JM August 2005
Poem
April McIntyre
Poppies
Growing in the wrong place!
I didn’t plan you,
Or plant you.
You grew all by yourself –
I suppose you ought to be a weed.
You pushed your way in,
Non-productive,
Amongst the worthy beans and leeks.
But I allowed you space to grow
And to become.
And now,
As summer days unfurl,
You grace us with your beauty:
Blushing in silken humility,
Yet pushing strongly through the clay
And bushing out defiantly.
I see life and death dance
Hand in hand,
Blooming and falling,
Bud and seed.
Yesterday, today,
Forever.
And so may I grow too,
Gently tenacious,
Rejoicing on the breezes of the moment.
Letting go with no regrets.
Head bowed
But heart on fire,
The love of Christ
Branded in my flesh.
Living worship.
Article
Francis Ballinger
Like a Child
We have news from Australia of a programme to teach meditation in primary schools.The author worked as a student counsellor in a Christian school for ten years, and is currently the Co-ordinator for the Christian Meditation community in South Australia. This is how she describes it.
Many children seek not to just learn about and think about God, but to experience God as the ground of their being. Meditation is one way of experiencing the presence of Jesus within. Meditation provides children with an opportunity to undertake a journey of silence and stillness as one way of helping them cope with the pressures of life.
During the school day, I spent my time listening to what the children were saying and I realised that they didn’t want merely to learn about Jesus and God in their religion lessons: they wanted to experience God in their heart. I believe that Christian meditation provides children with an opportunity to undertake a journey of silence and stillness where they experience the presence of Jesus within.
The Like a Child books are a product of my own meditation and my experience as a student counsellor in a Christian school. Children have a yearning to experience God within them, but often they do not have the words to voice these desires. The natural spiritual awareness of the children convinced me that they had the natural ability, even a longing, to meditate. In his introduction to the books Fr Laurence Freeman says ‘Children are born contemplatives and so contemplation is not only the goal of the Christian life but in a sense its starting point too.’
Children have a natural ability to meditate and they meditate very easily. The teachers at Emmaus Catholic School in South Australia found this to be true when they piloted the Like A Child programme. The children liked meditating so much that after the first day of meditating, they asked if they could meditate every day. Here are some comments from a few students who participated in the pilot:
- I felt like I was in Jesus’ house. (yr.1)
- I felt God inside my heart (yr.2)
- It is good to meditate every day (yr.3)
- When we meditate we are with God (yr.5)
- When I meditate I become calm and still (yr.7)
Another who has witnessed the ability of children to meditate is the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. In his book, Silence and Honey Cakes (page 113) he wrote, “There are few sights so wonderful as a school hall with three or four hundred children sitting in complete silence and learning the first steps in meditation – I have seen it and it can be done: They have been told, ‘You have room just to sit and breathe in God’s presence.’”
Like A Child is a series of 7 books – 1 for each of (Australian) years 1–7 – which contain a simple to use programme for primary school teachers to teach their students to meditate in the Christian tradition. The programme consists of reading a story and information on how to meditate followed by meditation using a Christian mantra. The length of the programme takes between six and twelve minutes depending on the age of the children. The programme was piloted in an Australian Roman Catholic primary school. Each primary school teacher has a book for the level he / she is teaching which contains: information on how to run the programme; five short stories that are age and year appropriate and that promote Christian values in the classroom; scripture references; information and resources on Christian meditation.
Two CDs are available that teachers may wish to lend to specific children. Each CD has a story with music leading into meditation. The CD ‘My Calm Heart’ is about angry feelings, while the CD ‘My Joyful Heart’ is about sad feelings.
Christian Meditation as an organisation always uses a mantra, so in that respect is different in approach to contemplative prayer from the Julian Meetings. Nevertheless this sounds a useful resource.
The Like A Child books were produced in Australia, however the programme is relevant to children in primary schools all over the world.
Article
Francis Ballinger
Using silence
‘In quietness and in trust shall be your strength’ (Isaiah 30.15).
‘For God alone my soul waits in silence’ (Psalm 62.1).
‘Come away. to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while’
(Mark 6.31).
There is much in Scripture about God coming to people in stillness. Our difficulty is that modern life tries to keep us constantly on the go, and we are in the habit of filling our airwaves with noise. We have to make a conscious effort to get away from life’s muzak and listen. When we do that, we discover another problem: we don’t always want to engage in stillness because we fear what we may discover about ourselves. We have to remember that God knows us in the depths of our being, and loves us as we are: ‘You are precious in my sight, and honoured, and I love you’ (Isaiah 43.4). That doesn’t mean that we don’t need to change, but that we don’t need to wait until we have before we can enjoy God’s company. If there are areas within ourselves which need to be dealt with, it may be wise to wait until we can work with a trusted guide.
Stillness and silence are states we have to learn to relax into, rather than screwing ourselves up to find them, and there are various techniques which may help:
- Find a place where you can be relaxed, yet alert. Some people find it helpful to have a particular place in house or garden which they regard as their prayer place.
- Decide how long you are going to spend in this way of prayer.
- Light a candle, play some music, use a relaxation exercise to help mind and body to settle.
- Read a short passage of Scripture, select a thought or phrase from it; or use a sentence from a hymn or a prayer. Repeat the phrase gently, in time with your breathing.
- Let yourself become still; let God hold you in love.
- When thoughts do wander, gently re-establish the phrase (or ‘rhythm prayer’ as some people call it) and allow yourself to become still again.
- Don’t worry if your thoughts wander off. We are usually not very good at concentrating in the normal course of events, and we don’t suddenly change when we decide to pray. Wandering thoughts are not something to feel guilty about.
- At the end of the allotted time, gently bring yourself back to awareness of what is around you. (You may need to set a timer or an alarm, but put it in another room, so that it doesn’t jolt you back into ordinariness.) Perhaps play some music again, to help you adjust.
- Say a brief prayer of thanksgiving for the opportunity to be still, and for God’s presence with you.
Don’t worry if nothing much seems to have happened. Prayer is God’s gift to us: what we have to do is open ourselves up to the possibility of receiving the gift, and leave the rest to God.
Poem
Ann Lewin
Disclosure
Prayer is like watching for the
Kingfisher. All you can do is
Be where he is likely to appear and
Wait.
Often, nothing much happens;
There is space, silence and
Expectancy.
No visible sign, only the
Knowledge that he’s been there
And may come again.
Seeing or not seeing cease to matter,
You have been prepared,
But sometimes, when you’ve almost
Stopped expecting it
A flash of brightness
Gives encouragement.
From: Words by the way – Ideas and resources for use throughout the Christian year: lnspire (MPH) 2005 £8.99 (ISBN 1-85852-278-1) Copied by permission of Methodist Publishing House.
Prayer
Gerd Theissen
Psalm 139
God,
You have searched me and know me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
and know all my thoughts from afar.
Whether I am active or resting, you know me;
You are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O God, you know it altogether.
You enfold me on all sides
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
it is too high, I cannot attain it.
Where could I flee from your spirit
Or where could I escape your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, you are there,
if I make my bed in the underworld, you are there also.
If I take the wings of the morning,
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, Let darkness cover me,
and the light about me be night,
even the darkness is not dark with you;
the night is as bright as the day.
For darkness is as light with you.
For you formed my inward parts,
You knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for you are fearful and wonderful,
Wonderful are your works.
From: The Shadow of the Galilean SCM Classics 2001 (ISBN 0 334 02852 3), pp 206–7: copied by permission
Lead–ins
Anne Stamper
Surrounded by God
When the Advisory Group meets there is alwoys a tlme of silence. At one of these meetings Deidre Morris reod the following os o ‘leod in.’
We can never know God by seeking to grasp and manipulate him, but only by letting him grasp us. We know him not by taking him into our possession (which is absurd) but by letting ourselves be possessed by him, by becoming open to his infinite being which is within us and above us and around us.
John Macquarrie, Paths to spirituality
Article
Janet Robinson
Stillness and Silence
As I grow old I realise how much more I value stillness – stillness of spirit. (For someone who talks too much and proffers opinions too readily that would come as a surprise to those who know me.) And silence, as a mere freedom from noise does not always engender stillness. And can one achieve that stillness without silence?
The dictionary speaks of silence being “the absence of noise” but true silence is more than that. Stillness is defined as”the absence of movement” but it can also be “freedom from agitation; tranquillity.”
The sung Offices of the Benedictine convent at Stanbrook Abbey, where I have been on retreat, flood me with tranquillity. I am enabled to pass through the sound of the chants, hymns and psalms to a true silence.
Occasionally in a silent Quaker or Julian Meeting, I experience very little stillness. I may be sitting still and the room is silent, but my mind, heart, spirit are in a perpetual fidget, longing for the hour to finish, unable to lose thought until perhaps the last few minutes when – “like a child upon its mother’s breast; my soul is quieted within me” (Psalm 130).
Sometimes it is not until I am jolted into activity or noise that I realise by contrast how tranquil I have been. Twenty years ago my husband and I walked the Offa’s Dyke path. I had imagined that it would be an opportunity for much deep thought,conversation and discussion.Instead, for twelve days we mostly walked in companionable silence, the physical activity an almost mindless delight. It was only when we boarded the train at Prestatyn, and felt we knew what the first passengers in the Rocket had experienced for the speed seemed horrendous, that we realised how quiet and rested we were.
The trigger for these random reflections is that we recently watched an Iranian film: Through the Olive Trees. We have seen several films made by Abbas Kiarostami. Simple of story, the director takes time, so much time. The shots are lingering, the facial expressions are allowed to develop, words are few.
The last scene of this particular film gave us a long view down a hill, through olive groves, across several fields. A young girl walked determinedly through the trees and on through the landscape, a young .man ran from the top of the hill to catch her up. Their figures grew smaller and smaller until the white of her headdress and his shirt were pinpricks in the far distance. Then… but I will not spoil the ending. There were no words, just a little music and flickers of birdsong. That scene lasted four whole minutes.
The film ended, we changed channels: the news, staccato Western speech, noise, rapid images were almost painful. The film had indeed “quieted” our souls within us.
Richard Rolle in the 15th century said all this better than I:
“As far as my study of scripture goes, I have found that to love Christ above all things will involve three things: warmth and song and sweetness. And these three, as far as I know from personal experience cannot exist for long without there being great quiet.”
(From The Fire of Love)
Article
Gail Ballinger
An Hour to Pray
‘Could you not keep watch with me for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing but the body is weak’ (Matthew 26:40-41).
Some spiritual guides recommend that we spend an hour a day in prayer – to which the horrified response is often ‘where on earth do I find an hour and if I did what would I do with it?’ Other guides suggest that we make the most of fitting in what we can manage according to our circumstances. The JM booklet Some Basics of Contemplative Prayer suggests twenty minutes twice a day.
A few months ago I was invited to join a home group which regularly meets for Bible study and includes a time of prayer, which usually means praying aloud for those who are absent and each other’s families with thanksgiving and praise. There are natural, brief prayerful silent breaks between spoken petitions.
Recently we devoted a morning to exploring praying for an hour. The hour was divided into five minute periods, each devoted to different aspects of prayer. Each five minutes started with a passage from the Bible and a brief introduction to each aspect. This became both an exercise in praying for an hour and an opportunity to sample praying together in different ways.
We started with Praise: recognising God’s nature (Psalm 63:3) ‘Because your steadfast love is better than life I will praise you.’ There was time for whoever wanted to speak a few words of praise. This was followed by Waiting: silent soul surrender (Psalm 46:10). ‘Be still and know that I am God…’ in other words contemplative prayer. Next came Confession: ‘temple cleansing’ time – (Psalm 139:23) ‘Search me O God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.’ One or two people prayed aloud briefly; there were also a few anxious thoughts in the silence that followed, some of which were later shared.
Among the different themes for prayer two more – watching (Colossians 4:2) ‘Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful’ and listening (Ecclesiastes 5:2) ‘Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God…therefore let your words be few’ – were also silent.
Other examples included Intercession: remember the world (1 Timothy 2:1–2); Petition: share personal needs (Matthew 7:7), Meditation: reflection and exploration of a spiritual theme. This was the thinking type of meditation and was contrasted with ‘waiting.’
‘Scripture praying’ involved being prompted by scripture to pray for specific needs, turning the words of the scripture passage (or several passages) into a specific prayer. We finished as we had started with a time of Praise, again linked to a verse from a Psalm.
Thinking back over the experience I wonder if it could be a good way of introducing contemplative silence to a group experienced in praying aloud together, especially if this praying was normally in the context of Bible study. The Bible quotations helped to ground what we were doing in a way that a group used to reading the Bible together would find helpful. The variety of speech and silence meant that everyone remained comfortable but was given a gentle introduction to new ways of praying.
There are dozens of potentially helpful alternatives to the verses we used. Similarly the way the hour is divided up could be varied e.g. six ten minute slots. Because of the need for introducing or explaining each aspect of prayer,an ‘hour’ of prayer needed between one and a half hours and two hours.
We each left, feeling we had shared something important and exhorted to try the prayer plan – with a ‘health warning’ from our leader for the morning to apply it with spiritual liberty rather than regimented legality so that after a few days or weeks our own pattern would develop. It would be useful for any groups trying this to share feedback in a subsequent session.
The person who led the session I attended was prompted by The Hour that Changes the World, by Dick Eastman. (Baker Book House, 1979)
Book review
Anne Stamper
Mary Fleeson • Life Journey – A call to Christ-centred Living
Eagle Publishing, 2004, £14.99
This book glows with its own beauty. It is a book where looking is as important as reading. Mary Fleeson is a calligrapher who lives and works at the Lindisfarne Scriptorium on Holy Island where she is following the traditions of Eadfrith, who in the early 700s produced the Lindisfarne Gospels.
It is a book to be taken slowly. The vibrant illustrations, following the Celtic tradition, reveal layers of detail as you look at them, complementing the text. Each chapter contains a poem, design notes, a suggested activity, a prayer and in many a meditation and Bible quotations. Each chapter is a Call – to follow, to believe, to travel.
The design notes help you to look at the illustrations more carefully and appreciate the thoughts of the artist as she drew them. Eagle Publishing have produce a quality hard back book worthy of the artistic work contained within it. It would make a lovely gift.
Book review
Gail Ballinger
Ray Simpson – A Pilgrim Way
Kevin Mayhew, 2005, £10.99
Having a pattern of life helps us to be actors rather than reactors. It helps us to secure a balance between work and leisure, church and community…It encourages us to have a structure that frees us from the tyranny of pressure or personality. (Peter Stephens in The Methodist Church Westminster Newsletter, November 1998)
A Pilgrim Way introduces us to the Community of Aidan and Hilda and the ten elements of its Way of Life, encouraging us to develop a rule of life based on them. Subtitled ‘new Celtic monasticism for everyday people’ it draws inspiration from Jesus and from the Celtic saints. I found much in it that is genuinely new and challenging, covering topics like a rhythm of prayer, work and recreation; openness to God’s Spirit: prophecy, silence, listening; simple lifestyle. Useful alike to seekers and those who accompany and encourage others in their seeking.
Book review
Janet Robinson
Kathleen Jones • Songs of the Isles
Canterbury Press, 2004, £12.99
In the late 19th century Alexander Carmichael collected songs of the Hebridean islanders – songs which, until then, had existed purely as an oral tradition. His collection was called the Carmina Gaedelica and gave a vivid picture of all aspects of the islanders’ life.
In this new selection Kathleen Jones discusses the provenance of the songs, prayers and blessings, which are a “deep look at a deep past” (Esther de Waal). She evaluates Carmichael’s work and methods, putting forward a robust defence of him against the attacks of modern critics. She gives a clear exposition of the Hebrides from pre-Christian times to the Reformation and explains how she has analysed and translated the songs for a modern audience.
The songs are divided by subject – the powers of heaven, the croft and family, work, special occasions, the sea and more. Through them one can see how religion was woven into life; how the singers saw God in everything from the mundane to the sublime.
I found the book more valuable for the historical and literary content, and not least for the presentation of the critical studies of Celtic Christianity, rather than for a specific aid to prayer and meditation. However, with prayerful reading, the songs remind one that the world is impregnated with the presence of God.
Book review
Gail Ballinger
David and Deborah Douglas • Pilgrims in the Kingdom – Travels in Christian Britain
BRF, 2004, £12.99
You are here to kneel where prayer has been valid. (T. S. Eliot)
This was the spirit in which the authors, who are American, spent a sabbatical year visiting Christian sites in Britain. Their vivid and heartfelt writing not only introduces readers to various places of pilgrimage but also enables us to share in the experience and to enter into the spirit of the places they visited.
This is not a travel guide (though the appendix gives useful travel information) but an inspiring read which takes the reader on an armchair pilgrimage to such places as – to name a few – Iona, Little Gidding, Coventry Cathedral, St. Beuno’s, John Wesley’s Aldersgate Street and Fox’s Pendle Hill. Some readers will no doubt want to go and see for themselves.
Book review
Yvonne Walker
Pat Marsh • Silent Strength
Methodist Publishing House, 2005, £5.99
This is Pat Marsh’s second book of poems and those who enjoyed “Whispers of Love” will be delighted with this new collection of over 50 poems. As the author says in her introduction, her poetry is born from prayer and this new anthology deals particularly with times of stillness and emptiness. Other themes explored are trust, resurrection, Christ in me and love without end. These poems enrich our own personal journey by touching deeply our own experiences of the absence and presence of God in our joys and our struggles. I have used several of the poems as lead-ins to silent prayer and readers of this magazine will find food for reflection resonating with our own experience. An anthology to be read slowly and prayerfully – a copy should be in every retreat house.
Book review
Yvonne Walker
Ann Lewin • Words by the Way – Ideas and resources for use throughout the Christian year
Methodist Publishing House, 2005, £8.99
A treasure trove and bumper bundle (233 pages) of ideas, resources, liturgies and poems for a wide range of occasions throughout the Christian year. Worship leaders will find a richly varied collection of prayers and meditations for use with congregations and groups. Much of the material is an invitation for creative reflection and can be used for personal devotion. There is also a very helpful section of material for a workshop on ways of praying. This could equally well be used in a house group or Lent study course.
This anthology is much more than a collection of imaginative liturgical material, there are practical suggestions and themes for several Quiet Days: A day to let God love you; A day with Julian of Norwich; A day for carers and suggested themes for use in a Quiet Garden. Just the material to encourage people to be creative and to explore new ways of being open to God in personal prayer, in worship and in groups.
This is a practical resource of spiritual treasures to inspire and encourage creative approaches to waiting on God in prayer and worship. I thoroughly recommend it.
Book review
Yvonne Walker
Kate McIlhagga • The Green Heart of the Snowdrop
Wild Goose Publications, 2004, £12.99
Kate Mcllhagga’s husband has lovingly brought together in one generous volume a collection of poems and prayers for all occasions expressing particularly Kate’s passion for the integrity of creation. The author was a URC minister, a member of the Iona Community, retreat leader and spiritual director who fought a twenty year long battle with breast cancer. Kate was a member of the Julian Meetings so there are a number of poems on waiting and silence and themes on a mothering God. The book is divided into nine sections covering the church’s year and themes on social justice, pilgrimage,endings and blessings, many reflect Kate’s love of the north east coast, Lindisfarne and the Northumbrian saints. The deep insights of pain and joy and the awareness of God in all things speak to us at a deeply spiritual level. A rich anthology for personal devotion and liturgical worship.
Book review
Janet Robinson
Anne Long • Approaches to Spiritual Direction
Grove Books, 4th ed. 2005, £2.75
This is a concise introduction to spiritual direction. Simply and dearly it takes away the mystique and suggests how Christians of any tradition might find value and support through finding someone who could share their pilgrimage, listen and advise. She points out that we all need to engage honestly with others in order to grow in faith and she offers, using pertinent quotations, ways of doing this. She also includes a chapter for those who feel that they themselves might be led to· become directors in either informal or more formal ways.
It is an essential reference and starting point on the subject
Book review
Anne Stamper
Liz Culling and Toddy Hoare • Sculpture, Prayer and Scripture
Grove Books, 2005, £2.75
Liz Culling and Toddy Hoare introduce themselves: “We are two parish priests,a married couple, who are trying to pray and to help others to pray in a busy world where it is difficult to make space to allow the scriptures to grip us and enter our imagination afresh.”
Toddy is a trained sculptor and the couple have used his sculptures as a focus for Quiet Days. They explain that “Using sculpture to evoke a response in prayer is not to replace words with something else, but to compliment that part of the mind which responds to words.”
The second part of the book comprises a series of photographs of sculptures. The reader is invited to look at these and see how they can stimulate imagination and suggest passages from Scripture. The comments from some of the participants of the quiet days are then given followed by the sculptor’s comments.
After reading this book I used an 18 inch high sculpture as the basis for a meditation with a group and found that this was indeed a good focus, and a real 3 dimensional object was more valuable than a photograph. Julian Meetings may well find the same.
Book review
Gail Ballinger
Wanda Nash • Simple Tools for Stillness – Following the way of Jesus
Grove Books, 2005, £2.75
Stillness is the word Wanda Nash prefers to use for what we often call contemplative prayer. Here she gives a simple and short but comprehensive introduction to the prayer of stillness – ‘the word used in Scripture.’ We learn what stillness is and why this is a good way to pray, looking at Jesus and his priorities and other Biblical patterns of prayer. The author also shows how to make the best use of human energy and the physiology we are working with – in prayer as at other times – with reference to the demands made on us in 21st century living. Here we explore how to use the tools available to us of body, mind, heart and spirit. This is a practical book and an excellent account recommended to all Christians. JM 2005 August