Meditation has become the socially accepted spiritual practice of our day. When taught, meditation is usually understood as the emptying of the mind, in order to achieve some level of inner peace, or at least reduced anxiety.
Prayer has become lost in the conversation, and less fashionable. I think this is because prayer involves God, and as soon as any conversation involves God, there is the possibility that someone’s sensibilities will be offended. So meditation feels socially safer.
My problem with this dynamic is that, well, God is real, present, and because humans are designed/wired for relationship with God. So, only a fleeting, limited peace can ever be achieved by ignoring God. Imagine a meditation practice that invited a gentle, loving, gracious, strong God to be at the center of our life: our thoughts, emotions, body, and soul. How amazing would that be?! Not only is such a practice possible, but it has been a core of the Christian life for 2,000 years. It is called ‘contemplative’ prayer, or more recently, meditative prayer. In my next few posts I’ll introduce you to the simple steps to start Christian meditative prayer for yourself.