“…But whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.” Psalm 1:2-3 Is Christian meditation becoming a lost art as an essential part of our Christian spiritual tradition? It may be diminishing because of our misunderstanding that meditation is an unchristian approach to connecting to God. Other traditions, religions, and groups may use meditation, but it should not be a part of our spiritual practice. The preceding statement is simply not true. Meditation has a long and rich history from the Judeo/Christian perspective. We all pray in some form; meditation is the antithesis of prayer. In prayer, we talk and hope God listens; in meditation, God speaks and hopes we listen. When we meditate, we let go of our desire to be heard to our privilege of listening to God in various ways. To be sure, meditation is a form of prayer. Many Christian denominations practice meditation as a form of prayer privately during their worship services. At the same time, many Christians, including 49% of Evangelical Protestants, 40% of Catholics and 55% of members of the historically black Protestant tradition also say they meditate once a week or more, according to the Religious Landscape Study. A.J. Russell released God Calling in 1932, and Sarah Young published Jesus Calling in 2004. I released Spirit Calling in 2021. All three books center around the notion that God still speaks to us today if we listen. While the books are not books on meditation, they share a common belief that we have a God that speaks and is worth hearing. So, what do you have to do to meditate? Just listen to God. I will give you an example of what it means to listen to God through scripture. Read Psalm 1 at the top of the page. Read the psalm and then close your eyes and let the words speak to you. What does it mean to be planted by streams of water? What does that image say to you personally? Are you currently planted next to a spiritual stream that nourishes you? Where does God want you to be planted to have the most spiritual nourishment? As you ask yourself these questions, listen for the answers that come to you. Don’t rush things; spend time on this small section of scripture. What is the season’s fruit the psalmist talks about in the next section? What spiritual fruit do you produce? How can you be more spiritually fruitful? What does God want you to do or think about this section of Psalm 1. Take time for the answers to these questions to come to you. Take the answers you receive in your mind as a gift from God and a blessing from your meditation session. Meditation of the Word or on scripture is one of the more common forms of Christian meditation. Meditation allows us to take the world outside of us and internalize and make it uniquely a part of who we are. As you continue to go through the rest of the passage from Psalm 1, you will encounter the connection between heaven and earth. The psalms are the Jewish prayer book and songbook; I would like to add that they are also the meditation book. Indeed, the Book of Psalms is a collection of hymns, poems, prayers, and meditations. If you read the psalms carefully, you will see that some are written as if the psalmist is speaking to God. In other psalms, the psalmist is listening to what God is saying. Clearly, God still speaks through Scripture if we learn to listen. The purpose of meditation is to hear what God says to us. Hearing spiritually is an acquired skill but a skill that can be easily achieved.
Spiritual Disciplines – Meditation
