June 2019
A Contemplative Exercise for June
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
“I have loved you with an everlasting love” Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV)
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:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love”
Jeremiah prophesies that the time is coming when the fortunes of God’s people Israel and Judah, who are in exile, will be restored. There will be no more weeping and mourning by the waters of Babylon. They will be brought back to the land that God gave to their fathers and they shall take possession of it. God has seen their misery and has compassion on them. He forgives them for their idolatry and failure to listen to Him; their stubborn ways and hardened hearts have only caused them further suffering. There will be a time of rejoicing and the Lord will turn their mourning into joy.
Their sorrows are not only a punishment by God for their constant faithlessness and disobedience, but are also by way of a cleansing process to purify their souls. This will be a necessary preparation for the unique work which Israel, His chosen people, have yet to do in the world. The days are coming when the Lord will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the house of Judah. “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people” (verse 33)
The Old Testament is shot through with passages illustrating God’s love, His ongoing patience and forgiveness. We see the longing for His people to know Him and to experience His love despite the fact that they have continually rejected and disobeyed Him. He constantly pursues His wayward people, wooing them like a lover for his virgin bride.
“Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him” (verse 20).
We hear God mourning the faithlessness of His chosen people in the book of Hosea: “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the more they went from me; they kept sacrificing to the Baals, and burning incense to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of compassion, and with the bands of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them”. Hosea 11:vv1- 4.
In Ezekiel, we learn of the love that will go to any length. God is the great Shepherd of the sheep “I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when some of the sheep have been scattered abroad, so I will seek out my sheep; and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered. ….I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep and I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the stray, and I will bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will watch over, I will feed them in justice” (Ezekiel 34: vv 11,12,15,16.
At its core, the Bible is about the depth of God’s love for us, which is far beyond our understanding. It is so deep that we can count on its power to embrace us even our sinfulness.
So in our first silence, (the silence of the mind), let us listen to the Words of God, as they were spoken to the suffering Israelites in captivity. Imagine that we are in their shoes and how they (and we) would be comforted by God’s words to them:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love”
A time is now kept for
silence of the mind - between 5 and 15 minutes
The silence concludes with
a short thanksgiving, and/or repeat the Saying:
Father, we thank you for the gift of your Word.
“I
have loved you with an everlasting love”.
Introduction to the second silence - a preparation for listening with
the heart:
Now we prepare for our second silence:
In our troubled world, on our TV screens we see countless acts of violence and sickening atrocities that cause the deaths and suffering of hundreds and thousands of innocent people. We see thousands of refugees, and homeless people, families ripped apart by civil war and famine. Most of us will remember the horrific act of terrorism on Easter Sunday, when over 250 people were killed by suicide bombers, while they were worshipping in their churches, or on holiday in their hotels.
One can ask if anyone is beyond the redemptive love of God. Bishop John Selwyn, in a memoir, has said “God is love and I can never conceive that God shuts out any human being from that love, either in this world or the world to come. But a man can so harden himself in sin that he shuts away the love from himself both here and in the next world”. Pope Francis also writes in a recent book, “If in our hearts, there is no mercy, no joy, no forgiveness or love, then we are not in communion with God”.
Nothing but loving kindness can draw human beings to goodness. Not
by physical or mental force – only the force (or power) of love can bring the
sinner to repentance. It’s as if God is saying “Because I love you, I do not
force you”.
There are many occasions when we have gone astray, forgetting God, and turning away from His love and grace to satisfy our fancies and our own desires. But the very moment we repent and turn back to God, He comes with open arms, to meet us halfway. This unconditional love is beautifully illustrated in the parable of the Prodigal Son who decides to leave home with his share of his father’s inheritance but he squanders it all in dissolute living. Then there is a famine and the son becomes destitute and he is forced to work as a swineherd. After a time he is so hungry and broken in spirit, that he returns to his father full of repentance for his sinful ways. When the son is still far off his father, moved to compassion, runs to meet him and embraces him, offering him the best clothes and a sumptuous feast to celebrate his return.
In the New Testament, God’s love is fully revealed and expressed in the person of Jesus, the Word made flesh. Everything Jesus said and did was out of unconditional love culminating in the ultimate sacrifice of laying down His life for us.
In an article about the parable of the Good Samaritan Morris
Maddox suggests in his book The Healing House of Prayer, that Christ can be
seen both in the Samaritan and in the wounded traveller.
“We can see the person of
Christ in the Good Samaritan, coming to us at the precise point where we are
now and ministering to us in our present predicament.
And when he has healed us, only he can set us on the right way, his way. But the person of Christ is also to be seen in the wounded traveller. When we stop to help someone in dire need, we may find Christ in that person. That is why we constantly feel that the sick and disabled actually minister to us”.
God loved us into being. Before we were born we were known and loved by Him. Life is about love, how little we love or how much we love as far as our limitation as human beings allows. But often quite unexpectedly there comes a defining moment or epiphany when God touches our hearts and we awaken to the true source of Divine Love, the love that will never let us go.
So now we come to our second silence of the Heart. Let us open our
hearts to God, and listen to Him saying in the very depths and centre of our
being,
“I have loved you with an everlasting love”.
A time is now kept for
silence of the heart - between 5 and 15 minutes
Conclude the silence with a short thanksgiving and/or repeat the Saying:
Father, we thank you that your Word is alive and within us.
“I
have loved you with an everlasting love”.
Introduction to the time of intercession – we use our will to reflect God’s Word outwards.
For intercession in your group, say the name of a person or a group of people for whom you wish to pray, and after a short pause, repeat the saying.
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.
Ever Loving God, 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, unti you are all in all and we are complete. Amen
You may wish to say
the Grace together before departing.
We can use this saying as a Watchword during the day and last thing at night and in difficult situations, to keep us in communion with God.
"...I have loved you..." "...everlasting love..."
This month's exercise was contributed by MN