Week One

Meditation

Many times when we envision meditation in our minds, we conjure up images of a person sitting on the floor  with legs crossed, palms up and chanting UM, UM, UM.  The goal of this type of mediation is to completely empty oneself.  Christian meditation is the discipline of disengaging from the busyness of the world and making space to hear God.  Foster says "Christian meditation, very simply, is the ability to hear God's voice and obey his word."  Instead of emptying ourselves, we are filling ourselves with God.

While this may sound like a very simple task, think about all the noise in our lives.  Foster argues that "In contemporary society our Adversary majors in three things: noise, hurry and crowds.  If he can keep us engaged in 'muchness' and 'manyness.'"  Our lives are so filled with chatter that silence seems like a foreign land.  We don't know how to act in the silence and we become uncomfortable.  We run back to the noise.  Mediation offers an alternative creating a means to learn to embrace silence and seek God.

Practically speaking, for most of us, meditation is going to require trial and error since it is so foreign.   It is okay for our minds to drift.  Keep at it.  The more we engage in meditation, the easier it becomes.  First find a time of the day that works for you.   Second, find a space that is conducive to meditation.  It should be a place that is comfortable but is free from distraction as possible.  Third, select a Scripture to meditate on.  Remember, meditation's purpose is to create space to encounter God on God's terms.  It is not Bible study, so we do not approach Scripture to see what we can learn.  So, read the Scripture SLOWLY and REFLECTIVELY.  We are not reading for information.

If the Scripture is a story, one way to meditate on it is to insert yourself into the Scripture as one of the characters.  Try to imagine with all of your senses.  What do you see?  What do you hear?  What do you smell?  What do you taste?  How do you feel? How did you experience Jesus in the story?

Another way to meditate on the Scripture is Lectio Divina.  Read the text very slowly drinking in each word.  Listening for the still, small voice of God.  When a word or phrase seems to pop out, stop and reflect upon it.  Let it interact with your inter-being.  Insights gained during this time make excellent grist for journaling.

May God Bless You this week as you seek to meditate upon his Word.