Streams of Living Water: The Contemplative Stream
The Listening Life
Rev. Nancy Gowler Johnson
Puyallup First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

December 3, 2006
 

During the Sundays of Advent and Christmas we will be exploring the great traditions of Christian spirituality.  We’ll be using as our guide the wonderful book by Richard Foster entitled Streams of Living Water: Celebrating the Great Traditions of Christian Faith.  Our first tradition is the contemplative spirituality: the prayer-filled life.  It is an ancient tradition, with deep roots in our history.

It seems rather futile to offer a call to silence and contemplation in our world.  With all of the noise and bustle that fills our 21^st century lives, times of silence are seldom found.  From the constant ticking of the clock, to the hum of the refrigeration, and in our house the gentle bubbling noises of the small fish tank in the living room, there is little true silence.  Add into the mix cell phones, televisions, iPods, and computers and there seem to be very few places we can go and experience quietness. 

Do you remember the days following the September 11^th tragedies when there were still no planes up in the skies?  What an eerie silence there was…  suddenly we realized how accustomed we had become to the sounds that constantly surround us.

Contemplative spirituality—the prayer-filled life.  There are few among us who feel we know how to pray as we ought.  More often than not, we’re occasional pray-ers: in times of crisis or perhaps moments of gratitude, we reach to prayer for an anchoring.  We see strong prayer lives reserved for the few, the saintly, but seldom do we see our lives measuring up to those high standards. 

When we were in Greece last summer, we visited monasteries built on the tops of great cliffs.  When they were first constructed visitors and supplies would be brought to the monastery using a pulley and basket system.  The stood tall on the rocks.  And on the sides of those cliffs were tiny concaves which still held the remains of solitary residences of monks who lived in the hollowed out places in the rocks. Solitary.  Alone.  A little odd from our modern day vantage point.  Living lives of constant prayer.

How distant the prayer-filled life seems from our daily lives. 

And yet there is something within us that stirs, a part of us yearns for a deeper connection to something beyond ourselves.  We long for the presence of God in the midst of the chaos of our own lives. That longing is at the heart of the contemplative life. To use the words of the 16^th century Christian mystic Teresa of Avila contemplative living “is an intimate sharing between friends.”[i]

It is a love affair with God.  Contemplative people of faith find peace and delight in the presence of God.  Those who practice the prayer-filled life have been described as “beautiful of soul.”  Beautiful of soul—what a wonderful image!  “The contemplative life is the steady gaze of the soul upon the God who loves us,” writes Richard Foster.  It is the life formed by that intimate connection with God that is a beautiful soul.[ii]

The contemplative life is a life filled with delight.  One woman describing this life of joy declared, “Fun ahead, saith the Lord.”[iii]  When we label prayer as a spiritual discipline, too often we begin to think of it as work, or another task to be marked off of our to-do list.  But the life of prayer is filled with delight and joy, playfulness.

It is a passionate life one in which the intimate relationship with God informs everything we do.  No more compartmentalizing our lives into work, family, friends, and faith.  The love affair with God shapes each dimension of our lives, ever creating us anew, much like the prophet in our reading from Isaiah this morning had in mind when he wrote, “We are the clay, you are the potter.  We are all the work of your hand.”

In the story of the birth of Jesus we find a strong witness to the contemplative tradition in the person of a young girl, Mary.  In the midst of the noise of her own life, the preparations for her coming marriage, a disruptive voice breaks in,  “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”  Eugene Peterson in his translation of this passage puts it this way, Good morning! You're beautiful with God's beauty, Beautiful inside and out! God be with you.”

You’re beautiful with God’s beauty, inside and out!  Beautiful of soul.

With those words the day-to-day preparations fall to the side.  How can it be that a young girl, barely into her teens, can hear the call of God so clearly in her life?  God comes calling, and she listens, she ponders, she even argues a bit, and yet in the end she agrees to partner with God in something new and wonderful, something bold and frightening.

The contemplative life is attuned to God’s voice, not sitting on the sidelines, disengaged with the world, but actively seeking to play a part in God’s dream for all creation.  To dwell in the possibilities God has placed before us.

The mad rush of the holiday season is upon us.  The mall parking lots are packed with cars.  Our calendars begin to fill with special events, parties, concerts, friends and family.  And yet, we as the church walk to a different beat during December.  For it is not yet Christmas in the church, it is Advent.  The time in which we wait, preparing ourselves, our hearts and our lives, for the coming of God into the world in the person of Jesus. 

“Advent is not a time to declare,” writes Madeleine L’Engle,  “but to listen, to listen to whatever God may want to tell us through the singing of the stars, the quickening of a baby, the gallantry of a dying man.”[iv]

During Advent we are called to listen.

The deep traditions of contemplative Christian spirituality beckon each one of us to free ourselves from the mayhem and discover the joy and anticipation of waiting… yes; I said the joy of waiting.  In this time of “not yet,” while the world rushes madly past us, let us stop and find ways to embrace the silence.  Listening for the call of God in our own lives.  A voice that welcomes us, beckons us to join into something new and wonderful.  Greetings favored one!  God says, “You are beautiful inside and out.”

May we, with the faithful young girl, answer, “Be it to me according to your Word.”

Prayers of the People

Time of guided meditation.[v]

Please find a comfortable position… Close your eyes and pay attention to your breathing.  Begin to breathe deeply… and… slowly.

Imagine you are at home by yourself… you have been busy with your many chores at home… Can you feel the weight of all you have yet to do?

…in the middle of your activities you take a moment to rest…

Image your favorite place to sit… relax there for a moment… listen to the sounds in your home… feel the solitude.

In the stillness of your home a voice speaks… you’re not sure where the voice is coming from…but you hear it clearly…

Greetings… Blessed are you…. You’re beautiful with God’s beauty…. You’re beautiful inside and out…

God be with you…

Consider the words spoken to you… Blessed are you… Blessed are you…
You’re beautiful with God’s beauty… You are beautiful with God’s beauty…
You are beautiful inside and out…
You are beautiful inside and out…
God be with you…
God be with you…

Pay attention to your reaction to these words… What are you feeling?  peace… joy…. is there any fear… insecurity… hope… happiness?

Hold the words that speak most clearly to your heart for a moment… Rest in the promise of those words…

Now consider the tasks you have yet to do… those chores that still need to be done…Does the word spoken to you change what you will do next? 

Pay attention to your breathing… slowly and deeply… and as the music plays softly and as you feel ready… you may open your eyes….