Clergy from our Deanery attended a one day retreat at St. Antony's priory in Durham. Boy was it cold! And I was re-acquainted with one of my pet hates "silent lunches". Silence certainly has a large role to play as I will go on to say but during a communal lunch? It just seems so unnatural and unnecessary to my mind. Still, that was the bad parts out of the way. I found the speaker very engaging (I don't think we all did) and one of his themes was contemplative prayer, a theme that went well with the reading of the calming of the storm from Luke's gospel (God as the still centre in the midst of life's storms) on Sunday; Add to this, the fact that we also have a contemplative prayer group that meets in Gainford church on Tuesday evenings at 8pm. means that I was moved to preach on "contemplative prayer" on Sunday.

Perhaps silence, finding our own still centre where we meet with God, is the most counter cultural gift the church has to offer to this noisy frenetic and confused society. It is in the silence, in wordless prayer that we establish contact with the God that is at the centre of each one of us, and always was. Therein lies that greatest secret of all......whisper it.......That God was there within you all the time. You didn't need to go anywhere else to find him. "Communion" with God is already a fact. You don't need to go somewhere to seek him out  - he has already found you. We have always just needed to realise this truth.  

 

"On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me and I am in you" (John 14: 20)

 

We hear the story of the transfiguration. What is the key reason for this story/ What is it trying to convey? In the presence of Jesus people experienced something very different, a strange sort of presence, a sense of otherness. In his presence, around this aura, people reacted either one way or the other. The same presence caused some to see something special, good or even divine in him and some others to see something either odd, deranged or even diabolical. His family initially thought he was "out of his mind" (Mark 3: 21). What they all agreed on however was that Jesus was different and being in his presence caused a reaction. According to all accounts we have, it is difficult to imagine people being indifferent in his presence. The transfiguration (Matthew calls it a "vision" - Matt 17:9) is a way of conveying this otherness in a very particular way. The sense of otherness that the disciples interpreted as the divine presence shining through the character, actions and very being of Jesus. A man who walked so close to God that the divine nature could be experienced, you could almost see the divine light shining through.  So for those disposed to seeing Jesus in this positive light, in walking close to Jesus they experienced walking close to God.

Of course next Wednesday sees the start of Lent. Originally this was a period of instruction for new Christians (Catechumins) leading to baptism and participation in the Eucharist on Easter Sunday but the early church saw that it might be a good idea to extend this idea to include all church people so eventually it became a period of reflection and study for all Christians

 

I received a lovely email from a old friend now settling back into the UK regretting the fact that she no longer received my communications, but had been forwarded one by another mutual friend in Bucharest who was still on the list. I have duly put her back on of course. When I returned to Britain scores of people dropped off the radar because of the time gap, new computer and general confusion and I was also wary of just assuming that people would still want to hear from me. There may also be some hesitance from some people in Eastern Europe and beyond to get back in touch because they assume I have "moved on" and of course may not know how to make contact any more. If you are reading this and know of others in the COR worldwide diaspora who you are still in contact with but don't hear from me any more - please just ask them and I will gladly add them back to the list. You may know that I used to contact almost 300 people a week in Bucharest and most of those no longer receive anything from me.  In a sense I have come to see the true value of what this email represents more clearly since returning to the UK. 

 

The history of the Gloria is quite interesting. It comes from Eastern Christianity and there it is used, right up until today, in their morning prayer services - not in the Eucharist. It is fairly early - 4th century - and starts with the song of the angels at the birth of Jesus in Luke's gospel (2:14) to which verses were then added to form a kind of song/psalm.  

It came to the West through Hilary of Poitiers after his travels in the East (359 - 360) who translated it into Latin. Now If I remember my liturgy lectures accurately (!) one of the Popes took such a liking to it that he introduced it arbitrarily into the Sunday Mass where, by the laws of inertia, it has stayed ever since. Since Rome led the religious fashions of the day in the Latin West it was quickly introduced across the Western world.   

It is psalm like and a sort of hymn of praise so the position it occupies in the modern common worship liturgy (if it is used at all) just after the absolution is fairly apt. I sometimes introduce it by saying something like..."We are a forgiven people so let's stand and give thanks and praise to God...." . It is considered far too jaunty for lent however so we are about to lose it for a while so here I reproduce the modern translation of the Gloria from the Byzantine Morning prayer service on which our modern Gloria is based.

 

 

*Millionaire footballer has affair with mate's ex girlfriend. I was so shocked I had to contact Rome to ask if the Pope was still a catholic.

 

*Friends are shocked when I say my children walk to school instead of being dropped off. "What about perverts, paedophiles and kidnappers and drug dealers they say". I tell them "Look, my children go to a Roman catholic school where they are looked after by Roman catholic priests all day. Believe me, the school run is the safest part of their day" (a Patrick Kielty joke)

 

*Good to see the Church is doing what it does best and opposing the imposition of equality laws. Long live discrimination and prejudice! If I'd have wanted to treat people equally I would have become a Sikh!

 

 

This follows on from my introduction to the heart of prayer last week where I laid some foundations for what I am going to say now about contemplative prayer. To briefly re-cap, my contention is that the heart of prayer is relationship leading to personal and corporate transformation. Prayer may be more than that, but this I feel is its primary function. Again if you remember, many months ago I produced a prayer template intended to help people to pray called "Bearing fruit for the kingdom by practicing the presence of God". This was a halfway house between the kind of prayer we are more used to and the more contemplative kind. This format has words but could also be used wordlessly and ended up saying "Then, most importantly, spend some time in silence to simply listen, to provide time and space for God's spirit to speak." I re-attach that leaflet again now, as I am told that some found it useful. It may also prove useful as a bridge between word prayers and wordless prayers if that gulf appears too wide or strange to make the leap.

 

I also love traditional prayers of course which is why I include one every week. They can be beautiful, captivating and moving and can really engage the conscious mind. The one by Dietrich Bonhoeffer last week for example touched many people I have been told. They are then essential for a rounded spirituality. But so too I would venture to say is contemplative prayer, and this is the kind of prayer that has been neglected in modern Christianity so needs a little promotion! One does not push out the other but they will compliment each other. 

 

Contemplative prayer rests on one wonderful and liberating assumption already outlined in my opening piece at St. Antony's in Durham. That Communion with God is already ours. He is the ground of your very being. He always was, and always will be. I have already quoted from John's gospel but elsewhere in one of my favourite parts of Luke's gospel (17: 21-22) Jesus says "The Kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say "Here it is" or "There" for behold the kingdom of God is within you"   

 

The second assumption we make is that a God who desires communion with all his creation would be a strange God if He made it almost impossible for anyone to actually realise that communion. The contention is that communion with the living God is both possible and attainable by anyone and everyone.

 

Because God is within us this is where we have to travel. Not somewhere else, but inside ourselves, into the silence and calm and boundless vistas and infinite horizons in our interiors. It is in the silence and stillness that we are able to meet directly with God. This has been the experience of the Christian mystics and visionaries down the ages, It forms the most important part of Eastern Orthodox spirituality called "Hesychasm" which means stillness, rest, quiet or silence. It has been known in our monastic orders but in Western Christianity this most fundamental truth has been allowed to wither on the vine in our churches to the extent that it now seems almost alien. 

 

Because it seems so alien it can cause us problems at first. So used are we to associating prayer with words it can seem quite unnatural to some. Our minds won't stay still, we can't concentrate and a lot of people give up quite quickly. But I assure you that perseverance will bring dividends. You will undoubtedly have times if you try it when you find yourself saying "What was the point of that?" or "Nothing happens!" but believe me something is!!

 

There is also a strange dynamic to group silence which comes as a surprise to most, when you consider that no-one is communicating in a traditional fashion. But if you imagine people as the spokes on a wheel, on the outside of the wheel, where we normally encounter each other we are the furthest apart, but at our centre we are closest to each other. We are all joined together at our hub which is where God is.

 

Another insight is that mental stillness is helped by physical stillness and relaxation. So posture is important, as is concentrating on your breathing and relaxing the body first helps to relax the mind. So what do you do then when the mind still wanders - and it will!!. That is when words or phrases repeated are designed to bring the mind back to stillness. You have heard of the Jesus prayer perhaps? Well this prayer comes direct from the Hesychast tradition and is a prayer designed for just this kind of discipline. "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God have mercy upon us". Often single words are used like "Abba" or simply "Jesus" to help concentrate the mind and bring it back to stillness. It can be hard work at first, but it does bear fruit if you can stick at it. If you want to find out more about how to pray in a contemplative fashion a great book is "Into the silent land" by Martin Laird, published by Darton Longman and Todd, It has the seal of approval from Bishop Desmond Tutu and here is what Archbishop Rowan Williams has to say about it. - "This is sharp, deep, with no cliches and no psychobabble and no short cuts. Its honesty is bracing. Its vision is utterly clear. It is a rare treasure". If you also wanted to try it out in a group we have a contemplative prayer group that meets (Weather permitting!) at St. Mary's Gainford at 8pm on Tuesdays  or if this is not convenient St. Antony's runs Contemplative prayer sessions and workshops on selected Saturdays starting at 10am. For dates and more info. email  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  or see their website www.stantonyspriory.co.uk or ring 0191 384 3747. They are a bit hard to find - 74 Claypath, Durham DH1 1QT - and probably best to wait until the temperature warms up a bit!

 

The Prayer for today is part of a prayer by St Augustine of Hippo. The words are gorgeous and we also have the theme here (which is why I picked it of course) of him talking of the God who was always within him even while Augustine was not even in himself.

 

 

Love and peace

 

Martin