conversation doesn’t begin until we know God
◦ Paul certain “said prayers” (many, no doubt) prior to his conversion, but not until he had met Jesus could the Lord tell Ananias:

Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying (Acts 9:11)

◦ Paul’s first real prayer did not consist of requests or petitions, but two questions:
“Who are You, Lord” and
“What shall I do, Lord?” (Acts 22:10) Continue reading →

Meditation On Human Behavior

Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.” Luke 7:36-49

Intro: Helmut Thielicke, when preaching a sermon on this passage, began:

“I never cease to be amazed by the colorful characters whom we meet in the Bible. They are not all alike and we are not dealing with painted saints. We do not encounter among them the same kind of reverent monotony we find in Eastern icons. They are thrown together in sharply contrasting mixes in this story of the Pharisee and the sinful woman. . . . Even between Jesus and the two who shared with him the hill of Golgotha there are worlds of difference.”

It is because Thielicke’s observation fits our theme perfectly that I chose this passage
– my talk is titled, “Meditation On Human Behavior”
• nothing is more surprising, disturbing, or touching
◦ but discussing this theme is tricky, because we’ve all become amateur psychologists
• meditation suggests a different approach than examination, analysis, diagnosis and therapy
◦ so we have to set our knowledge of psychology to one side
– we meditate when we want to get beneath the surface of a thing
• in this case, when we look behind a person’s actions, not to see why, but to see the person

This story opens windows on the inner person
– and the importance of not being deceived by superficial measurements
• in the home of the Pharisee, nothing was what it appeared to be

Most of us have meditated on human behavior–a lot
– but, as a rule, our meditation has not lead us to discovery of a person
• our tendency is to attribute (or “project”) motives and explanations for the actions of others
• so in a way we see only pale versions of ourselves in the actions of others
– realistically, we do not have enough time to observe others without judgment
• judgments that come so quickly and easily
◦ our brains developed this ability for our protection
◦ in an instant we must determine whether the stranger approaching in the dark is a threat
• but this faculty must also be set aside to see accurately the person underneath the behavior

The way human behavior unfolds in scripture

The Bible tends to shift its interest when observing (or legislating) human behavior
– it may turn its magnifying glass on the heart, imagination, spirit, body, or will
• it is always interested in free will and the choices people make
– the Bible also observes the idiosyncrasies of individuals
• reading the New Testament letters we easily distinguish Paul from James and both from John

One scholar whose work has given me a better understanding of biblical stories is Robert Alter
– he explains that the biblical form of character development is not like our western novels
• generally, scripture does not have much said about the inner lives of our heroes
◦ or give details of their physical appearance, outside of what is necessary when building the plot
◦ and, like the woman in this story, many characters are anonymous (nameless)
• so when looking at human behavior:

“the Bible’s artful selectivity produces both sharply defined surfaces and a sense of ambiguous depths in character . . . .” (Alter)

– reading stories, expectations naturally form around certain character types
(for example, heroes and villains)
• but that is not always how it goes in scripture
◦ a righteous leader can lose his temper unrighteously
◦ a king “after God’s own heart” can murder a man to cover up an act of adultery
• the good person sometimes does bad things
◦ and the bad person sometimes does a good thing

“There is, in other words, an abiding mystery in character as the biblical writers conceive it, which they embody in their typical methods of presentation.” (Alter)

◦ that is to say, the men and women in scripture are like us — “a riddle wrapped in an enigma” Continue reading →