Learning to live in the unforced rhythms of grace
Thoughts and resources for developing a more contemplative approach to life
I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining;
I believe in love, even when I feel it not;
I believe in God, even when he is silent
Take time, in stillness and silence to contemplate the mystery of a God of presence, light and love who so often seems distant, cold and silent.
Click here to go to the contemplative companion to Chapter 6 of Growing up to be a child
A loaf of bread, a sprig of herbs, a bowl of fruit.
Whole, unbroken, waiting.
Hopeful, pregnant, yearning.
Their fragrance trapped, goodness bound,
longing to be set free.
~
Can I step in from the dusty road?
Wash my feet, my face, my hands?
Can I take the knife and break
the bread?
Crush the herbs of bitter pain?
~
Perhaps I, too, will be broken.
No tears spared.
No easy Passover fare.
Greenbelt, 31 August 2015
As a paediatrician, I am often referred young children who are delayed in their development, including those who are slow in learning to walk. When I am assessing a young child’s ability to stand and walk, I need to provide him with support and a stable base so he feels secure.
In this contemplative guide, we take time to reflect on a child’s journey in learning to walk and our own spiritual journeys. Through a prayer of examen or a meditation on scripture, we draw near to our loving creator, who is there to hold each one of us securely in his embrace, giving us the strength and courage to take those first, tentative steps.
Click here to go to the contemplative companion to Chapter 5 of Growing up to be a child.
This contemplation, based on chapter 4 of Growing up to be a child, explores what it means to be a human being.
In his gospel, Luke recounts how the child Jesus ‘grew in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and with the people.’ Luke’s description suggests four domains or areas in which children grow and develop into adults: mental development (‘wisdom’), physical development (‘stature’), spiritual development (‘favour with God’) and social development (‘favour with the people’)…
One of the most powerful aspects of Judaism and Christianity is that all these elements of our humanity are combined in our relationship to God. We are not just spiritual beings temporarily housed in physical bodies. We are human beings: physical, mental, social, and spiritual.
This is reflected in the great Shema prayer in Deuteronomy: ‘Shema Yisrael Adonai eloheinu Adonai ehad’[4] (‘Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one’).[5] The prayer affirms the unity of God and his relationship to his people. It goes on to focus on our response to God: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.’[6] This response comes from the totality of our humanness.
Pause for a while; reflect; celebrate who you are – a wonderful person, body, mind, heart and soul.
Click here to go to the contemplative companion to Chapter 4 of Growing up to be a child.
Our world is fragmented:
creatures disconnected from creation,
nations torn by powerful interests,
families broken by arrogance and addiction,
children crushed by violence and abuse,
nature spoiled by thoughtless consumption.
In this contemplation, while receiving God’s love for ourselves, we cry out to God – Earth Maker, Pain Bearer, Life Giver – for all those who do not or cannot feel that love.
Click here to go to the contemplative companion to chapter 3 of Growing up to be a child
In a wonderful verse in Isaiah, the prophet uses the illustration of a nursing mother: ‘Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?’ Impossible as that may seem, Isaiah contrasts that with God’s steadfast love: ‘Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.’[1]
This image of God as a nursing mother is so, so powerful. It cuts through all our stereotypes of a vengeful, stern judge or an omnipotent, unapproachable creator. Instead we see a different side of God’s character – tender, passionate, caring, vulnerable. It invites us to come to God in such a different way. We come, not so much as miserable sinners cowering beneath ‘his’ judgement and in need of repentance and atonement, but as beloved children invited to nestle into ‘her’ bosom, to be cradled in her arms, to be enfolded in her love. A nursing mother does not place demands on her baby; she takes her up in her arms to love her and cherish her.
This is challenging; it challenges our preconceptions of who God is and what God is like. It also challenges our approach to the Holy One. Can we come to God as vulnerable, newborn babies, willing to put aside our pride and be accepted into her loving embrace? If we can, this move to become like a little child carries with it a wonderful promise of God’s tender, embracing, steadfast love for us.
Click here to go to the contemplative companion to Chapter 2 of Growing up to be a child.
[1] Isaiah 49:15,16.
In Growing up to be a child I have explored what Jesus might have meant when he invited each of us to become like a little child. This is a radical and challenging invitation, one that calls us to a whole new process of development, one in which our heart and soul, and perhaps ultimately our body and mind too, will become all that our Creator intended them to be.
If we are going to take this challenge seriously, it surely cannot mean just reading about it, thinking how good and inspiring Jesus’ teaching is. Jesus himself challenged us not just to hear his words, but also to put them into practice (Luke 6: 46-49).
But any authentic response to Jesus’ words has to stem from an encounter with the living God, the one who loves us as a child.
With that in mind, I am developing a contemplative companion to the book. Continue reading “Growing up to be a child: a contemplative companion”
This morning I finished ‘The Story’: Luke’s ‘epic journey with Jesus, the Son of God, and his first followers’. A great new presentation of the gospel of Luke and the Acts of the apostles. Engaging, inspiring, thought-provoking, puzzling. Some of my thoughts: I hadn’t previously noticed the strong connection in Luke’s gospel between Jesus and his cousin John. The links and contrast appear right from the opening chapter, then keep cropping up all the way through. John: repentance, austerity, preparation; Jesus: celebration, healing, a new way of living, God’s kingdom starting.