Since late June, the weekly Claremont Presbyterian meditation gathering has met online.
The experiment is proving successful. Duane Bidwell, Sam Atwood and I enjoy taking turns leading and meeting old and new friends every Friday at 8 am. (We are no longer meeting on Thursdays at 7 am.) The sense of togetherness is not much diminished by meeting online. Indeed, there are some participants that I only know from our online gatherings, and I consider them friends.
As we did when we met in person, we meditate following the tradition of Centering Prayer, which was popularized in the United States by Fr. Thomas Keating, a Trappist monk, who worked most of his long life reuniting Christianity with its mystic and contemplative traditions.
In Centering Prayer, we sit in silence to experience God’s presence with us. No one speaks in the background guiding us to relax this muscle or that—although it’s perfectly all right to relax—and no one tries to paint a word picture to focus on. There are not a lot of rules, but for beginners there is a little brochure.
I watched Fr. Keating give instructions about how to do Centering Prayer. It’s a wonderful video of an aged priest patiently telling his followers how to undertake this ancient practice. It’s simple, he said, and he repeated the four steps that we use to introduce our sessions. Choose a sacred word. Close your eyes. Let the word bring you back to your center and keep the rest of the world at bay.
Finally, in response to a question from the audience, he simply said, “Just sit down.” Be quiet for 20-25 minutes. There’s no bad way to meditate.
Keating was among the founders of Contemplative Outreach, which is “a spiritual network of individuals and small faith communities committed to living the contemplative dimension of the Gospel.” Pamala Begeman at Contemplative Outreach graciously welcomed us to participate in an interfaith online meditation community called Meditation Chapel.
That association connects us with about 150 meditation groups worldwide. When you register to participate in our Friday morning meditation, the web links allow you access to all the other meditation sessions.
Want to meditate on Tuesday at noon, there’s likely a place to go. Meditate in French or Dutch? Combine Centering prayer with passage meditation? Yes to all of that.
You can register via this link, or if you find that confusing or challenging, just send me an email at charlestaylorkerchner@gmail.com and I will take care of the paperwork. (The folks at Meditation Chapel ask that all participants register in order to prevent malicious use of the site.)
God and a Little Politics
Cameron Trimble’s blog lands in my mailbox almost every day. She is the CEO of Convergence, a progressive theology and church organizing cooperative. She’s also a minister and flies airplanes, hence the blog Piloting Faith. I’m an enthusiastic reader.
This is a part of her post about the relationship between God and politics.
Let me state the obvious. Our theology - what we believe and say about God - shapes our politics. Look at the jihadists as an example. If you believe that God is an angry, vengeful God, then likely you will behave in angry and vengeful ways. If you believe God has a predetermined history and everything is “meant to be,” then you might feel justified staying silent in the face of violence, oppression, and injustice. If you believe God is active in our lives and a loving force for good in the world, then you likely behave in active, engaged ways that channel God's love into the world. Because we live in community, we shape our laws and social codes through the lens of what we believe about God and each other. Talking about religion and politics matters.
Amen.
Photo: Windows in Claremont Presbyterian Church chapel by CTK