January 30
Beloved of Good Shepherd Church,
Grace to you and peace in Jesus Christ our Lord!
Contemplation is a tricky and wonderful word that points to a deep and life-changing reality.
Contemplation is not simply silence, nor is contemplation thinking deeply about something. Contemplation is a gift of union with God that is impossible to describe and define.
Trying to talk in a definitive way about contemplation is like trying to describe how and why you love the one you love the most. My guess is that you could write down a few things in an effort to describe your beloved, but when I read it back to you out loud you would experience a sinking feeling as you realized that everything you’ve written is far less than what you actually mean and feel about the one you love the most.
Contemplation is the gift of an experience of deep intimacy unto union with God that is beyond description and transcends the reach of all one’s senses.
Contemplation is a striking and deeply resonate awareness that I have a Silent Center, a place within my actual body where God and I are not other than each other, we are one.
Contemplation becomes, over time, a place within myself from which I proceed into the concrete reality of my own daily life to love whatever and whoever is right in front of me with God who is not only my Source, but also the Source of everyone and everything I see. From the contemplative stance I can see through the surface of things and people into the depth dimension or Source where all is one and all is well.
The contemplative Christian is one who has an intuition that they cannot shake that there is a deeper depth to go to than that which is constantly on offer on the surface of life.
The contemplative church is two things: one, it is a place where the people know that contemplation is the deepest reality of life, and two, it is an environment that welcomes people to assume an inner stance of receptivity to the gift of contemplation. To that end spiritual practices are taught and practiced in the contemplative church.
Everyone is welcome in the contemplative church. You don’t have to know or believe or practice anything related to contemplation to be welcome and at home here.
Contemplation is on my mind because in a world gone mad with division and argument the contemplatives are busy gently consenting to the presence and action of God within them, in the depths of their own Silent Center, that they might look for and find the friend hidden within every stranger.
Remember this always - God loves you, and I love you too!
Love is all,
Hendree+