February 2025
A Contemplative Exercise for February 2025
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 too. 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:‘Take heart, it is I’ Mark 6.50. (NRSV).
In your time of contemplation, you may like to shorten this to ‘Take heart’.
To begin the exercise, first spend a short while in relaxation and preparing to be still; you may want to relax your way through your muscles or you may find it helpful to become aware of your breathing. Take note of the sounds around you and then put them aside as you 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:
‘Take heart, it is I’.
Imagine the scene. A man is deeply asleep in his new home. Suddenly he jerks awake as he hears the stairs creak! Stealthy footsteps continue up to the landing and he is ready to spring into action, until he hears the words: ‘Don’t worry, it’s only me’. I t’s his father, paying an unexpected late night visit. It’s that very familiar voice that calms his fears and so he goes back to sleep reassured that all is well. He is safe.
Such a range of emotions – anxiety and fear turning to reassurance and peace - must have been those of the disciples when they were frightened out of their wits thinking they saw a ghost on that stormy sea, but instead heard Jesus’ familiar voice speaking our Saying for February: ‘Take heart, it is I’ or in other words: ‘Cheer up, it’s me!’.
In Mark’s gospel the action moves quickly. In Mark it is not in Jesus’ birth, but at his baptism that he is revealed as the Messiah, as the ‘God-Man’. an almost breathless rush Mark tells us how the disciples are first chosen and then sent out. People are healed. Jairus’ daughter is raised from the dead. Jesus is roused from his sleep to calm the wind and the waves threatening to swamp the boat.
This second episode of storm-stilling in Mark comes just after Jesus has fed the 5000 from 5 small loaves and some fish and has sent the disciples across the sea of Galilee while he dismisses the crowd. Jesus then goes up on the mountain to pray with his Father, before heading across the sea himself by walking across the water. To Jesus it seems, walking on water is nothing out of the ordinary. But to his disciples, once again straining at the oars and the rigging, fearing for their lives, it was a terrible shock and they thought that their doom had come! It isn’t difficult to imagine them crying out for God to help them, yet when Jesus arrives in person alongside them they panic not recognising him for who he is. We can readily imagine their relief when they hear Jesus’ voice and know that he has come to them in their hour of need.
As we enter the silence of the mind, let us get a better sense of the setting of these words by imagining the scene. Perhaps imagine yourself on that boat, straining every sinew to keep afloat and on course, crying out to God to help – and then seeing a faintly glowing figure coming towards the boat from behind and drawing alongside. Everybody panics – until you hear that familiar voice of Jesus saying: ‘Take heart, it is I’.
We take this Saying into our minds, allowing the saying to speak to us: ‘Take heart, it is I’.
A time is now kept for silence of the mind – perhaps between 5 and 15 minutes. The silence concludes with a short thanksgiving, and/or feel free to repeat the Saying.
The first silence ends with the words: Father, we thank you for the gift of your Word.
Introduction to the second silence - a preparation for listening with the heart:
Now we take this word into our hearts, as we allow Jesus’ words to speak in us, to let it touch us and let it work more deeply upon our lives.
‘Take heart, it is I’.
There have been times in all our lives when we’ve felt like we were going to be overwhelmed. Perhaps it was in grief at the death of a dear one, or because of a serious illness faced by ourselves or someone close to us. Maybe it was because of the impact of addiction or violence or any of the many ways humans can hurt themselves and others. Perhaps it was because of sudden redundancy or mounting debt. There are many cares in this life that can threaten to swamp us. They are part of the price we pay for loving, for caring.
I wonder if, like the disciples on that boat being swamped upon the stormy sea, Jesus might have come to some of us in our time of darkness, but our fears where so overwhelming that we struggled to recognise him. Perhaps like the subject of the famous ‘Footprints’ poem, which depicts us as being carried by God through the sands of life’s beach, some of us have even imagined that God had abandoned us when we needed him most.
The truth is that Jesus is always with us. He made the final promise to all who follow him as he ascended into heaven that: ‘I will be with you always – even to the end of the world’. The apostle Paul writes of God: ‘In him we live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17:28).
God never leaves us or abandons us. Sometimes when we don’t feel him walking alongside us it is because he is carrying us, speaking words of comfort: ‘Take heart, it is I’; ‘Don’t worry, I’m here’.
Perhaps you need to hear those reassuring words of Jesus in your heart and life now. Without dwelling on the worry become conscious of the areas of your life where you need to feel peace and reassurance. Then try putting your own name in front of these words of Jesus and hear him speaking them directly to you, simply repeating inwardly in the silence: ‘Name, Take heart, it is I’ …
Feel the reassurance of his presence with you. You do not face the challenge alone. Jesus is with you always. In this silence, repeat after your name: ‘Take heart, it is I’.
A time is now kept for silence of the heart – perhaps between 5 and 15 minutes.
The second silence ends with the words: Father, we thank you that your Word is alive and within us.
Introduction to the time of intercession – taking God’s word outwards into the world.
‘Take heart, it is I’.
Jesus spoke these words to people who were afraid, in danger of physical peril. There are many in our world today, both those known to us and those we hear about in the news, who are anxious, afraid or in danger. Let us use February’s Saying now to pray for them, that they might hear the reassurance intended by Jesus’ words to them: ‘Take heart, it is I’.
Invite those present to say the name of a person or a group of people, and after a short pause, repeat the saying. For example:
‘Alison and your family … Jesus says to you “Take heart, it is I”.
As we allow the word to speak through us we might direct Jesus’ word towards those people and situations where there is suffering, hurt and an absence of joy and where abiding in Christ would bring comfort. Conclude this 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.
The Conclusion
Feel free to use the Fellowship Prayer (below) 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.