Can Christian Meditation Transform the Church?
As I sat in church this past week listening to the pastor talk about clarity and contemplation, I wondered if the congregation really grasped the significances of what he was sharing. He spoke of prayer and spending time with God, but did it register or was it just another Christian ideal that sounded good but had no real practicality. Knowing what I have learned about contemplation, meditation, and prayer, it takes discipline to carve out time everyday to spend time with God in stillness and reverent solitude. As I continued to listen, I wondered if mere words were enough to demonstrate the magnitude of such a practice. Was a sermon about contemplation and meditation enough or must further steps be taken? Do pastors not only need to talk about reverent silence, contemplation, and Christian meditation, but practice it as a body as well? And if so, how?
The service I attended consisted of praise and worship, some scripture reading, teaching, and ended with gospel music playing so loudly that you’d have a hard time hearing your neighbor talk to you. Where was the contemplation in that I thought? If we are to talk about meditation (or words similar to it), isn’t it just as important that we teach it and practice as a body of believers?
In the course of our church services, I imagine believers entering the main sanctuary in silence and holy reverence to God as they turn their hearts over to Him and enter into His presence. This would be followed by 10 to 20 minutes of scripture meditation with eyes closed and as we slowly grazed over the scripture passage selected for the day. Christian meditation would allow God’s word to wash away every care and dissolve every weight that we carried in with us- the act of hiding God’s word in our heart. As we mentally repeated the scripture passage, following the principles of meditation, any time we discovered our minds wandering off in thought, we would gently returned our attention back to the verses, thus creating a greater space to hear God and fellowship with Him from within. For those who attend church for the entertainment factor or an emotional experience, this might not go over so well.
