Meditation

Just mention the word meditation to a Christian, and you're liable to see them get all worked up. After all "we" Christians shouldn't meditate...should we?

What does the psalmist say?

But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. Psalm 1:2

I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.Psalm 77:12

I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. Psalm 119:15

These are just a few of the references to meditation in scripture. This is not to be confused with Eastern meditation which focuses on clearing or emptying your mind. Christian meditation is all about focusing your mind on God, his word, and his law.

In my Sunday School class, last week we did a meditation exercise. We read a story from scripture, and then focused on it. Everyone had their own quiet time. In this case, we read John 6, Jesus feeds the 5000. Some people may have imagined themselves as the boy who donated his lunch, others as one of the disciples, still others as a member of the crowd.

Another option, was just to imagine yourself as you, but imagine that you had an encounter with Jesus. Imagine that he says, "What can I do for you?" Meditate deeply on what you would answer. Then imagine you say to Jesus, "What can I do for you?" Meditate on his answer to you.

Some might call this pure imagination. But Robert Foster (who wrote Celebration of Discipline - The Path to Spiritual Growth, the study we are working from) says, "To believe that God can sanctify and utilize the imaination is simply to take seriously the Christian idea of incarnation."

I had a neat experience doing it, and will blog about it Friday on my personal blog at www.chattykelly.com if you'd like to come visit.

Whether you do or not, what do you think about Christian meditation? Have you ever tried it? Would you be willing to? Why or why not?