Meditation: Nothing worthwhile is easy, 3 - Growth

The holy seed is the stump of the felled tree.
Isaiah 6:13


Growth requires change

The thin stalk holding the seed dried and died, and the acorn fell from the living tree, bounced once, rolled a foot and settled, to be covered with mulch. As autumn moved into winter, the seed swelled and split along with many others, all gathered under the shade of the ancient oak. 

Soon a single shoot appeared and began the struggle for light.

Tiny roots quested out - radiating into the rotting leaves - anchoring the shoot, carrying dissolved minerals and the juices of composting leaves, bird droppings and Spring rains.

Over the next century the sapling grew into a stout and strong tree, and when strong winds uprooted its parent tree, the smaller tree was ready to take its place in the sunfed canopy.

Like the parent tree, the new tree flourished in its patch of light - but also like the parent, was blasted and scarred by lightning, lost branches to the winds, and fought the bracket fungus sending filaments from these wounds into its heart.

Through the days, seasons, decades and centuries the roots lengthened and thickened, growing out past the ever-widening circle where rain water dripped from leaf to leaf and out to the edge of the circle of its canopy.

The branches, and new branches, quested out for light, building an ever-larger sail, until the day of the gale when lightning and wind caught the sail and cracked that stout trunk to its buttress.

The branches all died, and burned that summer in yet another lightning strike, but the buttress of half a millennium remained, and the following Spring buds formed all around the stump, new shoots growing from living wood. 

The tree began a new stage of life as a pollarded tree, the single trunk replaced by 13 strong branches, all grasping up to the new gap for light, all anchored by roots centuries old, all fed through a net of fine threads grown to sustain a much taller and wider tree.

Suggestions for meditation

Always begin by offering your time to God and asking for the grace to grow closer: something like "My loving God, I love you with my whole heart and above all things. I give you this time as I reach out to you, and ask that you guide me now, and each day, closer to you".

The exact words of the prayer are not important but you do need a firm intention to open yourself to God's input.

Read the mediation over slowly a couple of times.

Listen for the personal message for you. There will always be one word or phrase that will reach into your heart. Think of it as the personal meaning God has for you alone!

If you would prefer a more authoritative reading to focus your meditation, try Isaiah 6:9-13

And God said to Isaiah, “Go and say to this people:

‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend;
keep looking, but do not understand.’ 

Make the mind of this people dull,
and stop their ears,
and shut their eyes,
so that they may not look with their eyes,
and listen with their ears,
and comprehend with their minds,
and turn and be healed.” 

Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said:
“Until cities lie waste
without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
and the land is utterly desolate;
until the Lord sends everyone far away,
and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land. 

Even if a tenth part remain in it,
it will be burned again,
like a turpentine tree, or an oak
whose stump remains standing
when it is felled.” 

The holy seed is its stump.

Re-read the passage or the meditation - maybe read it slowly aloud.

Is there a word or phrase that jumps out to speak to you?

Why? Try to put yourself into those words. Maybe imagine Jesus speaking, and reply.         

Then spend 5, or 10, or 15 minutes with your word from Jesus, or the word STRUGGLE or GROW.

You need a clear intention to empty your mind of random thoughts (you won't be entirely successful but you need the intention).

You might want to begin the meditation using the breathing exercise I suggest in We have two minds.

After a minute or two focused on your breathing, move your focus to the word/s you have chosen.

Each time your attention moves away from the word/s, push the distraction gently aside and return to the word ("without the intervention of analytical thought" as The Cloud of Unknowing puts it).

You may need a countdown clock.

At the end thank God, and return to your day.

Pilgrimage to Easter: Fifth Sunday of Lent

Meditation for Sunday 13 March
... from the readings of the day:

Return to me with your whole heart; for I am gracious and merciful. 

Joel 2:13

HE SAID TO ME: "GO AND SIN NO MORE"

Live! Go, and sin no more. This is something new.
Each one of us has dark moments of shame and guilt 
in the past: the past is behind you. Live each moment 
of your future in the light. Go home. Start anew.

Turn again to me with your whole heart; for I am kind and merciful.

Let go your anger for betrayal, and your Father 

will wash you clean of guilt and blame, fear and anger.
Put your life of accumulation and pleasures behind 

you. Step away - take your next step to new life.

Turn again to me with your whole heart; for I am gentle and merciful.

Your past is a path already walked, a wandering path
without your deliberate aim or choice. Walk on.
This is something new, a new life, a new way to live. Go home. Start anew. I am with you.

Turn again to me with your whole heart; for I am gracious and merciful.

Suggestions for meditation
Always begin by offering your time to God and asking for the grace to grow closer: something like "My loving God, I love you with my whole heart and above all things. I give you this time as I reach out to you, and ask that you guide me now, and each day, closer to you".

The exact words of the prayer are not important but you do need a firm intention to open yourself to God's input.

Read the mediation over slowly a couple of times.

Listen for the personal message for you. There will always be one word or phrase that will reach into your heart. Think of it as the personal meaning God has for you alone!

If you would prefer a more authoritative reading to focus your meditation, try this from one of today's readings, John 8:6-11

Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.  

But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them,
“Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 

Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 

And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. 

So he was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her,
“Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 

She replied, “No one, sir.” 

Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”

Focus on a significant word or phrase in this passage or the meditation for a few moments.

Is there a word or phrase that jumps out to speak to you?

Why? Try to put yourself into those words. Maybe imagine Jesus speaking, and reply.

Then spend 5, or 10, or 15 minutes with your word from Jesus, or the word NEW or FORGIVE.

You need a clear intention to empty your mind of random thoughts (you won't be entirely successful but you need the intention).

You might want to begin the meditation using the breathing exercise I suggest in We have two minds.

After a minute or two focused on your breathing, move your focus to the word/s you have chosen.

Each time your attention moves away from the word/s, push the distraction gently aside and return to the word ("without the intervention of analytical thought" as The Cloud of Unknowing puts it).

You may need a countdown clock.

At the end thank God, and return to your day.

Pilgrimage to Easter: Day 27

Meditation for Monday 7 March
... on today's readings

 











Thus says the Lord: Lo, I am about to create new heavens and a new earth. 
Isaiah 65:17

THE ROYAL OFFICIAL'S STORY

My son was dying.

Before sunrise I saddled my horse and started riding. We had all heard the magician was in Cana - and when my physicians told me during the night that my son's life was in the hands of God - he seemed my best hope.

I nearly killed my horses - but it still took until noon. 

And then he wouldn't talk to me. He wouldn't come with me. He seemed annoyed that people wouldn't believe without spectacular magic, but I didn't need that - I just wanted my little boy back.

Finally he told me to go home "your son lives". And I felt it. 

I thanked him and left. 

He clearly was not a magician. No incantations. No flashes of light. No hat passed round for money. No claims of credit. No tricks. Just power I could feel. Certainty.

The horses needed a quieter ride so I had to stable them half way home. Left again before light. And then servants met me. So excited. He lives.

Lo, I am about to create new heavens and a new earth. 

Nothing has changed. Everything has changed. 
I started the day a highly evolved animal tuned for survival and winning and prestige. But suddenly I see none of that matters. 

Nothing seems different. Everything seems different.
My house is the same, my job, my wife, my son.
My son lives! How can I go back to that life knowing
God walks with us on the earth?

Everything looks normal. But nothing is normal.
God is here. Power is here. New creation is here. 
Life is here. Open your eyes!
My life goes on. 
But on a new earth of wonder and love and my son! 

Lo, I have created new heavens and a new earth. 

Suggestions for meditation

Always begin by offering your time to God and asking for the grace to grow closer: something like "My loving God, I love you with my whole heart and above all things. I give you this time as I reach out to you, and ask that you guide me now, and each day, closer to you".

The exact words of the prayer are not important but you do need a firm intention to open yourself to God's input.

Read the mediation over slowly a couple of times.

Listen for the personal message for you. There will always be one word or phrase that will reach into your heart. Think of it as the personal meaning God has for you alone!

If you would prefer a more authoritative reading to focus your meditation, try this from one of today's readings, John 4:49-53

The royal official said to him,
“Sir, come down before my child dies.”
Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.”
The man believed what Jesus said to him and left.
While the man was on his way back,
his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live.
He asked them when he began to recover.
They told him,
“The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon.”
The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him,
“Your son will live,”

Focus on a significant word or phrase in this passage or the meditation for a few moments.

Is there a word of phrase that jumps out to speak to you?

Why? Try to put yourself into those words. Maybe imagine Jesus speaking, and reply.

Then spend 5, or 10, or 15 minutes with your word from Jesus, or the phrase CHANGE or CREATION.

You need a clear intention to empty your mind of random thoughts (you won't be entirely successful but you need the intention).

You might want to begin the meditation using the breathing exercise I suggest in We have two minds.

After a minute or two focused on your breathing, move your focus to the word/s you have chosen.

Each time your attention moves away from the word/s, push the distraction gently aside and return to the word ("without the intervention of analytical thought" as The Cloud of Unknowing puts it).

You may need a countdown clock.

At the end thank God, and return to your day.

Pilgrimage to Easter: Day 4. Alternative meditation.

Meditation for Saturday 13 February
Second thoughts ...

... from the readings of the day:

Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.

Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them.  

Luke 5:27-28

Levi's story

I had a great job. Everyone says so. My mother boasts about me to her friends. 

Can't say I am popular - but not many bureaucrats are. Well paid - and with the ability to supplement my income if I want to push the boundaries a bit. Know what I mean? 

Plenty of good middle class friends - good social life. My wife seems happy and is popular with our friends. Kids have a good teacher. Seem happy, if a bit isolated from the rough kids. Always thought that was a good thing.

So I should have been happier. But I kept thinking that I wasn't making a difference. Perhaps I should be a teacher or a priest or a social worker - maybe a writer who will change people's lives. Something more worthwhile than tax collector.

Then, this morning, I was at work and this ragged preacher turned up. Follower of John's I think. Dirty - smelly - you know how they are: bit wild-eyed and too preoccupied with God-things to worry about tidiness.

Talked about changing our lives. I didn't want to get involved - but he was saying exactly what I was thinking. It was very strange.

As he finished he looked at me. Me! "Come with me" he said. "Leave all your stuff" he said. "Got a new job for you" he said.

This is crazy, I thought - but I find myself leaving the queue of people waiting for me with money in their hands, and going. Feeling younger than I had in years. 

Invited him home to meet the family - still thinking maybe I should make some excuse. But you know, I really wanted to go with him - despite the fact that it was the craziest thing I ever heard of!

Next thing I am inviting a few friends we met on the way and before you know it we're organising a party - a party! at my place. Tonight!

I don't know how I am going to tell my wife. 

Maybe I'll wait until after she's met him.

Suggestions for meditation

Always begin by offering your time to God and asking for the grace to grow closer: something like "My loving God, I love you with my whole heart and above all things. I give you this time when I am reaching out to you and ask that you guide me each day closer to you".

The exact words of the prayer are not important but you do need a firm intention to open yourself to God's input.

Read the mediation over slowly a couple of times.

Listen for the personal message for you. There will always be one word or phrase that will reach into your heart. Think of it as the personal meaning God has for you alone!

If you would prefer a more authoritative reading to focus your meditation, try this from one of today's readings, Luke 5:27-32

Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.  

Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. 

The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”  

Jesus said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”

Focus on a significant word or phrase in this passage or the meditation for a few moments.

What word of phrase jumps out to speak to you?

Why? Try to put yourself into those words. Maybe imagine Jesus speaking, and reply.

Then spend 5, or 10, or 15 minutes with your word from Jesus, or the word CALLED. 

You need a clear intention to empty your mind of random thoughts (you won't be entirely successful but you need the intention). 

You might want to begin the meditation using the breathing exercise I suggest in We have two minds. 

After a minute or two focused on your breathing, move your focus to the word/s you have chosen. 

Each time your attention moves away from the word/s, push the distraction gently aside and return to the word ("without the intervention of analytical thought" as The Cloud of Unknowing puts it).

You may need a countdown clock.

At the end thank God, and return to your day.

Meditation: Broken, 2

Unless the perfect blossom blushed with pink

shrivels and dies I have no apple, crisp, 
sharp yet sweet juice running down my chin.

   Perfect and broken, both: 
   perfect because made by God to grow;

   broken because I have forgotten that 
   without death there is no life.

Unless the caterpillar eats its fill
is buried and dies, there is no glory 
of fragile flight, splendour suspended on breath of air.

   Perfect and broken, both: 
   perfect because made by God to grow;

   broken because I have forgotten that 
   without struggle there is no life.

Unless the egg so delicate and of the clearest blue
cracks and opens
I have no song outside my window to greet the dawn.

   Perfect and broken, both: 
   perfect because made by God to grow;

   broken because I have forgotten that 
   without destruction there is no life.

Unless the hydrogen gathers and explodes; unless plates groan in glacial grind, I have no place to stand in wonder of creation.

   Perfect and broken, both: 
   perfect because made by God to grow;

   broken because I have forgotten that 
   without tension there is no life.

Unless my perfect skin, tanned and glowing
becomes spotted and creased, I learn nothing 
from my mistakes, and wisdom fails on Earth.

   Perfect and broken, both: 
   perfect because made by God to grow;

   broken because I have forgotten that 
   without decay there is no life.

Suggestions for meditation

Always begin by offering your time to God: something like "My loving God, I love you with my whole heart and above all things. I give you this time when I am reaching out to you" and then a few moments reminding yourself of some of the blessings God has given you - the clear signs of God's love for you. The exact words of the prayer are not important but you do need a firm intention to open yourself to God's input.

Read the mediation over slowly a couple of times.

Listen for the personal message for you. There will always be one word or phrase that will reach into your heart. Think of it as the personal meaning God has for you alone!

If you would prefer a more authoritative reading to focus your meditation try John 12:24

I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain. But if it dies, it produces much grain and yields a harvest. 

Focus on this passage or the meditation slowly a couple of times.

What word of phrase jumps out to speak to you?

Why? Try to put yourself into those words. Maybe imagine Jesus speaking, and reply.

Then spend 5, or 10, or 20 minutes with your word from Jesus, or the word CHANGE or the word GROW. 

You need a clear intention to empty your mind of random thoughts (you won't be entirely successful but you need the intention). 

You might want to begin the meditation using the breathing exercise I suggest in We have two minds. 

After a minute or two focused on your breathing, move your focus to the word/s you have chosen. 

Each time your attention moves away from the word/s, push the distraction gently aside and return to the word ("without the intervention of analytical thought" as The Cloud of Unknowing puts it).

You may need a countdown clock.

At the end thank God, and return to your day.