The Bi-Mothly Magazie of the Prayer Book Society Volume 28, Number 5 September / October 2005 I This Issue Where ca I fid a church that uses the BCP 1928? Page 2 Meditatig The Christia Way Page 3 Holy Commuio as Supra-persoal Page 4 Meditatig The Biblical Way Pages 5 6 Meditatig before the Lord Page 7 8 Meditatig with Heart, Soul, Mid ad Stregth Page 9 10 Meditatig Usig a Simple Method Page 11 12 Meditatig ad Cotemplatig Page 13 14 Cotactig ad Supportig the PBS Page 15 Same-Sex Spotlight o the Church of Eglad Page 16 Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be writte for our learig: Grat that we may i such wise hear them, read, mark, lear ad iwardly digest them, that by patiece ad comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace ad ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlastig life, which thou has give us i our Saviour Jesus Christ. Ame. Meditatig o the Divie Word i the Daily Offices ad Holy Commuio. Applyig oeself wholly to the text, ad its whole cotet to oeself!
Where ca I fid a church that uses the 1928 Prayer Book? We will list parishes that use the 1928 BCP accordig to state or area, metioig their ecclesiastical jurisdictio (Episcopal Church or oe of the Cotiuig Churches ), ad all of their services, if from the 1928, or the oes that use the 1928 BCP. The Reformed Episcopal Church uses a Prayer Book which icludes both the 1662 (Church of Eglad) ad much from the 1928. Our kowledge of these matters is limited, so we would be happy to hear of par- Bridgeport-Fairfield Area Church of the Resurrectio (Aglica Provice of Christ the Kig) 5 Church Street Asoia, CT 06401 203 734 6025 Suday Services Holy Commuio 8:00 am Holy Commuio 10:00 am The Rt. Rev. Rocco Floreza, Rector ishes that use the 1928 BCP. A excellet referece is the Directory of Traditioal Aglica ad Episcopal Parishes, published by the Fellowship of Cocered Churchme. This directory does ot tell what prayer book is used. Please cotact the editor, Mrs. Jae Noes, 4800 Dupot Aveue South, Mieapolis, MN 55409 if you would like to order a copy. For iformatio call (612) 824 3933. A umber of readers have told us of other parishes that use the 1928 Prayer Greewich Coecticut Church of the Advet (Diocese of the Holy Cross/ Forward i Faith) 606 Riversville Road (North Greewich Church Bldg.) Greewich, CT 203 861 2432 Mailig Address: 4 Coecticut Aveue, Greewich, CT 06830 Suday Services Holy Commuio 9:00 am The Rev. Robert Bader, SSC, Rector Book. It makes us glad to kow of such places, ad also that folks are readig Madate. Some have writte to tell us of parishes that use 1928 that we have already listed. It might be a good idea to keep the issues of Madate that have this colum to use for future referece. We ca oly list a parish oce. It is always a good idea to call first. Times ad locatios ad persoel do chage! The Fellowship of Cocered Churchme has a web site which lists parishes that use the 1928 BCP. Mystic St. Matthias Church (Aglica Church i America) Route 27 at Cooga Boulevard (Ye Olde Mystic Village Meetig House) Mystic, CT 401 322 5056 Mailig Address: P.O. Box 1374, West Sprigfield, MA 01090 Suday Services Holy Commuio 10:00 am (lst, 2d, 4th & 5th) Morig Prayer 10:00 am (3rd) The Rev. James Hurd, Vicar Please write the Rev. Fr. David C. Keedy, SSC, at 7231 Hearth Stoe Ave., Boyto Beach, FL 33437-2920 if you kow of parishes that use the 1928 BCP. Needless to say it will take a log time to list them all! Praise God for that!!! The Madate September / October 2005 Volume 28, Number 5 Editor: The Rev d Dr.. Peter Too Desig/Layout: Boldface Graphics The Officers for the Year 2005 are: Presidet: The Rev. David Keedy, SSC, of Florida Vice-Presidet: The Rev. Dr. Peter Too of Washigto Treasurer: Dr. T. Herbert Guerry III of Georgia Secretary: Mrs. Miriam K. Stauff of Wiscosi MANDATE is published six times a year by the Prayer Book Society, a o-profit orgaizatio servig the Church of God. All gifts to the P.B.S. are tax deductible. Recipiets of Madate are ecouraged to sed at least $28 each year to maitai the miistry. Editorial ad all other correspodece: P.O. Box 35220, Philadelphia, PA 19128. Phoe 1-800-PBS-1928. Postmaster: Please sed address chages to the above address. Page Visit the websites of the Society: www.episcopalia.org/pbs1928 & www.aglicamarketplace.com.
Reflectios from the Editor s Desk Meditatig the Christia Way, ot the Easter. The Rev d Dr. Peter Too M.A., M.Th., D.Phil (Oxo) Oe of the may sigs that biblical ad creedal orthodoxy has little impact o wester, secular society is see i the moder use of the verb to meditate ad the ou meditatio. Though the words belog firmly to the text of the sacred Scriptures of the Old ad New Testamets, ad though they are firmly embedded i the laguage of the devotioal life ad traditio of the oe, holy, catholic ad apostolic Church i its various jurisdictios, their commo use i the West has little or othig to do with the Jewish ad Christia, eve the Muslim, scriptural ad devotioal traditio. For most people, these words poit to activities which have their roots ad ispiratio i what is called easter mysticism. A visit to a large bookstore or a search o the Web will illustrate this poit. The fact is that they poit to a self-propelled jourey iwards, ito the ceter of oe s beig, i order to coect there with the whole of Reality ad achieve a ew cosciousess ad ier harmoy. To make this difficult jourey requires disciplie ad method, ad there is a abudace of literature ad a availability of yoga (ad the like) classes to provide help i these. So meditatig is the activity where a effort is made to achieve bodily stilless ad the to lose cotact with the exteral world as oe goes through various layers of cosciousess deep ito the depths of oe s beig, util oe arrives at the poit where oe loses self-cosciousess ad becomes part of the whole Reality. Let us be hoest. Those who take yoga classes or use other meas to egage i easter mysticism ofte fid that they experiece such health beefits as the lowerig of blood pressure ad of bad cholesterol levels, as well as gaiig more self cotrol ad beig able to ejoy silece. I cotrast to easter-style meditatio, which is a iward jourey, the meditatio used i the Church of God over the ceturies is more like a outward jourey. That is, meditatig is the use of all the powers of soul ad body i a seekig after God, his truth ad his will. It is a movemet from the heart/soul outwards ad upwards by a baptized believer, usig his itellect, memory, imagiatio, emotios ad will it is beig lifted up to the Father i the ame of Jesus Christ ad assisted by the Holy Spirit. The philosophy usually related to the iward jourey is moism the doctrie that all Reality is Oe ad that the differece ad variety that we see is ot real. I cotrast, that related to the outward jourey is theism, the belief that the Creator of the world is wholly distict from his creatio ad that huma beigs are part of the created order ideed they are made i the image ad after the likeess of God ad so ought to reach out to him. Thus Christia meditatio begis with relaxatio of the body ad a recallig of the presece of God with his people, ad moves o to a egagemet with the revealed Word of God, either read from Scripture or recalled from memory (or both). This egagemet ivolves cosideratio of God s truth, the allowig of this truth to raise the affectios (e.g., desire, love, joy ad reverece) ad motivate the will, so that the whole perso, the whole soul, begis to reach after ad towards God, desirig to meet him ad to do his will. Such meditatio aturally leads o to prayer of various kids ad itesities. Whe this godly exercise is doe daily the oe major effect by God s grace will be the gradual creatio of a Christia mid (midset) i the oe who meditates i thy law by day ad by ight (Psalm 1:2). For by meditatio the Christia soul digests the heavely food, which is the Word of God. Meditatio i the Christia traditio is closely related to Cotemplatio, i which the mid ceases to circle a truth or to be moved by a truth ad istead focuses directly upo God i Christ ad is take up i woder, love ad praise. This state may last for a brief or loger time ad usually the worshipper ad adorer of the Beauty that is God is ot coscious of space or time. Both Meditatio ad Cotemplatio are appropriate, eve ecessary, i both corporate, public worship ad i persoal devotio. Are you meditatig o God s Word? Are you cotemplatig God i his beauty, purity ad glory? Page 3
Page True Liturgy Both impersoal ad supra-persoal because through, i ad with Christ [Oe Perso made kow i Two Natures] (A discussio starter adapted from a piece by Fr F. P. Harto, 1932, raisig the questio of the place of autoomous idividualism i Christia worship) Whe the idividual perso takes his part i the celebratio of the divie mysteries he is ot makig his ow prayer he eters ito a act of prayer which is goig o idepedetly of himself as a idividual, because it is the prayer of Christ, our high Priest. Eve o earth each Eucharist is ot a separate act of worship, but the takig up, i that particular place, of the ceaseless worship of the Church throughout the world, ad is oe with the worship of the Church Triumphat The prayers of the Liturgy are plural, ot sigular, we ot I (just as our Lord taught us i the fudametal liturgical prayer to say Our Father ), for they are the prayers of the whole body of Christ. We must realize the uiversality of the liturgy that it is ot simply the actio of the few or may people gathered together i the particular buildig i which the Eucharist is beig celebrated; i the celebratio of the holy mysteries that cogregatio is oe with the whole Church, semper et ubique, the barriers of time ad space disappear, the faithful are lifted up to the heavely places, Christ desceds upo the holy table, ad the Church militat, expectat ad triumphat, is oe. I the Liturgy is realized the uity of the Body of Christ, for the Church is a etity; its vital priciple is the life of Christ, it is oe with him its head, guided by the Holy Ghost. The idividual Christia is ot a etity, but a member of this uity, a cell of this livig orgaism which is the Church. He has his ow spiritual life, which must be lived ad developed, but which ca ever be developed fully apart from the life i the orgaism. The collective prayer of the body differs cosiderably from the separate prayer of the idividual, for it is ot simply the sum of may idividual prayers, but the prayer of a orgaism which is more tha a aggregatio of idividuals, the prayer of the mystical body of Christ the high Priest. Attempts are sometimes made to assimilate the prayer of the Liturgy to that of the idividual, but such attempts are really misguided. Services of a popular character (usig the word popular i its best ot its cheapest sese) are ecessary to the full expressio of idividual devotio ad must exist side by side with the Liturgy, but the two must ot be mixed or substituted for oe aother. A sesitive soul istatly feels that extempore prayig ad subjective hym-sigig, while emietly right at a prayer meetig, are out of place at the Eucharist, though perhaps he may ot be able to say why he feels it. The idividualist, o the other had, wats to fid i public prayer the direct expressio of his ow spiritual coditio ad eeds, ad to him therefore the Liturgy seems to be geeralized, formal ad cold The fact is that idividual prayer, eve whe collective, is oe thig, ad the liturgical prayer of the Church aother, ad both are ecessary. The Liturgy is ot cocered with the idividual as such; it is the expressio of the worship of the body; hece liturgical prayer is essetially ad rightly impersoal. The idividual is required to sacrifice his idividualism i order that he may eter ito the fulless of the Body of Christ. Oly as he is humble eough to do this does he fid out what worship really is. I liturgical worship oe is worshippig God the Father i uio with the Icarate So, ad this worship through Jesus Christ our Lord is far deeper tha the most beautiful offerig of our ow which we ca make to God the So, because he is offerig it i us who are members of his Body. The liturgical worship of the Church is essetially impersoal, because it is supra - persoal, ad this impersoality is right. The sacred vestmets, so far from doig hoor to the idividual priest, obscure his persoality; he is ot loger A.B., but Christ s deputy. The priest who attempts to use his persoality or cosciously develops persoal eccetricities at the altar is puttig himself before his Lord, ad so dishoorig him; ad the layma who worships merely as a idividual is doig, i his ow degree, much the same thig. [Note: the truly corporate Liturgy provided by The Book of Commo Prayer i its public services is explaied ad commeded as i Worship without Dumbig Dow: Kowig God through Liturgy; recetly released, see page 15 below.]
1. Meditatig, the Biblical Way His delight is i the law of the LORD ad i his law doth he meditate day ad ight. Psalm 1:2. Our purpose is to acquait ourselves with that form of meditatio which is described ad commeded i the Bible, i both the Old ad New Testamets. The word itself, either as a ou or a verb, comes most ofte i the Psalter, as we shall later ote. However, its first appearace is i Geesis, where we are told that, Isaac wet out to meditate i the field at the evetide (24:63). That is, with oly the atural souds ad sights of ature as his compaios, Isaac reflects upo, thiks about, cosiders, ad takes to heart what he kows of God ad his revelatio, as give to his father, Abraham, his mother Sarah, ad to himself. The the word ext appears as a word spoke by God himself i the form of a commad to Joshua, the successor of Moses, as he prepares to lead the tribes of Israel ito the promised lad. This book of the law shall ot depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therei day ad ight, that thou mayest observe to do all that is writte therei (Joshua 1:8). The LORD had chose the people Israel as his coveat people, revealed his Majesty ad mercy to them, ad give them his Law ad the terms of his coveat through Moses at Mout Siai. As the leader of this chose people, Joshua must be wholly aware day ad ight of what the LORD promises ad requires, what he gives ad what he commads. Thus he is commaded costatly to have the cotet of the Law i his heart ad mid, always reflectig o oe or aother part of it, i order to be able to lead the people i obediece of God ad ito blessig from him. Of course, it was the task of the priests withi Israel, both before the buildig of the Temple ad whe the Temple actually existed i Jerusalem, to teach the people the cotet of the Law of God, so that they would kow their privileges ad duty. Withi homes, the father had the duty to teach his family God s law, ad the mother to teach the small childre. We may ote that Jesus leared much of God s law from Mary, his blessed mother. Also, God set uto his people prophets who urgetly called the leaders ad the whole people to true ad hearty obediece to the Lord their God. The, later, whe there were syagogues i every tow, teachig from the Law ad the Prophets was give there, Sabbath by Sabbath, by the elders ad rabbis. It is reasoably clear that people were regularly exhorted ot oly to kow ad keep the Law of the LORD but also to meditate o that Law! We kow that meditatig was at the heart of devotio ad piety withi Israel because of its promiece i the Psalter. The first Psalm was writte to be a itroductio to the whole collectio of 150 Psalms. It is a short Psalm ad presets a cotrast betwee the righteous ad the urighteous (wicked) ma. The aim is to preset to Jewish me their vocatio to be righteous before God ad amogst fellow me. Oly i beig righteous will ay Jewish ma be accouted blessed by God. Psalm 1 begis: Blessed is the ma that walketh ot i the cousel of the ugodly, ot stadeth i the way of siers, ot sitteth i the seat of the scorful. Here are three thigs, i grades of itesity, that he does ot do. That is he does ot lear from or imitate those who are ot godly ad faithful before God. Positively his delight is i the Law of the LORD, ad i his law doth he meditate day ad ight. There is always i his mid, heart ad cosciousess, the cotet of God s coveat his statutes ad commadmets. They are his spiritual food ad he is costatly digestig them i order to be guided by them i his ow life ad that of carig for his family. Psalm 19 eds with a prayer: Let the words of my mouth, ad the meditatio of my heart, be acceptable i thy sight, O LORD, my stregth, ad my redeemer (v.14). I Hebrew psychology the heart is the ceter of huma life ad cosciousess it is the mid, the will ad the emotios. So here the perso, who desires to be godly ad righteous, is prayig that everythig he says, together with all the musig, recitig, poderig of the law of God i his mid, will be acceptable to the LORD his God. Page
Page Psalm 119 is the logest Psalm ad is a celebratio of the Law of the Lord. Here there is much emphasis upo recallig from memory what had bee leared cocerig God s revelatio to his coveat people i deeds ad words, i order to meditate upo it ad the apply it to daily livig before God. I will meditate i thy precepts ad have respect uto thy ways. I will delight myself i thy statutes. I will ot forget thy word. (vv. 15-16) O how I love thy law! It is my meditatio all the day. (v. 97) Actually withi the Law itself were basic commads to the people Israel, which required ot oly memorizig the essetials of God s statutes ad commadmets, but also meditatig upo the with the itetio of obeyig them i chagig situatios. Through Moses, God said: Therefore shall ye lay up these my words i your heart ad i your soul, ad bid them for a sig upo your had, that they may be as frotlets betwee your eyes. (Deuteroomy 11:18-21) The law of the Lord was iteded to become the basis of both metal ad physical life, fidig a permaet dwellig place i heart ad mid, so that it could be recalled at ay time. Jesus himself was raised i a godly home by Joseph ad Mary. Here he leared as he grew up the cotet of the statutes ad commadmets of God ad that they existed to be believed ad obeyed. His questioig of the teachers of the Law whe he visited Jerusalem with his parets at the age of twelve, reveals that he was a youg ma who meditated upo God s law. He had a great desire to kow more ad more of the revelatio of God to Israel ad was so itesely occupied i this pursuit that he forgot to joi the carava leavig for Galilee! Mary ad Joseph had to retur to look for him! (See Luke 2:41ff.) The, also, we see Jesus actively meditatig at specific poits before his Miistry begis ad the durig that Miistry. Look at him, first of all, i the wilderess after his Baptism by Joh ad before he wet ito Galilee preachig the arrival of the Kigdom of God. (See Luke 4:1-13) There he is reflectig upo what God revealed to Moses for Israel ad is recorded i the Book of Deuteroomy. Usig his memory, he is poderig what God required of Israel ad how ad where Israel failed her Lord, through disobediece ad ufaithfuless. He is also poderig how he, as the ew Israel, as the uique represetative of Israel, will truly ad really obey the Lord ad do his will o behalf of all. That is, how he as the ew Israel will succeed where the old Israel failed. So he is egaged i reflectig upo ad prayig about his Messiaic Miistry, ad it is here that he is temped by Sata. But for our purposes, what we eed to ote is that meditatio is a essetial part of the process whereby he comes to clarity ad commitmet cocerig his Miistry as the Messiah of Israel. What we kow is that he repeated costatly three statemets quoted by the evagelists Ma shall ot live by bread aloe but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God ; Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God ad him oly shalt thou serve ; & Thou shalt ot tempt the Lord thy God. Further, durig his Miistry, he ofte wet aside away from the crowds ad eve away from the disciples, to sped time i meditatio ad prayer. These times were absolutely importat for him ad his Miistry. Right at the ed of the Miistry, we see a most powerful portrait of Jesus egaged i meditatio ad prayer. He is i the Garde of Gethsemae after beig with his disciples i the upper room where he istituted the Lord s Supper (Luke 22: 39ff.). He kows that he will soo be arrested ad before him is that towards which the whole directio of his Miistry has bee movig. He cosiders what he is before him as the Sufferig Servat of the Lord takig the place of siers ad i their behalf offerig a perfect obediece to the Father eve uto death. He meditates upo the vocatio of the Messiah as he has received it from the Law ad the Prophets ad from his commuio with the Father. He feels the horrible weight of all this upo his soul ad so cries out, Not my will but thie be doe. Ad the he goes forth to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sis of the world by his sacrificial ad atoig death. Christias are urged to imitate the Lord Jesus ad oe such way is i the commitmet to meditatig upo God s word, his Father s word. Fially, here are three simple pictures used by saits of old to idicate what meditatig is all about. 1. Meditatig is like chewig the cud. Thik of the cow, i the shade of the tree, peacefully ad cotiuigly chewig the cud. Likewise we are to repeat, reflect upo ad cosider the Word we have received. 2. Meditatig is like takig polle from a beautiful flower. Thik of the hoey bee, takig its time iside the flower removig the polle. Likewise we are to make the effort ad to take our time to receive the divie Word so that our lives ca be as hoey. 3. Meditatig is like beig i a small boat that rises ad falls as it moves through the ocea waves. We are to rock the Word of God i our hearts, as we lovigly repeat it, reflect upo it ad cosider it, i order that it may sactify ad guide us. Let us delight i the Word of God, ad meditate therei day ad ight!
2. Meditatig before the Lord Meditate upo these thigs; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profitig may appear to all. 1 Timothy 4:15 The special ature of meditatio as a act of devotio to the Lord ca be illustrated by makig careful distictios betwee differet types of readig ad relatig to a writte text. (a) Iformative ad formative readig. We live i a age that takes for grated the availability of the prited ad typed page, be it i the ewspaper, magazie, joural, or book, as well as o the computer scree. Most of the vast amout of seteces ad paragraphs exists to be read as quickly as possible. We glace at the ewspaper ad read oly those sectios which have special iterest or appeal. I the office, busiess people read reports, summaries, letters, had-outs ad the like each workig day. Basically, for most of the time, most of us are readig for iformatio, to be iformed for a variety of purposes from amusemet to coductig a busiess to makig moey. Ad i what we may call iformative readig, the reader, the idividual perso is i charge for he decides what to read, whe ad with what itesity of iterest. Readig to be iformed ca be doe sittig dow, stadig up, or ay other posture. The Bible may be ad is ofte approached i this maer, i much the same way as oe reads a history book or a aciet classic. That is, it may be read i order to fid out what it cotais i terms of iformatio about the Jews ad their faith, ad the Christias ad their faith. I cotrast to iformative readig, where the reader is basically i cotrol of the situatio, there is formative readig, where the reader seeks to had over cotrol to Aother. I this approach, the reader reads slowly ad prays that the Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, will guide him ito geuie spiritual ad moral egagemet with the text. Thus the reader is seekig to be, ideed waitig to be, formed by the word of the Lord arisig from the text. He is elighteed by the Holy Ghost to see the divie message i the text; he receives it ito his mid ad heart, ad allows it to form his midset, his faith ad his commitmet to the Lord. Formative readig is a appoited meas of beig formed by the Lord Jesus through the Holy Spirit by meas of the writte Word. Ulike iformative readig, which ca be doe i a cotext of hustle, bustle ad oise, formative readig eeds a certai level of peace ad quiet, ad i terms of bodily posture, whether sittig or keelig, the sese of prayerfuless. Obviously, we are all pretty well used to iformative readig for it is part of livig i the moder world. However, the disciplie ad habit of formative readig has to be cultivated for it does ot come aturally to most people; we have to slow dow ad deliberately make space ad time for it. We may claim that formative readig is aother way of speakig of meditatig upo Holy Scripture. (b) Study of the text ad meditatio upo the text of the Bible. The Bible has bee studied as much as, ad probably more, tha ay other book i the history of the world. Its laguages, Hebrew, Aramaic ad Greek, have bee carefully aalyzed ad their grammar, sytax, style ad vocabulary have bee meticulously scrutiized. The there has bee itese study of the possible authorship of each book, together with the place ad time of writig. Ad with these the theology of each author ad book. Further, there has bee speculative study of the pre-history of the text before it reached the form ad shape it came to have withi the Bible. Also the social, cultural, historical cotext of the books have bee ivestigated i depth. At the level of the preacher or Suday School teacher, there is the use of Commetaries upo the text, which attempt to explai what each word, phrase ad setece meat for the origial writer ad what it possibly meas today. So we talk much i the moder church of the exegesis of the text ad the iterpretatio of the Bible. Now, of course, academic study of the Bible ca be doe by ay serious-mided perso, who has the appropriate gifts ad abilities. I fact, departmets Page
Page of religio or diviity i colleges ad uiversities are ot differet i essetials from departmets of history or athropology. Perhaps, we may say that scholarly study of the Bible ca be described as a sophisticated form of iformative readig. Meditatio upo the text of the Bible is very differet from scholarly study of the Bible, although i some cases meditatio ca follow from, ad eve beefit from, previous scholarly study. For meditatio it is most helpful to kow the basic facts about the text beig read e.g., who wrote it, whe, ad with what purpose. However, the purpose of Meditatio is, as we have oted, to be formed by the truth ad spirit of the text. Meditatio is metal prayer, it is prayig the text i the presece of the Lord, i order to ote ad to hear what he is actually sayig to us from his Word. Geerally speakig, the scholar regards the text as a aciet religious text to be aalyzed, whereas the meditator regards the text as the writte Word of God, a livig message from heave for ow ad today. It may be observed with regret i passig that most graduates of theological semiaries kow a reasoable amout about the scholarly study of the Bible, but few, very few, kow aythig practically speakig about the habit of meditatio ad formative readig. (c ) Formative readig ad meditatio i worship Havig idetified the special ature of meditatio, let us ow ote how it fuctios withi the Aglica system of Daily Morig ad Eveig Prayer ad Suday Services. First of all, we should, wherever possible, be i church before a service starts i order to prepare ourselves by prayer ad meditatio to egage i worship. If, the service is to be Holy Commuio, we ca read slowly ad carefully the appoited Psalm, Epistle ad Gospel, meditatig o a setece or a phrase. If the service is to be Morig Prayer, we ca read do the same with oe of the appoited Caticles or Psalms. The aciet Church distiguished betwee the lectio cotiua ad the lectio divia, ad this differece helps us to see the place of meditatio withi a service. First of all, we are to liste carefully to the lectio cotiua, the cotiuous readig of Scripture, that is to the readig of the Old ad New Testamet i Morig ad Eveig Prayer, the Epistle ad Gospel i Holy Commuio, ad the Psalter i all services. Ad we are to supplemet this geeral hearig by our ow geeral readig of the Bible. I the secod place, we are to egage i the lectio divia. This is the aciet expressio for meditatio that leads to commuio with God: it is the treatig of what is writte o the sacred page, ad proouced aloud, as the Word of God to be received i heart, mid ad will. Now there is always space ad time withi a service to egage i lectio divia, i short cocetrated meditatio. Before the receivig, durig the receivig ad after the receivig of Holy Commuio is a obvious example. Aother is while the choir is sigig. I these momets oe ca focus upo a setece, a phrase, from the lessos or psalms of the day, ad treatig it as heavely food, seek to digest it through meditatio ad prayer. For our services we use The Book of Commo Prayer whose chief editor i the 16 th cetury was Archbishop Thomas Cramer. He was a master i the art of composig short prayers ad oe prayer that he composed for this Prayer Book cotais a perfect descriptio of meditatio. Here is the Collect for the Secod Suday i Advet, which addresses the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ i this way: Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be writte for our learig; Grat that we may i such wise hear them, read, mark, lear ad iwardly digest them, that by patiece ad comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, ad ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlastig life, which thou hast give us i our Saviour Jesus Christ. Ame. I the petitio to God made i this prayer, we ca see the stages of Meditatio. First of all, there is the hearig of the Holy Scriptures i church i the lessos. This is i order that we may lear of God, Christ ad salvatio ad of our duty to trust, serve ad love God the Father through Jesus Christ our Lord. Secodly, there is the readig the Scriptures. This refers both to the readig i our ow Bible or Prayer Book as we hear the lessos read ad also readig later for ourselves. Thirdly, there is the markig or beig observat ad attetive to what we hear ad read. This requires that we treat the Bible as the ispired Word of God, a letter from heave, ad thus give it our full attetio. Fourthly, there is the learig, the beig taught, by what we hear ad read. That is learig more of God, Christ or salvatio or more of our duty to love ad serve our God. Fially, there is the digestig of the word of the Lord, the truth of God, that we have see, heard ad felt. The divie word has to move from the mid ito the memory ad the heart, that is ito the will ad emotios i order that it may ifluece our life for good. The digestig of the food from heave through meditatio is i order that we may become more mature Christias, growig i faith, hope ad charity. Meditate upo these thigs; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profitig may appear to all.
3. Meditatig with All My Soul Let the word of Christ dwell i you richly with all wisdom (Colossias 3:16) Let us begi by beig with Jesus o the moutai side i Galilee where he delivers what we call The Sermo o the Mout (Matthew 5 7). I geeral, it may be said that everythig that Jesus presets is of such a ature as to be the very basis for formative readig ad meditatio. For example, each of the Beatitudes calls for reflectio i the presece of the Lord, a reflectio that leads o to self-examiatio ad prayer. The each of the illustratios he uses e.g., of salt, light, houses built o sad or rock has the potetial to lead to serious thought ad prayer with practical applicatio to life. At times, Jesus actually uses words which are iteded to lead specifically to godly meditatio. For example, Cosider the lilies of the field (6:28) ad Seek ye first the kigdom of God (6:33). The he calls for a itesity of poderig ad cosiderig whe he says: Ask, ad it shall be give you; seek, ad ye shall fid; kock ad it shall be opeed uto you (7:7). Each of us could with profit read through the Sermo o the Mout ad otice how it calls for godly meditatio i virtually every verse. The whe you read through the Gospels to see what Jesus does ad says, you ecouter so may parables, ad each of these is iteded to cause listeers ad readers to thik, to poder, to cosider ad to reflect upo the kigdom of heave. The words, The kigdom of heave is like uto are iteded to set you off o this godly exercise of equiry leadig to decisio. Of course, Jesus himself ot oly taught the ecessity of meditatio he also practiced it, as the Gospels make clear. You ca imagie his profoud ad log meditatio upo the role of Israel i God s purpose, ad his ow vocatio as the ew Israel, by readig the accouts of his forty days i the wilderess whe he was tempted by the devil (Matthew 4; Luke 3). You ca read of his goig apart from his disciples ad his daily schedule i order to meditate ad pray. Ad you ca see him meditatig o the Mout of Olives after dark, ad at a time of great crisis, just before he was arrested by the Jewish authorities (Matthew 26:36ff.). (a) Advice from apostles All the apostles of Jesus were Jews ad had bee taught i their Jewish upbrigig the solem duty of recitig Scripture ad of cosiderig it daily as the word of the Lord. What they leared from Jesus was the right ad godly way to do this so that their ecouter was truly with the livig God as they meditated. It has ofte bee remarked that the fourth Gospel, the Gospel of Joh, from the hads of the beloved disciple, Joh, is the Spiritual Gospel. It is the Gospel that presupposes the existece of the others ad takes the reader ito further aspects ad dimesio of the character, idetity ad miistry of Jesus. We may claim, I thik, with some certaity that hours ad days of profoud meditatio wet ito the creatio ad compositio of this Gospel. However, it is the apostle Paul who has the most to say i a practical way about the duty ad beefits of meditatio. This is oly to be expected as he was writig to youg Getile churches ad, further, there are a lot of his Letters i the New Testamet. Before he became a Christia through his ecouter with the Lord Jesus as he joureyed to Damascus, Paul, as a Pharisee, kew well the duty ad disciplie of meditatio ad o doubt he practiced it itesely as a pious Jew. After his coversio, he cotiued to practice it but ow it was as a Christia, ad this meat that he approached, read ad recited the Law ad the Prophets i a totally ew way as preparatio for the Messiah who had come i the Perso of Jesus of Nazareth. I fact, i his log stay i the deserts of Arabia, before he bega his apostolic miistry to the Getiles, he was able to discover afresh what to meditate before the Lord ad to feed o his Word really meat (see Galatias 1:11-18). The evidece of Paul s preachig ad teachig, as these are reflected i his Letters, abudatly reveals that he cotiued to meditate ot oly o the received Hebrew Scriptures but also o everythig he came to kow about Jesus, what he had doe ad what he had taught, ad where he was ow! Ad he gave frequet ecouragemet to church leaders ad members to do what he frequetly did, meditate before the Lord. He used a variety of verbs i his exhortatios to meditate, but the purpose of all of them is to urge Christia believers to sped time reflectig upo ad applyig to their daily lives the Christia message. Here are a few examples. Writig to the Romas, he gave may ecouragemets to meditatio. Here is oe: Recko [cout] ye also yourselves to be dead ideed uto si but alive uto God through Jesus Christ (6:11). Believers are to see themselves uited i the Spirit to the Lord Jesus Christ i his death, burial ad resurrectio ad this seeig will be a powerful meas to livig a ew life. Writig to the Philippias, he urged them: Let this mid Page
be i you, which was also i Christ Jesus (2:5). Believers are to be ispired to humility by the holy example of the Icaratio ad Sufferig of the Lord Jesus. Ad writig to the Colossias, he called for heavely-midedess: If ye the be rise with Christ, seek those thigs which are above, where Christ sitteth o the right had of God. Set you affectio o thigs above, ot o thigs o the earth. For ye are dead ad your life is hid with Christ i God (3:1-23). It has ofte bee observed that they are the most useful o earth who are the most heavely-mided i their devotio for they have great spiritual eergy. Fially, writig to his assistat, Timothy, Paul told him to Meditate upo these thigs; give thyself wholly to them (1 Timothy 4:15). Let us ow attempt a little basic psychology; that is, seek to describe i geeral terms what goes o i meditatio. Whe we are meditatig fully ad itesely i the presece of the Lord we are usig all the powers of mid ad heart. To make thigs as clear as possible, let us take a simple example, e.g., meditatig o the coversatio betwee Jesus ad Nicodemus ad what Jesus told Nicodemus, Except a ma be bor agai, he caot see the kigdom of God (Joh 3:1-13). (b) The whole soul Whe we are suitably composed ad aware of the presece of God, our memory becomes active i rememberig what we have leared ad what we have bee taught o the topic that is before us. So we remember what we have bee taught from the Catechism ad from Scripture about spiritual regeeratio ad birth by the Spirit from above. Our itelligece the becomes active i seekig to uderstad it; ad our imagiatio comes ito use presetig to our mids a picture of a Baptism ad/or Jesus talkig with Nicodemus. As we poder ad egage i cosideratio of this passage of Joh s Gospel, we do such thigs as compare a physical birth with a spiritual birth, thik why it is ecessary that each of us be bor agai/bor from above by the Holy Ghost; poder the reasos why each us eeds the life-givig presece of the Holy Ghost i our souls ad reflect o the mercy of God who gives his Spirit to dwell i the souls of me. We do all this or similar acts of mid i the spirit of prayer lookig to God ot merely to give us clarity of mid but also to warm our hearts. Thus gradually our will ad our affectios (e.g., desire, love, joy, hope & awe) are brought ito play ad we begi to make resolutios of what God is callig us to be ad to do. Such resolutios may iclude, for example, a determiatio to rely more o the presece ad guidace of the Holy Ghost i our lives i such ad such situatios; to pray fervetly that various frieds ad relatives will be bor of the Spirit ad eter the kigdom of God, ad to be more spiritually mided i this or that particular. Meditatio is the godly exercise whereby we digest the Word of God ad apply it to our lives. It is a disciplie which is required daily for we eed daily food ad ispiratio. Ad it is a godly exercise for which we eed to have the right posture ad be i the right place. I terms of private meditatio, it will probably be the case that readig of the Bible will go before it ad prayers of thaksgivig, cofessio ad petitio will follow it. However, if the meditatio is withi a act of worship, the it will be itimately related to what kid of service ad what is beig read as the Lessos from Scripture ad which Caticles ad Psalms are beig sug. I terms of daily, persoal meditatio, we read that Isaac meditated as he walked i the fields at the ed of the day (Geesis 24:63), ad others have also foud that the atural souds of ature are a good cotext for this regular disciplie of metal ad cotemplative prayer. Yet for most of us, it is probably a matter of fidig a quiet place or quiet corer i our homes or places of busiess for 15 miutes or more ad egagig i meditatio there. There are o fixed rules as to time ad place because each of us lives i differet circumstaces with varyig duties ad resposibilities. The mai thig is that we egage i meditatio regularly as a essetial part of our devotio to our Lord so that his word may go from our mids ito our hearts ad the affect for good the daily reality of our lives. Let the word of Christ dwell i you richly i all wisdom. Page 10 Please remember the Prayer Book Society i your will ad kidly sed a doatio this year to help pay for its curret major publishig program.
4. Meditatig: Usig a Simple Method Thy word is a later uto my feet ad a light uto my path (Psalm 119:105) True meditatio requires the actio of the whole perso, the whole soul the mid, heart ad will. To face God, who is our Creator ad Redeemer, we ought to offer othig less tha our whole selves. He does ot wat oly a part of our attetio ad commitmet. However, havig recogized this, let us also ackowle dge that huma beigs ted to fall ito two classes the itellectual ad the affective ad this has a bearig o which method of meditatio ay give perso may fid the easier to use ad gai beefit from. The historic methods of meditatio, which were developed at the ed of the Middle Ages ad perfected i the Couter Reformatio i the sixteeth cetury by leaders such as Igatius Loyola ad Fracis de Sales ( see his Itroductio to the Devout Life) clearly begi, after itroductory prayer, with the exercise of the mid, the memory ad itellect, ad the they move to the will ad the affectios ad thus are desiged to take the Christia disciple gradually ito the practical reality of resolvig to love ad serve God more fruitfully i daily life. Here cosideratio of God s truth ad ways is see as a ecessary prelimiary to beig moved i the will ad affectios by the Holy Ghost towards resolutios ad actios, which glorify God. What we may call the highway of holiess i this approach is from God via his writte Word ito the mid ad from there ito the heart ad through the will ad affectios ito daily livig. There are possible dagers i this geeral method which has bee widely used by both Roma Catholics ad Protestats. Oe dager is that, i the case of pastors ad preachers, it is pursued i order to create sermos ad talks istead of for growth i persoal grace. Aother dager is that cosideratio becomes so importat for a perso that it is a ed i itself, ad there is o overflow of God s truth ito the affectios ad thus the exercise is oly itellectual ad cerebral ad does ot have the directio to ecourage holiess of life. True religio i the affectios It has ofte bee said that true religio is i the affectios. By this is meat that the geuiely Christia perso is oe who desires God, hopes i God, loves God, revereces ad fears God, ad so o. The affectios (or emotios) are a part of the huma perso which ca be excited or moved ito itese feeligs, ad these i tur ca deeply affect words ad behavior, ad thus life as a whole. I fact, the sifuless of ma ca be most clearly see i the affectios (e.g., i the love of evil ad si ad the desire for self-gratificatio ad the forbidde). However, true godliess is also foud i the affectios whe desire, love, joy ad the like are focused upo God ad doig his will. The aim of traditioal methods of meditatio was to exercise the whole soul before God the memory recalls God s truth, the mid cosiders ad reflects upo it, the imagiatio pictures it, ad the the affectios ad will are moved to please God, so that the soul desires God ad loves him ad expresses joy i him ad his ways. There is absolutely othig wrog with these methods which work from mid to heart ad will. Millios have used them with holy profit sice the sixteeth cetury. But it is a fact that such methods whe followed i full do seem primarily to suit those who are of the itellectual type, that is, for whom it ot to be a burde but a pleasat task to egage i cosiderig ad reflectig upo holy thigs. Happily there are complimetary ways of meditatig which particularly suit those whom we may describe as belogig to the affective type. That is, suitable for those whose atural respose to a questio or problem is ot first to cosider it, but to feel it, to savor it ad to seek to do somethig immediately about it. Oe such method is described below i Meditatio ad Cotemplatio (pages 13 & 14). Page 11
Page 12 What all of us, whether we belog to the itellectual or the affective type or somewhere betwee, eed to realize is that geuie Christiaity is ot i the first place about uderstadig ad comprehedig God or his ways: for as the prophet Isaiah declared for God: My ways are ot your ways ad my thoughts are ot your thoughts. Rather, Christiaity is i the first place about lovig God with heart, soul, mid ad stregth. Ad, further, Christiaity is ot i the first place about providig a sociologically correct aalysis of huma beigs, but rather of lovig the eighbor as we love ourselves. Let us also be clear that i meditatio we lift up the whole soul ad mid to God ad this is fudametally a act of love. I the old Pey Catechism, there is the questio, Why did God make you? Ad the aswer is: God made me to kow him, love him ad serve him i this world, ad be happy with him for ever i the ext. True Prayer is a act of love ad so is meditatio. Kowledge of God ad his ways there must be, it is essetial, ad kowledge is the provice of the itellect ad memory, but to be fruitful for Christia worship ad livig it is to be kowledge that proceeds from love, ad kowledge which produces love. Ad, of course, geuie love is the actio of the will desirig God ad surrederig itself to him. The Igatia Method simplified A method of meditatio that ca be used by both the itellectual ad the affective types is the followig. Further, it ca be used i church to meditate o the Gospel for the day or at home o ay part of the cotets of the four Gospels. As a method, it is relatively easy to remember sice each of the titles for its five parts begis with P. 1. Prepare. Fid a quiet place, make yourself comfortable, become aware of the presece of God aroud you, with you ad i you. Breathe deeply ad slowly. Ope your Bible to the passage i the Gospels which you are goig to read ad meditate upo. 2. Picture. Read the short passage cocerig Jesus (e.g., Mark 1:16-20) ad form a picture of the scee i your mid s eye. Ask for the illumiatio of the Holy Spirit. The place yourself i the scee so that you ca see ad hear Jesus ad feel the power of his presece. Remember similar occasios from the Gospels where Jesus did or said similar thigs. 3. Poder. Carefully cosider what you hear Jesus say ad what you see him do. What message does this have for you? What is he actually sayig to you? What ca you discer for your ow good from the reactios of those aroud ad with Jesus? 4. Pray. Covert your reflectios ad cosideratios ito prayers to God the Father of desire, love, joy, commitmet, awe ad reverece (as appropriate), ad also offer petitios for God s help, guidace ad blessig. 5. Practice. Make oe or two specific (ot geeral) resolutios to take ito your daily life, from this momet, from that which you have leared ad see i the meditatio. I this approach, those whose imagiatio is vivid will fid the picturig of the scee easy whilst those who ejoy discursive reaso will pay special attetio to the poderig. Further, those who feel their way ito situatios will be quickly moved by beig i the presece of Jesus as they picture the scee ad place themselves there. What is importat is that the whole soul is exercised by all who meditate ad that the memory, the itellect, the imagiatio, the will ad the emotios ad affectios are exercised i a godly maer so that the fruit of meditatio is holiess. I coclusio Oe way that some people may fid useful or helpful as a way of thikig about the progress of the word of God withi the huma soul (mid, heart ad will) is this. To thik of its etry ad ier life withi the huma perso i terms motherhood, particularly the motherhood of Mary, mother of Jesus, who prayed, Be it uto me accordig to thy word (Luke 1:38). Sister Margaret Magdale writes: If we compare our experiece to that of motherhood, first comes the coceivig of the word. We urture it withi us, as a mother-to-be urtures the ew life withi her womb. We mother it, we protect it, foster ad feed it, allowig it growig space. We liste to its heartbeat ad its movemets withi, to what it is sayig to us ideed demadig of us ad our obediece. Ad as we grow with it, chages takes place i us. We fid a ew purpose i beig, for we carry the word withi. But that it ot all, of course. Like Mary, at the appoited time, we brig it forth ito the world, holdig out the word of life that has power to save. (Jesus: Ma of Prayer, 1987, p.98). It should be the case that those who sped the most quality time fosterig the growth of the Word of God i their souls i meditatio ad cotemplatio are actually those who possess the greatest eergy to do God s will i his world.
5. Meditatig ad Cotemplatig I the older Roma Catholic ad Aglo-Catholic devotioal books we read of Metal Prayer ad Cotemplative Prayer. Both are ecouraged, but the latter is usually preseted as a superior way of comig to ad kowig God i the ame of Jesus Christ. For our purposes we may assume that Metal Prayer is basically the same thig as Meditatio ad Cotemplative Prayer much the same thig as Cotemplatio. Metal Prayer is cosiderig ad reflectig upo some truth revealed by God, while prayig for illumiatio ad ispiratio by the Holy Spirit. I cotrast, Cotemplative Prayer is the focusig of the mid, heart ad will upo God ad beig spiritually delighted by this visio ad experiece. Couter-Reformatio Saits ad Eglish Purita Pastors A clear distictio betwee meditatio ad cotemplatio is made by most of the famous devotioal writers of the Couter-Reformatio of the sixteeth cetury e.g., St Fracis de Sales, St Teresa of Avila ad St Joh of the Cross. I fact, St Teresa (i The Iterior Castle) ad St Joh (i The Dark Night of the Soul) provide us with a aalysis of the differet forms of cotemplatio, that is, of the deepeig uio with God i the various stages ad depths of cotemplative prayer. From a reformed Catholic (= Aglica) positio, it is disappoitig that St Teresa ad St Joh do ot emphasize the great value of biblical meditatio. Oe obvious reaso why they do ot do so is that i the Spaish Iquisitio of their time there was o availability of the Bible i the veracular! Ad thus metal prayer for most people, who did ot kow Lati ad did ot have the Lati Bible, lacked direct ecouter with the Word of God writte. So it could be hard work ad ot immediately fruitful (as St Teresa herself foud). I cotrast to the Roma Catholic Church, the reformed Natioal Churches of Europe made the Bible i the veracular geerally available. So biblical meditatio was possible ad was ecouraged. So it is ot surprisig that i seveteeth cetury Eglad, there was much teachig ad ot a few books published by the Puritas ad evagelical Aglicas o the topic of meditatio. However, while they took over some of the methods of meditatio laid out by St Fracis de Sales ad Igatius of Loyola, they did ot make ay hard ad fast distictio betwee meditatio ad cotemplatio. The basic reaso for this is that i their experiece of prayerfully ad meditatively readig the Scriptures, they came to delight i the presece of God, ad so meditatio ad cotemplatio were see as two aspects of the oe disciplie ad the oe meas of grace. For, cosiderig the text of Scripture prayerfully ofte led to the focusig of the whole soul o the glory of God i the face of the exalted Lord Jesus (see, e.g., Richard Baxter, The Saits Everlastig Rest). Bearig the history of the meaig of the words i mid, how should we today thik of meditatio ad cotemplatio? Some suggestios First of all, we should see them both as ecessary disciplies for those who wish to grow i maturity i the Christia Faith, ad to kow the Father through the So uto eteral life. Certaily those who are Christia pastors ad leaders should egage i both daily if possible ad egage i them, ot for the purpose of preparig sermos ad talks but for persoal edificatio ad growth i grace. Secodly, we should see them as differet but closely related spiritual disciplies ad activities. By meditatio upo Scripture we gai gradually the mid of Christ ad the desire to do his will; ad i cotemplatio through the miistry of the Holy Spirit we actually taste ad see that the Lord is good, as we are give brief aticipatios of the beatific visio. Page 13