Session #6 - Spiritual Direction

I would first like to apologize for my delay in getting my post up and responding to others posts due to the fact that I have been under the weather and my family members have caught the flu bug that has been going around. I have also been dealing with a very trying time of spiritual transition in some personal matters that has required me to seek God in a new way through individual and collective prayer regarding additional direction that I am seeking him to provide me with.

1) Develop a WQ response to LightHouse Trails' and Edwards' perspective of utilizing Eastern Mystical practices.

In looking at the Litghthouse Trails’ article and developing a WQ response to the content of the article, I was amazed at the Scriptures used by Yungen to justify and support his points that Contemplative Prayer is connected to New Age and Eastern Religions and the Occult, and that Contemplative Prayer should not be used and is somehow problematic and of the occult. Yungen’s statement that “What would these martyrs of the faith say to us if they could speak our current western practice of intermingling Christianity with Eastern religion and the occult? The Bible warns against such mixture: 1 Corinthians 10:21, 22 “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils; you cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table and of the table of devils.” I believe that 1 Corinthians 10:21,22 is a true biblical statement, but I feel that Yungen is using this Scripture to validate his view that Contemplative Prayer and the Contemplative Movement is founded on a false premise and somehow of the devil. Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells the Church in Thessalonica to “pray without ceasing.” He does not instruct what is to be prayed nor does he indicate that seeking God through saying “Jesus” or “Father” is improper. Another Scripture that comes to mind is Romans 8:25-27 where Paul states that “But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.” This Scripture says to me that even the groans made in prayer can be understood by the Spirit, which leads me to believe that Contemplative Prayer can be done with groans that only the Spirit can understand, but don’t have to be calling forth an occult act or deny Christ in some manner.

In looking at this perspective from Church Tradition, the Desert Fathers and Mothers escaped to remote places and lived in community based upon faith and a life of prayer and other spiritual disciplines that helped them to commune and better hear the Holy Spirit in the direction of their spiritual lives. Yungen draws a similarity to Christian Contemplative Prayer and Eastern Religion practices in stating that meditation, chanting mantras, body disciplines, guided imagery, religious mysticism are all part of the New Age and Eastern practices, but just because there a practices that may be similar, does that mean that one gets credit to the discredit of the other who may be using a similar practice to commune with God? When Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane praying and meditating to the Father and having a conversation regarding his next steps, is this a New Age or Eastern practice? While he is bowed down with his head in prayer, is he practicing a body discipline, or speaking to his Father as a chanting mantra? I don’t fully understand Yungen’s point where he takes a Church Tradition and discredits it as copying an Eastern Religion practice, even if there are similarities between the two. A Muslim and a Christian both practice prayer but in different ways. If both get down on their knees, bow their heads, and pray, is the Christian copying the Muslim or is the Muslim copying the Christian?

In looking at Reason as a part of the WQ for Yungen and Edwards’ references to Eastern Mystical practices, one might focus on the multitude of authors and techniques that Yungen focuses on in presenting his points that Contemplative Prayer is the same as Eastern Mystical practices. He sites to Thomas Keating, Henri Nouwen, Tilden Edwards and other writers indicating who he states indicate that practicing such disciplines as silence, appropriate body posture and emptying the mind through repetition of prayer that one can draw closer to God using techniques of mystics incorporated by all of the great world religions. What if there are similarities but the outcome is to hear God’s voice clearly? Do the similarities make one right and the other wrong? When Elijah was in the cave and heard the still small voice of God in silence, was he using an Eastern mystical practice or just trying to hear God’s voice to get further direction for his journey? A question that keeps plaguing me in looking at Yungen’s article is that who gets to decide what the right or wrong way is to hear from God through prayer? Is there only one way to pray? I don’t believe that using a non-Christian means to achieve a Christian end is proper or should be promoted, but I am confused as to who sets the Christian prayer instructions other than God and his Word?

In looking at my own Personal Experience in Contemplative Prayer, I have gotten so much out of this practice and feel a sense of talking with God through the Holy Spirit in ways that always provide me with peace and comfort, and at no time have I ever thought that I was practicing Eastern mysticism or chanting in an occult fashion to hear from God. I am amazed at how Contemplative Prayer provides me with a sense of peace and connection with God when I am silent, centered and sit still listening for his voice while I am alone, and also at times when I am with others trying to hear what the Holy Spirit is directing or manifesting in a particular situation. It is many times after I have sinned and fallen short that the love of God restores me into relationship with him through my repentance and prayer for forgiveness that I understand my weakness and dependence upon God. I am thankful for being taught Contemplative or Centering Prayer and don’t feel that this practice is occult or solely based in Eastern Religious practices, and I will continue to do it because I know that God hears me during this time and I definitely hear him and him alone.

2) Chapter 3, "How do we know? The Nature of Spiritual Experience" This is an epistemological question. To keep us from melting down, consider Edwards' statement on page 79, "I believe what makes a practice Christian is not its form but its intent." This is saying the end justifies the means. Please respond with as much clarity as possible, again we will process this big issue at the Retreat. Respond to Edwards' statement.

I am in agreement with Edwards’ statement that “what makes a practice Christian is not its form but its intent” because this provides ample opportunity to experience the vastness of God without the restrictions of man. The intent of a person can only be truly known by God. God knows our hearts, minds, souls and spirit in ways that no man, woman or child can know. He knows the deepest aspects of us because he created us and we are formed in his image and seek to live a life exhibiting his likeness for ourselves and others. Practicing Christianity is a daily activity that must be lived out by each Christian in the manner that they are moved to encounter God in the ways that they are uniquely made. This means that some may move toward walks in nature to commune with God, where others who are not nature enthusiasts may use daily Scripture reading and prayer to commune with God. One must be careful that the intent is always focused on God and not adherence to a practice that “seems godly or spiritual” because then it is just “practice.” Because God is vast and cannot be understood in his fullness by anyone, how can we limit the ways that we commune with him, Jesus and the Holy Spirit to only specific forms or practices? I believe that we have a duty to look into and try to experience as many spiritual disciplines as we can to open ourselves up to the presence of God in different ways (i.e. the Scripture reader should take a walk in the woods to better understand Genesis 1, and the nature reader should review and pray over Genesis 1 to better commune with God through his Word, etc.), but that the practice should never overshadow or take the place of communing with God, which is the main goal. I really liked Edwards’ statement about “practicing the presence” throughout the day. I do daily devotion but sometimes have trouble with nightly reflection, and would like to have another avenue by which I open myself to the move of God or his silence and peace during the day and not just at structured times. For as many ways as we are unique as human beings, there may be ways to commune with God, but I think that it is the intent and not the form that makes the most difference because the essential aspect and goal is to “be still and know that he is God” in whatever form that takes to best commune and be enveloped by him.

Calhoun: Part 4, "Small Group"
*Brief reflections on your small group experiences and how you are applying those insights in your K-Group process.

*Describe new insights from the Spiritual Direction Movement that will impact your K-Group.

My K-Group process will begin on Saturday, March 8th with a 2-hour meeting as described in my prior blog on this issue. There are many individuals who are seeking to become a part of this K-Group because they long for more than just the Intercessory Prayer for 15 minutes before Bible Study or the Prayer Warriors who pray before Sunday Service. I described the K-Group to my Disciple Class on Monday and they all received it very well and many decided to sign up. I have at least 6 individuals right now who will meet on the 8th and I will be able to provide an update to this post after our Meeting on the 8th.