The Contemplative Life
Our small group has been reading The Shattered Lantern: Rediscovering a Felt Presence of God by Ronald Rolheiser, and last week we started to discuss what it means to live a contemplative life. Rolheiser suggests that most of us are in a hurry to discover God in our everyday lives--a statement that most of us agree with. However, we're wondering whether Rolheiser means that that we should consciously think about God as we go about our routines or do we just let God's spirit work through us as we take on the mundane?
Some of us think that to stop and think about God during a complicated day would be
a distraction to us and would be a disservice to those we want to serve most.
Several times during our small group the question arose, "Did Jesus stop to think about God as he healed the sick and went about ministering to the poor?"
Admittedly, Jesus did occasionally talk to God about an encounter, but more often the gospels record him getting off by himself when he needed to slow down. But that's when it got a little confusing. Here's what Rolheiser says about leading a contemplative life. "Contemplation is about waking up. To be contemplative is to experience an event fully, in all its aspects. Biblically this is expressed as coming 'face to face' with God, others and the cosmos. [he refers to 1 Corinthians 13: 12-13.] We are in contemplation when we stand before reality and experience it without the limits and distortions that are created by narcissism (our headaches and heartaches), pragmatism (our pressing tasks), and excessive restlessness (our dreams and distractions)."
We talked about how it's difficult to be fully present sometimes, but all agreed that we would be better people if we could shed our egoes as we deal with others.
Do we have to consider God consciously in every encounter, or do we just unconsciously act as vessels for the holy spirit to work? And if we accept the latter is there a danger into lapsing into our own unconscious needs? I guess another question related to that would be how do we get to the place where we are so in sync with God that He works through us.
Maybe when we have the chance we should think about how God is working through a situation and that maybe we all need time to get away at some point during the day to
allow God to speak to us? What do the rest of you think?
Some of us think that to stop and think about God during a complicated day would be
a distraction to us and would be a disservice to those we want to serve most.
Several times during our small group the question arose, "Did Jesus stop to think about God as he healed the sick and went about ministering to the poor?"
Admittedly, Jesus did occasionally talk to God about an encounter, but more often the gospels record him getting off by himself when he needed to slow down. But that's when it got a little confusing. Here's what Rolheiser says about leading a contemplative life. "Contemplation is about waking up. To be contemplative is to experience an event fully, in all its aspects. Biblically this is expressed as coming 'face to face' with God, others and the cosmos. [he refers to 1 Corinthians 13: 12-13.] We are in contemplation when we stand before reality and experience it without the limits and distortions that are created by narcissism (our headaches and heartaches), pragmatism (our pressing tasks), and excessive restlessness (our dreams and distractions)."
We talked about how it's difficult to be fully present sometimes, but all agreed that we would be better people if we could shed our egoes as we deal with others.
Do we have to consider God consciously in every encounter, or do we just unconsciously act as vessels for the holy spirit to work? And if we accept the latter is there a danger into lapsing into our own unconscious needs? I guess another question related to that would be how do we get to the place where we are so in sync with God that He works through us.
Maybe when we have the chance we should think about how God is working through a situation and that maybe we all need time to get away at some point during the day to
allow God to speak to us? What do the rest of you think?
posted by DS at 6:02 PM
1 Comments:
Hi Deb,
I don't think I am going to worry about whether I am unconsciously serving God or whether I am aware of God's presence. I certainly would rather be contemplative, IF I had the choice and the discipline. (And that is another issue as to how we become more aware of God as we live and work, sometimes in a mad franzy.)
It seems that Rolheiser is talking about is how, for a number of reasons, we don't even look to be comtemplative (in every moment) anymore. Since our meeting the other night, I have tried to take the time on a few occasions just to look beyond myself to try and see how God is in that moment. As I related the other night, one of the stories that encourages me is Henry Van Dyke's The Other Wise Man. In this story, another wise man travels to honor the new King of Israel but instead, spends his entire life just missing Jesus because he ends up ministering to those he encounters along his search. Perhaps, the sad part was that it is not until the end of this wise man's life that he encounters Jesus.
I think Rolheiser is trying to encourage us to consciously encounter Jesus along our ways, whatever our call. When we do so, our life becomes greatly enriched.
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