stillness
Lately I have been trying to work on one of our spiritual disciplines, that of engaging with the spirit. I often find this really difficult, as any reflection seems to find my mind wandering onto other things. After our Tangent Easter service on Tuesday, I wanted to intentionally set aside time this week to spend in prayer and reflection, so that the significance and power of Easter that I know in my head might affect my normal rituals and routine, and so that I might be reminded in my heart and in my everyday work that this is a Holy Week.
I have taken to carrying my protestant prayer beads in my bag and when I have a moment of down time in my day, I take the opportunity to re-align myself by going through a one sentence prayer on each of the beads. I did it while I was sitting in court this morning waiting for one of my cases to be called, which was a bit of a mind bend. Talk about a clash of cultures.
Today at lunch I spent some time praying in one of the city churches near my work which is open during the day for prayer. As I came out of the building to go and get myself a sandwich, I was confronted by the noise and chaos of the central business district. It was a real shock to the system, particularly as I reflected that I normally don’t notice it at all.
One of the things I found interesting was that the church was pretty full - lots of people there sitting in the pews praying (some also using prayer beads). And I was impacted by how many other people were sitting there in suits just like me taking time out from their normal working lives to acknowledge the presence of the spirit and spend a moment in stillness.
April 4th, 2005 at 3:37 pm
Thanks Dan; how soon we forget or neglect that aspect of our ‘Christian’ lives; to find and listen to the stillness happening in our own lives. Part of my Easter wanderings as that I continued to react to what was happening, or what needed to be organised, or what activity was next. It wasn’t until yesterday afternoon when I sat down and actually allowed the stillness of God to speak within me.
Maybe if we all took the time to feed the stillness within us, we wouldn’t feel the need to constantly defend ourselves from those we treat like enemies.
Again, thank you.
September 11th, 2005 at 9:12 am
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