July 2019
A Contemplative Exercise
for July
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
“Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” Matthew 5.48
(ASV)
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:
“Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect”
This saying
comes towards the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus says: “You are salt … you are light”. But
how? Jesus doesn’t give us the answers
to all the questions we want to ask. He
says earlier in the Sermon: “Do not think
that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish
them, but to fulfil them”. The law
of the past is not going to disappear – it is always going to be there. What the disciple of Jesus has to do is to
surpass that old law
Jesus then
lists six issues, each one introduced with the words: “You have heard that it was said of old time … but I tell you …” He speaks of murder, adultery, divorce,
taking an oath, receiving an insult, loving your enemy …
What Jesus
does is to give us neither a complete detailed ethical rule book, nor even a
theological statement of ethical principles.
What he does is to give various examples of how the principles of the
teaching of Jesus should work out in practice – contrasted with the rules
previously and virtually universally accepted.
What Jesus
is doing is introducing a new situation which completely transcends what has
gone before.
The
overriding principle is ‘love’ – love your neighbour, certainly, but also love
your enemies and those who persecute you.
If salt and light seem to be qualities that might separate a disciple
from the world, here is something different.
There is a sweeping universality to the love that Jesus demands of us
which has no parallel in other Jewish writings.
It is not just a sentimental feeling, but an earnest desire for their
good. Luke gives it an extra emphasis
when he records: “do good to those who
hate you.”
What Jesus sets
before us is a law which is far more exacting than the detailed laws of the
past. The final summary which Jesus
makes demands more than ever before “Be
perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect”.
Jesus uses the Greek word ‘teleios’
for perfect. The requirement goes
far beyond any mere legal conformity. It
is even wider than more perfection. Teleios means ‘completeness’,
‘wholeness’, ‘maturity’ (see 1 Cor 2.6, 14.20, Phil 3.15) It is a life totally integrated with the
will of God.
It is a life
that reflects his character. There is an
echo of Leviticus 11.44, 19.2, 20.26 – those repeated words of God: “You shall be holy, for I am holy”.
It is not
that the law of Jesus is more difficult
to keep – it is impossible to
keep. The reason is that he puts before
us the perfection of love which lies beyond our capability. As we live out this law in our own lives we
become utterly dependent on the mercy of God.
“Be perfect as your heavenly Father
is perfect”
Allow the
words to flow slowly through your mind …
“Be perfect as your heavenly Father
is perfect”
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.
“Be perfect, as your
heavenly Father is perfect”
Introduction to the second silence - a preparation for listening with
the heart:
“Be perfect, as your
heavenly Father is perfect”
Every
disciple is faced with this challenge.
It is a goal for every disciple of Jesus. Maybe it is only really accessible to us as we
seek to receive it in contemplation. As
we do this we allow the words to become part of us to such an extent that we
can leave the words themselves behind and be left with – well, with what? With completeness, perfection, wholeness,
maturity – indeed perfection.
The
perfection of which Jesus speaks has also the sense of something that has been
accomplished, a conclusion, an achievement.
When someone once asked the saintly Coptic leader Pope Shenouda iii “How can anyone be perfect?”, he
responded by drawing the attention of his listeners to a child painting a
picture. To the casual observer it is
rather ugly and crude and incomplete.
But to the child it is perfect, the very best that they can do.
So the
perfection of which Jesus speaks has a strong sense of the potential of which
we are capable. We know we are not
perfect, but what we can do is to move towards it. St Paul in 2 Corinthians 3.9 records his
prayer: ‘… our prayer is for your perfection.’ From the divine perspective in Genesis 1
the whole of creation was ‘good’, but has been forever in a state of
incompleteness and endlessly moving towards perfection.
As we look
towards Jesus and see there his perfection in an imperfect world – his
perfection shown to us in his life and ministry, in his suffering and death,
and in his resurrection and glory. We
are to be united with him and pray always that God, in his mercy, looks on him
rather than on our struggles to be perfect.
Just as many
in the healing ministry speak of ‘wholeness’, so today we are listening to
Jesus speaking of perfection. Completely
unattainable for us in our sinful incompleteness, of course. But a goal, an aim, a movement for us towards
the example that Jesus has given to us, and all the time we are surrounded by
mercy, compassion and the perfect love of God himself.
“Be perfect, as your
heavenly Father is perfect”
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.
“Be perfect,
as your heavenly Father is perfect”
Introduction to the time of intercession – we use our will to reflect
God’s Word outwards.
“Be perfect, as your
heavenly Father is perfect”
In this third part of our time, we
seek to allow God to speak these same words through us to those for whom we
wish to pray.
We hold the person or people before
God and allow him to speak the words to them.
It is the opposite of what most of us are used to in church or in our
own prayers where we address God and ask him for things. Here we are allowing him to speak and to act
in the lives of those we hold before him.
Say the name of a
person or a group of people, 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, until you are all in all and we are complete. Amen
You may wish to say
the Grace together before departing.
A
Watchword for this month … “Be perfect” …. “Heavenly
Father”
This month's exercise was contributed by AE