May 2020
A Contemplative Exercise for May
Saying for the month
“Do not hold on to me … I am ascending” John 20.17 (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:
“Do
not hold on to me … I am ascending”
Each of the Gospel narratives gives us a different account of the
resurrection, the ascension and the gift of the Spirit. John’s is full of profound meaning and
conflates the three events into one glorious day. It is on one moment of that day that we
concentrate our contemplation here.
In the light of that hazy early morning on Easter Day, Mary
Magdalene’s eyes are full of tears. She
was confused and at first mistakes the figure of the gardener. It is not until she is greeted by name that
she recognises that he is the risen Jesus – Jesus said to her ‘Mary’. Never was there a one-word greeting more
charged with emotion than this.
It is the most natural thing in the world for her to cling onto
Jesus’ knees. She wants above all now to
keep him. She has been the first person
to see the empty tomb and now she is the first person to whom the risen Lord
appears. It is one of the great
recognition stories in the whole of literature, let alone the Bible.
Mary wants to hold on and keep him. But she is told that she must cease touching
him. The satisfaction of her desire to
keep Jesus at her side would frustrate the ultimate purpose of his life, the
suffering the death and the resurrection.
The whole process seems in John to be a means of his glorification and
his return to his Father. Jesus adds I
am ascending – or I am going up.
Stephen Verney in his book ‘Water into Wine’ which is a commentary
on John’s Gospel writes of the great importance of the words ‘up’ and ‘down’ in
the Gospel – ‘up’ the place of unselfishness, of love and goodness – ‘down’ the
place of selfishness, of danger and evil.
So Jesus is going ‘up’ – returning to his Father which was the ultimate
purpose of all he came to do. Without
that going ‘up’ the whole Gospel story would be empty and no more than a
collection of tales and teaching.
In our first silence imagine yourself to be there in the hazy
light of early dawn. Imagine an
encounter with the risen Christ there in the garden, and listen to Jesus
speaking to you …
“Do not hold on to me … I am ascending”
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.
“Do
not hold on to me … I am ascending”
Introduction to the second silence – a preparation for listening with the heart:
“Do
not hold on to me … I am ascending”
So we first listened to the words of Jesus as if we were there and
were among those hearing the words for the first time. Now we seek to receive them deep within in
our own hearts. Do we really think of
heaven as somewhere up – up in the sky beyond the clouds? But why not?
Given that a ‘cloud’ was a common symbol of the glory of God, it seems
fine.
There had to be an end somewhere.
It is unthinkable that the resurrection appearances went on and on. There had to be a moment when the Jesus of
earth and of the incarnation became the Christ of heaven and of glory. It was both an ending – and a new beginning.
The great joy of the resurrection became deeper and deeper because
of a realisation that they couldn’t hold on to Jesus as Mary Magdalene had
tried to do, they were not losing him, but he would be with them always – at
all times and in all places. Up to now
he had been pinned down to one place at one time, but now he could be
everywhere. He could be alongside us
wherever we go and wherever we are.
More than that, just as we have tried to be with Jesus throughout
his ministry and throughout his suffering and death, so now we try to be with
him in his resurrection and his ascension.
The Ascension is not a one-off process, just for one moment in
time. It is for us now, in our
contemplation, in our listening to his words, and we seek to ascend with him
into glory.
Allow him to take you with him …
“Do
not hold on to me … I am ascending”
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.
“Do
not hold on to me … I am ascending”
Introduction to the time of intercession – we use our will to reflect God's Word outwards.
“Do not hold on to me … I am ascending”
We can use these words in intercession for others as
we continue in uncertain territory following the outbreak of the corona virus. The
joy of the resurrection is that we are not losing Jesus, but he will be with us
always – at all times and in all places, alongside us wherever we go and
wherever we are.
Many of us have had to let go of our normal ways of worship and the life of our church communities - we pray we may ‘let go and let God’ as we become accustomed to new ways of worship and discover new aspects of our faith.
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.
This
month’s exercise was contributed by AE