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Meditation
Minicab 1, September 2006
Agility challenges
Can you
- Put your hands on the floor without bending your legs
- Do the splits
- Walk like a crab
- Stand on your head
- Sit cross-legged with your feet on top of your knees
- Walk around in that position?
Grandpa Chatterji
Our children have been enjoying a series of books about a lovely Indian granddad called Grandpa Chatterji who has marvellous adventures and who teaches his grandchildren how to meditate:– which he does either sitting crosslegged or balancing on his head!
He intones the word “Om” to help him meditate. This is a symbol representing the Hindu god Brahman. Hindus believe that Brahman/god is not a person (impersonal) and you cannot know him (unknowable). As Christians we don’t meditate with the Hindu sacred syllable “Om” because we believe that God is a person and you can know him.
Origins of Christian meditation
I want to teach you how to meditate as a Christian. It all started thousands of years ago before there were any Christians. Long before Jesus, in the Old testament times.
- Isaac went out to the field one evening to meditate.
- Joshua: Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night
- Psalmist: Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.
- Psalmist: My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises
So how do Christians meditate?
In fact there are lots of ways. I want to teach you three ways of Bible meditation today.
- Lectio divina 1000 years old
- Walking meditation
- Art meditation
Lectio divina
Sounds like something from Harry Potter, but it is not magic, just uses Latin words which mean "Divine reading" – reading the words of God.
Choose
First we choose part of the Bible to meditate on. You might have some Bible notes (various children show theirs) Today's verse for meditation is:
I will not forget you
See, I have inscribed you
on the palms of my hands
Isaiah 49:16
Prepare
Breathe slowly five times
Hands down (let go of what is on your mind), hands up (ready to receive from God)
Read
Read it several times until you are familiar with it.
Read it again and choose one of the main words that has stood out for you and think about it briefly.
{include explanation of inscribed: written, tattooed – like the henna patterns on hands}
 Meditate or chew on it
What do you call a cow that plays the piano? A Moosician
Where do cows buy their clothes? From Cattlelogues
What do you call a cow who just recently had its baby? Decaffeinated
How many stomachs does a cow have? One stomach, four compartments.
Why? So it can chew the cud. Cows are ruminants: that is they regurgitate their food and chew the cud. It helps them get the most out of difficult-to-digest foods like grass. A cow spends a lot of time eating – up to 8 hours per day.
Give out chews and chewing gum
When we meditate we are chewing on the words that God is saying to us. Can you feel the juices in your mouth from the chew you are eating? When we meditate on the Bible it is like we are chewing it to get all the goodness out.
Put your own name into the verse e.g. "I will not forget David". How does that make you feel. What do you see?
Pray and listen
Talk quietly to God about the verse you have been reading. What is God saying to me? What is he calling you to?
A time when you would like God to be with you and not to forget you.
(prayer ministry)
Walking meditation
Say the words of the verse in the rhythm of your footsteps. Pause at particular words and think about them as you continue to walk.
{we went for a 2-mile walk}
Art meditation
Draw something that has come to mind as you have been meditating on the verse, draw it and decorate the page with the words of the verse. {We had a variety of felt pens, pencil crayons, oil pastels, chalk pastels: here are a few of our creations}
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David Wallace, 17/09/2006 |
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