Contemplation, in its simplest analysis, is the spiritual arena that lies beyond our own personal efforts, where knowledge exists that cannot be obtained through the well worn pathways of intellectual acquisition.
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We stretch our wings, head thrown back in the effort it takes to open ourselves to all that might be, not knowing whose fingertips we will touch in the aching desire to connect with another.
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Wendell Berry is an American farmer, writer, environmentalist, poet and general all around man who wishes all of us to calm down and explore what we don’t know. His very short poem ‘To know the dark’ has been often quoted. It is a short poem that encourages the contemplation of the unknown.
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Spirituals are uniquely American music, emerging as they do from the African American people who endured slavery. They were people who had their own native African spirituality taken from them, abruptly and violently, as though it were of no account. And then Christianity was forced upon them.
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The hymn "This Day God Gives Us" has a wonderful lyric that draws us into a meditation of the moment, a gratitude for all things, and the safety of the divine embrace. It is a modern take on the ancient Celtic writing St. Patrick's Breastplate.
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As people of the way we need to be able take into account many parts of an argument or situation, to have a voice that can hold two opposing ideas at once, without feeling the need to choose one against the other. It is a voice that is more interesting in nurturing than opposing, more interested in discovering than demanding, a voice that is more interested in serving, than oppressing. Jesus was such a voice. And it is a challenging one.
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Those who are already facing health challenges, mental, physical or a combination of both, can feel overwhelmed. And even those with no apparent struggles can feel less grounded in the midst of the fluidity that is the current landscape. It may be wise to say that 'the only way forward is through.' But the through is not always a saunter through the flower filled meadow. Nevertheless, we persist.
It is hard to imagine where everything is headed - except to know that we are living in an uncertain time - and that living in the day, confining our thoughts to what - and who - we have in front of us is paramount. It is the ultimate spiritual discipline.
It is perhaps a time to remember, most of all, that though we can control the smaller, intimate moments in our lives and in our hearts, the larger arena of the universe is not within our control.
It is such a strange landscape to be living in. Everything looks the same, but it's all different. Simple things like shopping have become complicated rituals that need careful orchestration. Simple pleasures like visiting for a morning chat, are bound by rules and rituals we could never have guessed at.
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When we quiet ourselves, and listen to our inner wisdom, we do know how to proceed. We may despair, we may feel low in spirit, we may be sorrowful. But we do have a plan of action. We do know what we are to do. Hold steady. Keep your eyes on God. Keep your arms open to the world. Know you will sometimes be hurt, and keep loving anyway.
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The world with all its delights, and sorrows, pushes and pulls us in many different directions. We tend to think that we are having to choose always, between good and bad. But this is not so. We are simply called to choose one way or another way, and often the choices are between two equally good things. How then will we know which path is the one to follow?
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Both hope and the risk get summed up on Epiphany. The word means “manifestation,” or “appearance” or “revelatory moment.” Theologically speaking, epiphanies signal something new, but—at least for a lot of folk—something uncomfortable as well.
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When we look into the face of the other, truly look, we see them in all their vulnerability, in their unique beauty, in their richness of thought, their complexity. We see how easy it is to kill them in the many, many ways we can do this, and we see that they are asking that we do not.
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The United Church of Canada holds many of tenets that are emerging in this new conversation on ‘what it means to be the church’. The conversations are important ones. Here below, Richard Rohn in a series of three audio talks - 45 minutes each - talks about just what the whole conversation is all about.
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Richard Rohr, speaking about his work as director and creator of the Centre for Contemplation and Action, talks about his thoughts on The Emerging, or Emergent Church. You will also find in the listening section, a series of three lectures on this subject recorded in early 2021.
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Understanding the concepts in the Emerging church is important for any churches in the 21st century who desires to provide a spiritual place of rest, reflection and intelligent theology for their local neighbourhood. Here Peter Rollins, Irish writher, Christian theologian and philosopher, talks about the Emergent Church in an interview.
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We can never know the full essence of God, which is why throughout sacred scriptures and all other intelligent writings concerning the divine, similes and metaphors are used to describe God. To worship the metaphors is idolatry. To absorb them, imagine them, lean into them, is divine.
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Wars tear families apart, diseases rage, storms whip water into sheets of terror, and still, and yet, here is wondrous paradox: the great mystery we dare to name, holds us in tenderest caress, and like the sunʼs gentle warmth coaxing unripe fruit into the fullness of being, rocks us with divine dreams and whispers our true essence, pressing its heart upon us,
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We tend to think of the Sabbath as a time set aside for can'ts. We can't do this and we can't do that.
By this viewing, we see the decalogue as a punishment, not a gift. But in the Judaeo-Christian tradition, properly understood, Sabbath time is the most sacred of divine offerings.
How do we transform and transcend our biases? From judgments made unconsciously to complacency in systemic evil, we must learn how to see if we are to learn how to transform. Center for Action and Contemplation faculty members Brian McLaren and Richard Rohr join Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis Ph.D. of New York’s Middle Church for this special six-episode podcast series Learning How to See.
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