Contemplative Prayer
The evangelical stream of Christian tradition emphasizes not only the centrality of Scripture, but also intimacy with God. Evangelicals have taken the idea of a “personal relationship with God” and run with it! And here I must point out that the “evangelical stream” is not limited to evangelicals of the Wheaton-College-Billy-Graham- Campus-Crusade-for-Christ mold. My sense is that folks interested in the convergence movement would see the evangelical impulse as present from the beginning of the church and present in one form or another throughout its history.
Intimacy with God involves, among other things, prayer. Specifically, it involves some form of what might be called “contemplative prayer?¢‚Ǩ¬ù?¢‚Ǩ‚Äùthe kind of prayer that aspires to transcend outward forms in order to experience God directly.
You can see this emphasis quite clearly in some of the best-loved hymns of Baptists: ?¢‚Ǩ?ìMy Jesus, I Love Thee,?¢‚Ǩ¬ù ?¢‚Ǩ?ìSoftly and Tenderly,?¢‚Ǩ¬ù ?¢‚Ǩ?ìWhat a Friend We Have in Jesus,?¢‚Ǩ¬ù etc. One can find the same emphasis, often expressed in similar words, in the ancient mystics and contemplatives of the Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. Glen Hinson, a Baptist church historian, has documented many striking parallels between the writings of the medieval Catholic mystics and the Baptist Hymnal! It is on the basis of Dr. Hinson’s observations that I even dare to speak of evangelicals and contemplative prayer in the same breath!
A Dilemma
Contemplative Prayer is nevertheless something of a dilemma for Baptists and other ?¢‚Ǩ?ìfree-church?¢‚Ǩ¬ù Christians. ?¢‚Ǩ?ìClassic?¢‚Ǩ¬ù contemplatives used set prayer-forms as well as spontaneous, Spirit-inspired prayers. But they clearly understood that prayer should never become just ?¢‚Ǩ?ìgoing through the motions.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù These prayer-warriors understood that set forms and methods of prayer served as important stepping stones to the kind of direct intimacy that they longed for.
It is no shocking revelation that Baptists and other free-church Christians have long been suspicious of outward forms. Use of such set prayers has been discouraged, ridiculed, and condemned. Baptists in the 1600?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s didn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t even use hymnals for fear people would become dependent on them. The thought of a printed order of service would have been appalling to them.
But this raises a question that often sticks in my craw: Have we thrown the spiritual baby out with the liturgical bath water? Perhaps we have been too quick to dismiss the value of outward prayer forms. Consider:
- Does prayer really come naturally? The Bible never assumes that deep, intimate prayer ?¢‚Ǩ?ìjust happens?¢‚Ǩ¬ù without human effort. Rather, the disciples asked Jesus, ?¢‚Ǩ?ìTeach us to pray?¢‚Ǩ¬ù (Lk 11:1). Prayer is a learned skill, and learned skills often involve spending time in repetitive ?¢‚Ǩ?ìdrills.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù
- Are our impromptu prayers really ?¢‚Ǩ?ìspontaneous?¢‚Ǩ¬ù? We all use conventional language when we pray, whether we learned it from our parents, our pastor, or a prayer book. It?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s just that some of us are aware that is what we do, and others are in denial about it.
- Do earlier generations of Christians really have nothing to teach us? How ?¢‚Ǩ?ìfree?¢‚Ǩ¬ù is our ?¢‚Ǩ?ìfree church?¢‚Ǩ¬ù if we?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢re not free to say yes to time-tested prayer traditions that we find personally helpful?
Approaches to Contemplative Prayer
Here are a few of the many methods contemplative Christians have developed to enhance a sense of spiritual intimacy in prayer:
- Silence and Solitude. Strive to pray without using any words at all, simply listening for the voice of God. Find time alone, free from all distractions (preferably in an attractive natural setting) for a short prayer retreat.
- Breath Prayer. Let your breath itself become a kind of prayer. Breathe in slowly and deeply and imagine yourself being filled with all of the blessings of God. Then breathe out slowly and imagine yourself being cleansed of everything that will hinder you spiritually. Or, you may want to pray a word or brief phrase on each breath out.
- Centering Prayer (or Monologion, literally ?¢‚Ǩ?ìone-word?¢‚Ǩ¬ù prayer). The goal of centering prayer is to pray without any words at all, but a single word is used as a prayer focus. Whenever the mind begins to wander, return to that one word to settle the mind and get back to praying.
- The ?¢‚Ǩ?ìJesus Prayer.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù This is an ancient, Bible-based attempt to ?¢‚Ǩ?ìpray without ceasing.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù (1 Thess 5:17). It takes the form of a simple prayer based on Luke 18:13 and 38: ?¢‚Ǩ?ìLord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù The prayer is repeated many times until it becomes an almost instinctive reflex throughout the day, just like breathing. Advanced practitioners try to match the rhythm of the prayer to the rhythm of their heartbeat. Hence the designation, ?¢‚Ǩ?ìprayer of the heart.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù
- The Lord?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s Prayer. In the 17th century, Jeanne Guyon suggested praying meditatively through each phrase of the Lord?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s Prayer. Start with ?¢‚Ǩ?ìOur Father who art in heaven,?¢‚Ǩ¬ù and dwell on that phrase, repeating it with each breath, until it gets deep into your spirit. Then move on to ?¢‚Ǩ?ìhallowed be thy name,?¢‚Ǩ¬ù and so forth to the end. (This procedure is similar to lectio divina as described previously.)
- Visual Focus. Use a single lit candle, a cross or crucifix, or a religious icon as a focus for your prayer, gazing into it whenever you feel your mind wandering.
- Chant. Chanting puts prayer into a simple melodic form. By engaging the body (breath, vocal chords, hearing, etc.), the prayer is enhanced. Chanting has been a part of Christian worship from the beginning. The Psalms were written to be chanted. Many simple praise choruses are actually a form of chant (e.g., ?¢‚Ǩ?ìI Love You, Lord,?¢‚Ǩ¬ù ?¢‚Ǩ?ìGlorify Thy Name,?¢‚Ǩ¬ù etc.). (Chanting, while spiritually powerful, requires more instruction than can be given here. See Cynthia Bourgeault?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s online lessons on Chanting the Psalms [links and some additional info here] for some basic instructions, or visit the website of the Taiz?ɬ© community.)
- Practicing the Presence of God. Many of these methods have the advantage that one can use them while the body is engaged in other activities. Try to put these methods to use at work, while doing household chores, and so forth.
Next: The Charismatic Stream
