Christian Meditation: Renewing Ancient Practices
11/03/14 
Jack Lohr
Many people today claim to be "spiritual but not religious"--as many as 30% in one survey. The Millennial generation (born 1983-2004) seems to have little interest in "Organized Religion." But the Christian church has a powerful inheritance of spiritual practice that could help us to connect with them. Protestant churches might also renew our own prayer life through the ancient and modern practices of prayer/meditation. This survey article is intended to serve as a "Rough Guide" to the territory of Christian meditation for the seeker who wants to learn more.
From the time of the Early Church, there has been a stream of mystical practice parallel to the ecclesiastical. From John Cassian (5th c.) and the Desert Ascetics, to the communities of Benedict of Nursia (6th c.) and Ignatius of Loyola (17th c.), and into the modern era with expanding interest in Benedictine spirituality, the World Community for Christian Meditation, and Centering Prayer, there are Christian practices of meditation and contemplation that have the potential to bring spiritual peace and union with God.
There is also a tradition of mystical writings that is often neglected in the spiritual formation of Protestants, including Hildegard of Bingen (12th c.); Julian of Norwich and The Cloud of Unknowing (14th c.); John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila (16th c.); Brother Lawrence, Practice of the Presence of God (17th c.); William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (1728); Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism (1911); and Thomas Kelly, A Testament of Devotion (1941). Many of these can be found online in the Christian Classics Ethereal Library site.
John Cassian (~360 - 435) was an organizer of the early monasticism of the Desert Mothers and Fathers. He is recognized as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Episcopal Church traditions. His writings on spirituality were cited by the Benedictine John Main (1926-1982), founder of the modern Christian Meditation movement, as the source of his teaching of meditation with a mantra.
John Main described the modern practice of Christian meditation with these instructions:
Sit down. Sit still with your back straight. Close your eyes lightly. Then interiorly, silently begin to recite a single word - a prayer word or mantra. We recommend the ancient Christian prayer-word "Maranatha". Say it as four equal syllables ['ma - ra - na - tha']. Breathe normally and give your full attention to the word as you say it, silently, gently, faithfully and above all - simply. The essence of meditation is simplicity. Stay with the same word during the whole meditation and from day to day. Don't visualize but listen to the word as you say it. Let go of all thoughts (even good thoughts), images and other words. Don't fight your distractions but let them go by saying your word faithfully, gently and attentively and returning to it immediately that you realize you have stopped saying or it or when your attention is wandering.
Silence means letting go of thoughts. Stillness means letting go of desire. Simplicity means letting go of self-analysis.
Meditate twice a day every day. This daily practice may take you sometime to develop. Be patient. When you give up start again. You will find that a weekly meditation group and a connection with a community may help you develop this discipline and allow the benefits and fruits of meditation to pervade your mind and every aspect of your life in ways that will teach and delight you.
Saint Benedict (~480-543) adapted the spiritual and monastic teachings of John Cassian in the 6th century with his Rule of St. Benedict. The rule is a guide to Christian community which has found a modern echo in the "New Monasticism" movement and through the interpretation of Catholics like Sister John Chittister (OSB) and Protestants such as Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove. Sister Joan's interpretation of the rule is presented in The Monastery of the Heart: An Invitation to a Meaningful Life. Wilson-Hartgrove has just published The Rule of Saint Benedict: A Contemporary Paraphrase.
Another ancient practice of Scripture-based meditation known as "Lectio Divina" is finding new adherents among today's seminarians and even youth groups.
LectioDivina is the most traditional way of cultivating friendship with Christ. It is a way of listening to the texts of scripture as if we were in conversation with Christ and he was suggesting the topics of conversation. The daily encounter with Christ and reflection on his word leads beyond mere acquaintanceship to an attitude of friendship, trust and love. Conversation simplifies and gives way to communing, or as Gregory the Great (6th century), summarizing the Christian contemplative tradition, put it, "resting in God." This was the classical meaning of contemplative prayer for the first sixteen centuries.
This conversational, relationship-based approach to Scripture has many similarities to the spiritual practices of Vineyard Christianity detailed in the 2012 book by anthropological psychologist Tanya Luhrmann When God Talks Back.
Contemplative prayer is a form of meditation based on the practice developed by Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), the founder of the Jesuit Order. It is taught today in the form of "Centering Prayer" by "Christian Contemplative Outreach" of Butler, NJ.
Contemplative Prayer is a prayer of silence, an experience of God's presence as the ground in which our being is rooted, the Source from whom our life emerges at every moment'. Contemplative Prayer is the opening of mind and heart - our whole being - to God, the Ultimate Mystery, beyond thoughts, words and emotions. We open our awareness to God whom we know by faith is within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than choosing - closer than consciousness itself. Contemplative Prayer is a process of interior purification leading, if we consent, to divine union.
Centering Prayer is drawn from ancient prayer practices of the Christian contemplative heritage, notably the Fathers and Mothers of the Desert, Lectio Divina (praying the scriptures), The Cloud of Unknowing, St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila. It was distilled into a simple method of prayer in the 1970's by three Trappist monks, Fr. William Meninger, Fr. Basil Pennington and Abbot Thomas Keating at the Trappist Abbey, St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts.
Centering Prayer is a method which prepares us to receive the gift of God's presence. It consists of responding to the Spirit of Christ by consenting to God's presence and action within. It furthers the development of contemplative prayer by quieting our faculties to cooperate with the gift of God's presence.
Quaker historian Rufus M. Jones' book on Spiritual Reformers in the 16th & 17th Century opens up a world of insights from the mystics of the Reformation. He writes (pp. xiv-xv):
Parallel with the main current of the Protestant Reformation, a new type of "spiritual religion" appeared and continued to manifest itself with mutations and developments, throughout the entire Reformation era, with a wealth of results which are still operative in the life of the modern world. The period of this new birth was a time of profound transition and ferment, and a bewildering variety of roads was tried to spiritual Canaans and new Jerusalems, then fondly believed to be near at hand. It is a long-standing tragedy of history that the right wing of a revolutionary or transforming movement must always suffer for the unwisdom and lack of balance of those who constitute the left, or extreme radical, wing of the movement. So it happened here. The nobler leaders and the saner spirits were taken in the mass with those of an opposite character, and were grouped under comprehensive labels of reproach and scorn, such as "Antinomians," "Enthusiasts," or "Anabaptists," and in consequence still remain largely neglected and forgotten.
The men who initiated and guided this significant undertaking - the exhibition in the world of what they persistently called "spiritual religion" - were influenced by three great historic tendencies, all three of which were harmoniously united in their type of Christianity. They were the Mystical tendency, the Humanistic or Rational tendency, and the distinctive Faith-tendency of the Reformation. These three strands are indissolubly woven together in this type of so-called spiritual Religion. It was an impressive attempt, whether completely successful or not, to widen the sphere and scope of religion, to carry it into the whole of life, to ground it in the very nature of the human spirit, and to demonstrate that to be a man, possessed of full life and complete health, is to be religious, to be spiritual.
A minister who wants to deepen awareness of the range of Protestant spirituality would do well to become acquainted with the practitioners of the Reformation's neglected "spiritual reformers" portrayed in Jones' book. He includes portraits of such relative unknowns as Hans Denck, Sebastian Franck, Caspar Schwenckfeld, Valentine Weigel, Jacob Boehme and Thomas Traherne.
The late Moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA) Howard Rice in his 1991 book Reformed Spirituality argued that the Reformed tradition was unbalanced in being suspicious of personal experience as a pathway to relationship with God. He cites William Bouwsma's biography of John Calvin (John Calvin: A Sixteenth-Century Portrait) to suggest that there are two sides to Calvin--rational order, and spiritual ardor. Rice says, "The changeless God of...[static orthodox] Calvinism has been inhospitable to any form of mysticism and uncomfortable with the language of religious experience. The other side of Calvin celebrated the paradoxes of life, refused to rationalize ambiguity, and welcomed mystery at the heart of the faith." [p. 25]
The Presbyterian Church (USA) Directory for Worship lists meditation as an acceptable part of worship, but the average North American congregation has scant time for silence. Indeed, after 30 seconds of silence, most worshipers begin to squirm. Still the provision is there, at least in Presbyterian weekday prayer. Even Sunday morning, "Times of silence may be provided for prayer and meditation." [W-3.3101]
There are actually some powerful suggestions on the "Uses of Scripture" [W-5.3002] which could enrich the spiritual practice of most Protestants:
One may meditate upon the Word,
(1) committing passages of Scripture to memory,`
(2) recalling and reflecting upon the revelation of God,
(3) analyzing and comparing biblical themes, images, and forms,
(4) finding touchpoints and exploring relationships between Scripture and life,
(5) entering imaginatively into the world and events portrayed in the Bible to participate in what God does and promises there,
(6) wrestling with the challenges and demands of the gospel,
(7) offering one's self afresh for life in response to God.
It is often helpful to keep a record of one's insights and personal responses to reading, studying, and meditating upon the Word, or to share them with others. Writing paraphrases, summaries, and brief reflections, making creative responses, and keeping journals are all disciplines which assist in responding to the Word of God in Scripture'
The most concrete instructions, however, are found are found in W-5.4000 on Prayer:
Prayer is a conscious opening of the self to God, who initiates communion and communication with us. Prayer is receiving and responding, speaking and listening, waiting and acting in the presence of God. In prayer we respond to God in adoration, in thanksgiving, in confession, in supplication, in intercession, and in self-dedication. (W-2.1000)
- Prayer in personal worship may be expressed in various ways.
- One may engage in conscious conversation with God, putting into words one's joys and concerns, fears and hopes, needs and longings in life.
- One may wait upon God in attentive and expectant silence.
- One may meditate upon God's gifts, God's actions, God's Word, and God's character.
- One may contemplate God, moving beyond words and thoughts to communion of one's spirit with the Spirit of God.
- One may draw near to God in solitude.
- One may pray in tongues as a personal and private discipline.
- One may take on an individual discipline of enacted prayer through dance, physical exercise, music, or other expressive activity as a response to grace.
- One may enact prayer as a public witness through keeping a vigil, through deeds of social responsibility or protest, or through symbolic acts of disciplined service.
- One may take on the discipline of holding before God the people, transactions, and events of daily life in the world.
- One may enter into prayer covenants or engage in the regular discipline of shared prayer.
- The Christian is called to a life of constant prayer, of "prayer without ceasing." (Rom. 12:12; 1 Thess. 5:17)
The Presbyterian Church (USA) website has even begun to include instructions for the practice of spiritual disciplines like meditation:
http://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/spiritualformation/disciplines/
http://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/spiritualformation/practices/
http://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/youthministry/spirituality/
Celebration of Discipline author Richard J. Foster has created a worldwide community called "Renovare" which encourages Christian spiritual formation and discipleship.
A pastor who studies, practices and teaches these ways of spirituality and meditation may experience a deeper relationship with God, help revitalize a static congregation, and discover ways to relate to a generation who are leaving the church but still seeking God.
NOTES
1. ttp://www.gallup.com/poll/7759/americans-spiritual-searches-turn-
inward.aspx
2. http://www.ccel.org
3. http://www.wccm.org
4. http://www.wccm.org/content/what-meditation
5. http://jonathanwilsonhartgrove.com/
6. http://monasteriesoftheheart.org
7. ttp://www.readthespirit.com/explore/2012/7/25/awakening-hope-wilson-
hartgrove-on-st-benedict.html
8. http://gracechurchstg.org/tools.htm
9. http://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/
10. http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/24934/pg24934.html
11. http://tinyurl.com/8j5g2j4
12. http://www.renovare.org/
13. Some representative annotated bibliographies for further study can be found at:
Episcopal/Presbyterian:
http://www.stolaf.edu/people/huff/classes/religion/Meditation.html
Eastern Orthodox: http://www.hesychasm.ru/en/library.htm
Baptist:http://www.johnpiippo.com/2007/06/my-bibliography-on-christian.html