One of my favorite Hebrew Testament stories is the story of Elijah on Mt. Horeb, where he meets God. The Israelites have grown weary of God’s prophets and killed all of them except Elijah. He is unsure what to do. While God talks to Elijah, he doesn’t meet God until God tips Elijah off that God will be passing by his mountain cave hideout.  

“The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 

I am always struck by the difficulty Elijah has with meeting God in the great wind, the earthquake, and the fire. Each of them displays God’s might and power; they display God’s abilities and presence, but they are not God. God is not found until the silence that follows. I’ve always wondered whether the sheer silence was relative silence, in the same manner that we “create silence” before X Church with the drone of a large singing bowl and the relative silence that follows it, or whether it was a blanket of stillness and quiet, like the sort on a winter night when a foot of snow has covered everything. Either way, it is not until the silence that Elijah meets God, and receives instruction about where he is to go and what he is to do.  

So much of our life is crowded, noisy, and busy to the extent that it is like loud winds, earthquakes, and fires; events that are all consuming, distracting and drown out so much else, including God’s presence and feedback. We each need to find the sheer silence in our lives in which we can meet and hear God, although that can be hard to do. I know I need it, which is why I am so grateful for the contemplative practices of our faith. We’re able to offer a new contemplative group that will help us all address this, but more on that in a moment (and elsewhere in News You Can Use).

Christians have utilized contemplative practices since the earliest days of the faith. The Desert Fathers and Mothers, those we call spiritual divines or mystics, and so many more have practiced and taught ways of praying and being, that lead to a connection with God. Some aspects might be more readily referred to as meditation in our modern lexicon, and yet so many of the practices are intimately connected. Each is designed to create space for us to meet God and God to meet us. 

Contemplation, as an umbrella term, addresses the aspects of spiritual life that help us focus on God and declutter our life and our being. Its purpose is to clear the way for the presence of God. It includes the use of simplicity, silence, stillness, and sometimes, solitude, many of which are fleeting when we are assaulted by full calendars, active kids, and to-do lists as long as a CVS receipt. Teresa of Avila, the well-known 16^th Century mystic, once likened our minds to “wild horses” that are incredibly challenging to still. Teresa was a practitioner of meditation as a way to reach contemplation, which we believe is why she was able to write about the presence of God in such beautiful ways.  

Another 16^th Century mystic, John of the Cross, articulated that we could meditate to reach God, and then contemplation is what God is doing within us once we meet God. John’s end goal was a, “union with God in love.” We may think persons like Teresa and John were a bit kooky, and perhaps they were, but we must also remember that they were influence by the writings and teachings of St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, St. Ignatius, and Thomas a Kempis. If we were to strip our faith of the influence of these great theologians and teachers, we’d be worse off for it. Instead, the Church has steadily been reclaiming practices that fed the church at some of its most storied moments in history. Remember, at the same time these mystics like Teresa and John were active, this little thing called the Reformation was underway. There is not a cause and effect relationship between the two, but they are no doubt connected! 

We are pleased that parishioner Randy Siegel is offering a five-week contemplative prayer group beginning in December. We have had other contemplative groups at Christ Church and all have been well received. I commend it to you, if you would like to experience contemplative practices. Randy will guide participants through practices like lectio divina (a meditative way of using scripture), centering prayer, and the use of silence and chant. This group might be particularly meaningful to you, if you yearn for a stronger connection to God, or feel like the busy-ness and loudness of your life makes it hard to hear God. God is often found in the silence that is so difficult to find.

Tom+

And God was a child curled up who slept in her and her veins were flooded with His wisdom which is night, which is starlight, which is silence. And her whole being was embraced in Him whom she embraced and they became tremendous silence.   – Thomas Merton

 Photo credit:  Thomas Leuthard via Flickr, permission to use