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Aspects of Christian Contemplation David Spriggs

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THE BIBLE IN TRANSMISSION 7 ASPECTS OF CHRISTIAN CONTEMPLATION DAVID SPRIGGS Remembering that God is wholly other, terrifyingly David Spriggs is Bible and ESSENTIALLY, CONTEMPLATION IS A GENERAL HUMAN different in quality as well as degree, is entirely Church Consultant at Bible POSSIBILITY RATHER THAN A DISTINCTIVELY CHRISTIAN liberating because it sets Christian believing free Society. ONE. It is about seeking to be receptive and truly from a consumerist mentality and gives God the open to the other, to become aware of and responsive opportunity to speak a saving and liberating word to to the depths in every human perception of the world the culture we inhabit. beyond us and the world within us. To be ‘truly In the end, this is what the mystical tradition is open to the other’ requires that our self-awareness, speaking of and precisely why it is so essential to let alone our self-centredness, in all its subtle forms, recover that tradition for this generation. Mysticism be diminished so that ‘my perspectives, my needs, is not merely medieval. Henry Vaughan in his poem my desires’ do not intrude on our receptivity of the ‘The Night’, says, other. It affirms that there are other ways to engage with reality than those of the human intellect, ‘Wise Nicodemus saw such light especially when ‘intellect’ is closely identified with As made him know his God by night … rational analysis, deduction and construction alone. There is in God (some say) 4 Those who practice or commend contemplation will A deep, but dazzling darkness …’ also often affirm that contemplation is a necessary This dazzling is really a realisation that we are part of developing our humanity to the full. caught up in the outpouring of God in creation. Given this, the challenge is to understand whether This is a form of ‘extended rapture’, a form of there are any distinct characteristics to Christian being awakened to, overwhelmed, not just by but contemplation. It might be that certain practices actually within the outpouring that is God. We are would be unacceptable (e.g. with meditation the a part of that self-emptying, that self-outpouring. use of drugs would not normally be affirmed as Acknowledging, being aware of and co-operating appropriate for Christian meditation, but are with that is the rapture of which Thomas speaks in these part of the contemplative tradition anyway?) Human Traces and of which the mystics spoke and of It might be that certain practices were and which John Donne speaks when he says, still would be encouraged within the Christian ‘Batter my heart, three person’d God; for, you tradition as an adjunct to contemplation, such As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seek to as fasting or solitariness. However, these could mend; hardly claim to be distinct, as they are practiced That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow mee, in many religious traditions. So is Christian and bend contemplation indistinguishable from general Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make contemplation? Part of the answer, to this question me new. of distinct characteristics, lies, I suggest, in the Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I essential Christological focus or ethos for Christian Except you’enthrall me, never shall be free, contemplation.1 5 Nor ever chast, except you ravish me.’ n Within the Old Testament there is a recognition of the importance of creation as a source of divine mediation. So, for instance, in Psalm 19 there is a wonderful balance between God’s ‘availability’ in the world and in the law: ‘The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork’ (v. 1); ‘the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is clear, enlightening the eyes’ (v. 8); ‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer’ (v. 14). This balance is paralleled in Paul’s striking imagery: ‘For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness!” who has shone in our hearts, to give BIBLE SOCIETY 8 ‘at the heart of Christian contemplation there needs to be the focus on the heart of God’s revelation – the glory of God’ NOTES uthe light of the knowledge of the glory of God manifestation of God’s glory there is nothing to 1. So J Macquarrie in his article, ‘Contemplation’ in A Dictionary of in the face of Christ Jesus’ (2 Cor 4.6). So the God contemplate. The removal of or lack of God’s glory Christian Ethics (ed. J Macquarrie; London: SCM, 1967), p. 68: ‘‘There of creation is also the God who reveals himself in indicates the absence of God, his non-availability. can be no sustained and intelligent Christ. This verse raises many subtle and complex Glory both reveals and hides. We can see this sense Christian action, properly so called, unless it is guided by nuances. Do we see by the light of creation, or do of hiddenness throughout John’s Gospel, where Christian understanding; and this we see God through the light of creation, or are we Jesus’ glory is made known to some and is hidden in turn arises from the immersion of the Christian mind in the illuminated by the light? When God shines in our from others, and there are certain key events, both contemplation of the vision of hearts are we reflecting his revelation or is his light miracles and crucifixion, through which this glory is God, granted in Christ Jesus’ (my emphasis). showing up our darkness. These are just a few of the seen most poignantly. 2. See some interesting challenges which this verse prompts. But certainly observations in R Briggs, Light to I recognise, of course, that our knowledge of God Live By (Milton Keynes: Scripture there is encouragement here to contemplate the is essentially incomplete and even distorted; God is Union, 2005), pp. 71–5. reality of God both through his creation and his 3. Contemplation and delight the unknowable as well as the one who has revealed belong together. See, R Foster, revelation in Christ. himself to us. Paul again affirms this complex truth Streams of Living Water: Celebrating the Great In Psalm 1 there is a deep sense that all our when he writes, ‘For now we see in a mirror dimly, Traditions of the Christian Faith contemplation needs its roots in God’s revelation but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in (London: HarperCollins, 1999), 2 pp. 49, 50: ‘Another movement in the Torah, but the horticultural image of verse part: then I will know fully, even as I have been fully we begin to experience [in 3 indicates that this world too has been a source of known’ (1 Cor 13.12). contemplation] is delight … There 3 is pleasure, friendship, joy, deep contemplation for the psalmist. Those who delight Paul also touches on the issue of the limits of our joy … John of the Cross calls it in God’s law ‘are like trees planted by streams of “the sweet and delightful life of knowing. Until we become believers and receive love of God … that delightful and water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their the Holy Spirit we have a veil over our minds wondrous vision”.’ 4. This Psalm clearly conveys leaves do not wither’ (Ps 1.3) (2 Cor 3.16–17). Does this mean that as believers the intensity that belongs to Psalm 119 is equally significant for contemplation. there is no ‘mystery’ left? There is no ‘more’ to the contemplation but also covers many of the tones of the If this psalm is read only as a litany of legalism, it understanding of God for us? Hardly, why else contemplative experience – deep would Paul pray that the Spirit would increase our longing, self-abandonment, is completely misunderstood. It is a magnificent desperation, the pain of offering, a poetic architectural wonder, which wisdom and understanding (Eph 1.17–19; Phil 1.9; transformation as well as love for God and moments of deep peace expresses not only gratitude to God for his gift of Col 1.9-10). It is true that Jesus promises, ‘When in God. ‘Torah’ but delight in the God whose law it is.4 the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all 5. See Habakkuk 2.14 and Isaiah 6.3; Isaiah 40.5 and Yet, all of these psalms remind us that at the heart of the truth: for he will not speak on his own, but will Psalm 97.6. speak whatever he hears’ (Jn 16.13). This is not a 6. ‘Only more sure of all I thought Christian contemplation there needs to be the focus was true’, from The Poetry of on the heart of God’s revelation – the glory of God. once for all event but a continuing process. Robert Frost: The Collected Poems, Complete and Unabridged (ed. The Gospels tell the story of glory. We see the glory The imagery of human relationships (‘face to face’) E Connery Lathem; New York: Holt, is perhaps as near as we can get to expressing the Rinehart and Winston, 1979). of God revealed supremely in Jesus: ‘The Word 7. See my God at the End of the became a human being and, full of grace and truth, knowability/unknowability of God; there is always a Century: Encounters in Today’s mystery, an ‘otherness’ about any person, such that Culture (Swindon: Bible Society, lived among us.
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