What is Christian Meditation?
Exploring Gods longing for us to ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ Psalm 46.10
Meditation is a universal spiritual wisdom, and a practice found at the core of all the great religious traditions, leading from the mind to the heart. It is a way of simplicity, silence and stillness. It can be practised by anyone, wherever you are on your life’s journey. It is only necessary to be clear about the practice and then to begin – and to keep on beginning …
The World Community teaches a practice derived from the Gospel teaching of Jesus and the advice of early Christian monks. The Desert Fathers and Mothers teach a Christian spirituality of powerful relevance for those today who want to live their discipleship to Jesus in a radical and simple way. (wccm.org/content/what-meditation).
We are used to different forms of prayer in worship – adoration, thanksgiving, confession, intercession and supplication. The fruits of meditation – which is sometimes referred to as the prayer of the heart – is rooted in and leads naturally into these more familiar ways of praying. It is a practice that helps one leave oneself behind. Time in God’s presence is not filled with my hopes and fears, my desires and longings, just a willingness to be open to God -to sit in God’s presence; to be with Jesus open to the Holy Spirit.
Who is this for?
Although this can be done as a group it is more likely that this will be an individual practice.
Method
The simplicity of the internal repetition of a single word helps to keep our constantly busy minds focussed. It is a simple practice. There is a huge amount that can be learnt about the tradition, but the important thing is the practice. John Cassian writing in the 4th century said, ‘experience is the teacher’. So come and taste and see.
- Prayerfully select a short verse or word from scripture.
- Repeat the word out loud a number of times.
- Grow quieter until the word becomes silent and internal.
- Repeat the word internally.
- You may be assisted by very quiet ‘white noise’ or soft music to drown out background noise.
- As you repeat the word, allow God to speak.