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Meditations on Spirituality
by Major Frank Daniels
Meditation One
Spirituality seems to be an “in” word these
days. We talk about “Spirituality of the City”. “Spirituality
of the Land”. “Aboriginal Spirituality”.
Spirituality refers to our relationship to God.
That relationship is a relationship of unconditional love on
the side of God. You could say that spirituality is a yearning
for a close intimate relationship. God yearns to have such a
relationship with us. We capture this sense of God’s yearning
for us in the prayer Jesus prayed in John 17: 20 – 26.
20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray
also for those who will believe in me through their message,
21 that all of them may be one, Father,
just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us
so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
22 I have given them the glory that you gave
me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and
you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let
the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as
you have loved me.
24 "Father, I want those you have given me
to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you
have given me because you loved me before the creation of the
world.
25 "Righteous Father, though the world does
not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me.
26 I have made you known to them, and
will continue to make you known in order that the love you
have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."
REFLECTION:
• Look at the 26 verse again. Read it through
slowly. Allow the words to wash over you. Sit in the truth
that the love the Father had for Jesus is in us.
Spirituality is refers to our creation as
persons that God the father calls us through Christ to perfect
union with himself. It is rooted in the belief that God loves
us unconditionally.
There are many songs in the Salvation Army Song
Book which underline the truth of God’s love. We sing with
John Gowans,
O it’s as high as the sky and it’s as deep
as the sea,
And it’s as wide as the world; God’s love
for you and for me.
We can’t escape his love, or take ourselves
Old Testament of his care,
So where could we hide from his love? His
love is everywhere.
Often Christians give a wrong image of God. We
talk about a loving God, but so much of what we say and do and
pray reflected other images of God, other ideas about God. We
sometimes convey the idea that if we do what God wants us to
do, he will love us but if we don’t do what he wants he
withholds his love.
The fourteenth century Christian Mystic, Julian
of Norwich wrote, “Sin cannot hinder
love. For our courteous Lord does not want his servants to
fall into despair even when we fall into sin. For our falling
does not stop him loving us.”
It is often helpful to consider the Love of God
through the eyes of human experience. If we know the love of
parent to be so deep, strong and unconditional, how much more
does our heavenly Father love us?
REFLECTION:
Close your eyes and imagine you are sitting
with someone who you know loves you more than anyone else does
in the world. Thank God for that person.
Now reflect on the truth that God loves you at
least as much as the person who loves you the most. And even
more. Thank him for his unconditional love to you.
To quote from Julian of Norwich again –
“From Him we came – to Him we go – in Him we
are enfolded”
May you be enfolded in His love throughout this
day.
Meditation Two
A Jesuit writer by the name of Teilhard de
Chardin said:
“We are not so much human beings on a
spiritual journey, rather spiritual beings on a human journey”
REFLECTION:
Do you think this statement is true?
There is within each human person a deep
longing, a deep yearning which only can be met in God’s
unconditional love.
The Writer of Ecclesiastes says of God:
“He has also set eternity in the hearts of
people” (3:11)
Saint Augustine said that God has made us for
himself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in him.
Spirituality is responding to God’s unconditional love.
Unconditional love can be met only with utter love in return.
God knows us and God loves us, he knows exactly where we are,
he knows exactly who we are, the hairs of our head are
numbered.
From Christian beginnings in the New Testament
we have the claim:
(1 John 4:10;19) “This is love: not that we
loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning
sacrifice for our sins”. “We love because he first loved us.”
We sing the words - “I love thee because
thou hast first loved me” Spirituality is our personal
awakening to the immense nearness of God’s love. That’s when
the spiritual life begins really for us. So spirituality is
our personal awakening to the immense nearness of God’s love.
That’s when the spiritual life begins really for us.
RELECTION:
Recall a time in your life when you knew you
were in God’s presence and were utterly loved by him. What did
that awaken in you?
Spirituality refers to the birth of the mind of
Christ in us, the mind of Christ, which the Spirit awakens.
There is a beautiful story recorded in the
Gospel of John chapter twelve of how Mary showed her love to
Jesus.
1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus
arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised
from the dead.
2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honour.
Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the
table with him.
3 Then Mary took about a pint[a] of pure
nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and
wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with
the fragrance of the perfume.
4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot,
who was later to betray him, objected,
5 "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the
money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages.[b]"
6 He did not say this because he cared about
the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money
bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
7 "Leave her alone," Jesus replied. " It was
intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my
burial.
8 You will always have the poor among you,
but you will not always have me."
The unconditional love of God for us awakens in
us a love for him. This love so takes hold of us that it gives
the birth of the mind of Christ in us, the mind of Christ,
which the Spirit awakens so that our lives become love.
REFLECTION:
How can we, like Mary, respond to God’s
unconditional love for us? Consider the words of Jesus as
recorded in Matthew 25: 35 – 36.
Recently in a Sunday morning meeting at Corps
614 in Melbourne, a homeless man shared his experience of
being bashed up by two policemen. Something one said, caused
this man to believe that the policeman was going through a
hard time personally, and was taking it out on him. While
being bashed, the homeless man prayed for the two policemen
and asked the God would forgive them. Sharing this story on
the Sunday morning, the man asked the congregation to pray for
the two constables and all policemen.
Responding to God’s unconditional love for him,
this man showed his love of God through his prayer and concern
for his attackers.
Meditation Three
Spirituality is responding to the unconditional
love of God. Once we have been awakened to God’s love we face
a decision, the decision to follow it as a call.
Spirituality is bring yourself to an awareness
of God’s love, and then it’s learning through his grace how to
respond and live in that love. Jesus prayed that we might
come into the circle of love of the trinity – Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. How do we respond?
The 14th Century German mystic Meister Elkhart
reminds us that – “Spiritual work involves learning to
cooperate with God”. This is really where our
discipleship comes in. As a disciple, a learner, we need to
learn to nurture our spiritual life. This is where prayer and
God’s Word is so important. As we approach these means of
grace we need to do so reverently and carefully. Often we rush
in and out of prayer and although God hears us, we rob
ourselves of an opportunity of listening to God. We need to
become aware of his presence. A simple breath exercise can
help us to this awareness.
BREATH EXERCISE
1. Sit in a comfortable chair which supports
your back. Have both feet on flat on the floor. Rest hands in
your lap.
2. Become aware of your breathing. Don’t alter
it in any way, just become aware of it.
3. As you breathe in – breathe in God. As you
breathe out, breathe out anything in your life that is not
God.
4. Breathe in the peace of Christ. Breathe out
your anxieties.
Take a few moments to do this exercise and
become aware of God’s presence through the Holy Spirit in your
life.
PRAYER
Prayer is a unique activity of the human race.
Way back in the beginning as far back as we can dig into the
history of the human race, we find that in the earliest days,
the simplest, most primitive human beings, believed in a great
power, a great God, who lived up above the sky, to whom you
could speak. And so people have prayed down through the ages,
it is almost an instinctive thing.
For the Christian, prayer is a relationship
with God and a relationship with God is prayer.
There are three forms of Prayer -
1. Vocal – Prayer of the lips
2. Meditation – Prayer of the mind
3. Contemplation – Prayer of the heart.
Vocal Prayer
Jesus gave us a pattern for our vocal prayer.
The disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us how to
pray”. And he gave us this pattern for prayer:
2 So He said to them, "When you pray, say:
Our Father in heaven,[a]
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.[b]
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone who is indebted
to us.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one." [c]
Notice six petitions in this prayer in a
beautiful balance. Three for the needs of God. Three for our
needs.
- Your Name – Your Kingdom – Your Will
- Our Bread – Our Forgiveness – our Deliverance
Our first concern in prayer is what God wants
from us, then what we want from God.
REFLECTION:
Does your prayer follow the pattern the Jesus
gave or are your prayers full of self?
In your prayer today, make sure that you pray
for things for God first and your needs second.
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