May 2019
A Contemplative Exercise for May
The following is a possible framework for the Witnessing of the Word. It can be personalised, or altered: its purpose is to serve as an example of how this Saying might be used primarily in the context of a Prayer Group, but it may be used by individuals if so wished. It is not intended to be definitive.
In the context of a group: the periods of silence should be appropriate
for your group - probably not less than 5 minutes, or more than 15 minutes.
Saying for the month
“Behold I am alive for ever more” Revelation 1.18 (RSV)
To begin the exercise,
first spend a short while in relaxation and preparing to be still; become aware
of the sounds around you and put them aside; offer this time of prayer to God.
Say this introductory
invitation to prayer, then keep a further minute or two of silence:
"Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will
give you rest" Matthew 11.28
Introduction to the first silence - a preparation for listening with the mind:
“Behold I am alive for ever more”
The
first chapter of Revelation sets the tone for the whole book; and it also
chimes with John’s Gospel in style, with its emphasis on the relation between
death and eternal life. Here we have several key things…
First,
the opening verse – ‘The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show
his servants what must soon take place’. The chapter lays before us the truths
of our faith: that Jesus Christ loves
us, and has by his death freed us from our sins; that glory and dominion belong
to him and to God, his Father; that he will come again; that he died but is
alive for evermore; that he was and is and is to come, the beginning and the
end, the Alpha and the Omega. This promise of the eternal nature of God is here
at the beginning and again at the end of the book – in the first few verses and
in the last few: it is something with which John is profoundly concerned.
So
in our time of thinking we begin to wrestle with this idea of eternity and with
what that means for us, essentially time bound humans – existing so much in the
here and now, but struggling to come to terms with the mysteries of the
eternal: the incarnation, the life, the death and the resurrection of our Lord
Jesus Christ and his relationship with the Father and the Spirit.
We
are now working up to Ascension Day, Pentecost and Trinity Sundays - huge
challenges to our human understanding and indeed maybe things that we can never
understand and should not expect to. During the church’s year we return to
these themes in the course of the great festivals but they never lose that
mystery: I heard a sermon one Trinity Sunday from someone who said it was the
40th time he had preached on the Trinity and he was still wrestling
with it. So each Lent we re-visit Jesus’s wilderness experience, the
temptations, his passion and crucifixion – and each Lent there is a new
discovery, a fresh revelation, born so often of some very human experience
which helps to reveal the divine.
And
then comes the resurrection – the greatest mystery of all, the paradoxes of
dying to live, of a defeat being a victory, of joy as the companion grief, of
earthly life existing within the context of eternal life. And all that was, and
is to come, contains within it that which is: the ‘sacrament of the
present moment’.
Here,
now, we rest in that present, which is as much a part of eternity as all other
moments. And the command here has an element of immediacy: ‘Behold’. We listen
now with all our faculties, not just our ears; we give our full attention to
these words spoken to John and handed on through him with such urgency. We try
to enter as fully as possible into that present – we don’t think, or struggle
to understand, we just rest in that presence which is the living Word: “Behold I am alive for evermore”
A time is now kept for silence of the mind - between 5 and 15 minutes
Silent repetition of all or part of the Saying can be helpful as we listen to the Word
The silence concludes
with a short thanksgiving, and/or repeat the Saying
Father, we thank you for the gift of your Word.
“Behold I am alive for ever more”
Introduction to the second silence - a preparation for listening with the heart:
In
our second time of silence we will try to take this living word deeper – not
just into our thinking part, our mind, but into our selves, our hearts, our
being. I find that some times when I am trying truly to contemplate this is
easier than at others – sometimes the words themselves seem to strike a deeper
chord, to set up a greater resonance within me than at others. It is a real
form of exercise, this contemplation, and practice does make it easier!
And
these words will, I’m sure, have different resonances for each of us: as we try
and make them a part of our self, the experiences of that self will have left
the ground into which the words sink in different states. Crucifixion can come
to each of us in so many different guises – illness, bereavement, material
loss, emotional or other crises – one can add many more. And whilst earthly
life is finite and must end, eternal life stretches not only ahead of us but
backwards – and is able to be entered into here and now. And so whatever form
our crucifixion takes, we are able to begin now to live in the realm of
eternal life if, as John says, we have faith. He writes in John 5.24 ”Anyone
who gives heed to what I say and puts his trust in him who sent me has hold of
eternal life”.
I sometimes think of the huge challenge the resurrection must have been for the women who first saw the empty tomb; for Mary who met the resurrected Christ in the garden; for the disciples on the Emmaus road, and then those hiding away behind the locked doors through which Christ entered. The challenge must have been almost greater for them, who experienced the human life and death of Jesus at first hand, than for Christians who came later hearing the story as a whole. We are naturally bound by our experiences and find it hard to leap into the world that exists beyond them. But this is what we are commanded to do by Jesus – to come to him and listen to him as he says “Behold I am alive for evermore”. Deep down within ourselves we take these words into our hearts, whatever our experience, whatever crucifixion we may have encountered. We listen to him saying them to us, here and now with absolute assurance: “Behold I am alive for evermore”
A time is now kept for silence of the heart - between 5 and 15 minutes.
Again, you could use a silent repetition of the words of the Saying to help you listen to them
Conclude the silence with a
short thanksgiving and/or repeat the Saying:
Father, we thank you that your Word is alive and within us.
“Behold I am alive
for evermore”
Introduction to the time of intercession – we use our will to reflect
God’s Word outwards.
We now come to our time of intercession, allowing God to speak the same words through us to those for whom we wish to pray. We remain focussed on the saying and at the same time we bring alongside us the person, concern or situation for whom we wish to pray. In God’s name, we speak the Word to them, a kind of spiritual loudspeaker broadcasting to those in need…
Say the name; then,
after a moment of silence, repeat the saying - let the words flow through you
to them.
Conclude the time of
intercession with words of thanksgiving:
Father, we thank you that your Word has gone out through us to those for whom we pray.
Use the Fellowship Prayer or another closing prayer to conclude your time of contemplative prayer.
Loving Heavenly Father, we thank you for all your
unsearchable riches which pour forth from you as light from the sun, in
boundless profusion and generosity, whether received, ignored or rejected. And
now we offer to you, in so far as we are able, as an emptiness to be filled
with your divine fullness, ourselves, our souls and bodies; all that we are,
all that we have and all that we do. Amen
You may wish to say
the Grace together before departing.
Using
the Watchword….
During
the days and weeks ahead, you can use a shortened form, or part, of the Saying
as a Watchword – for brief moments of prayer, whilst walking or working, at
moments when they come to mind or seem especially appropriate for a particular
situation:
‘…Behold…’ ‘… I AM …’ ‘…I am alive…’
This month’s exercise
was contributed by CO