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BlogHere are the thoughts and news of the people in our community. Leave a comment as you wish. If you want to join the blogging ask Mark.
Friday, June 10, 2005Spirituality Shopper Last night i couldn't sleep cos of a raging tooth ache, so i decided to distract myself and even bore myself to sleep by watching this programme that i video'd from Monday night. The programme, presented by the Jonathan Edwards the Christian long jumper, offered an individual, Michaela, four spiritual practices to try in order to help her find more meaning into her life. The four practices were buddhist meditation, Islamic Sufi whirling, Christian Lent and Jewish Shabbat ["Sabbath"]. I have to confess that I wasn't expecting to enjoy the programme, and was skeptical about this consumer approach to religion. However i do confess to have found it fascinating. Michaela's busy work dominated life was in invaded by a number of activities that came from the four religions, but she wasn't asked to take any account of the religions they came from. It was a fascinating project how practices in themselves form us as people, and reorientates our lives. Let me expalin a little more: Buddhist meditation: She practiced quiet meditation where she was supposed to concentrate on just her breathing. She was supposed to do it for 20 minutes a day. I don;t know the buddhist persepctive, but i guess it is something along the lines of enlightenment and acheiving a higher spiritual plane? Dunno ... but for her it consisted of 20 minutes to quieten herself and clear her head of the thoughts that constantly dominate. A battle for her as it would be for many of us. In her busy life she managed to carve out the twenty minutes. Let's be clear: meditation is also a Christian practice. The focus and the goals may be different, but meditating on the Word of God and on God himself is clearly biblical and been practiced through church history. Sufi whirling: Really the funniest one. They play some soft music sing along in a simple way and errrr ... well .... errr .... whirl. I don't know if the dizziness is supposed ot propel to a new sense of conciousness or what, but they talekd about getting in touvh with God and Love and Self. Too be honest, me being from a good 70's charismatic background full of interpretative flowing dance and extended periods singing spontaneous soings it all looked pretty familiar... Christan Lent: Michaela was encouraged to engage in the Chirstian Lenten practice of giving up things and taking on new activities of service to others. She was guided by the vicar to give up her hair straightening for a month, which she did 'religiously' for 20 minutes everyday, and her short bus ride every morning to the tube station [and take a 15 minute walk instead], and ingage in a monthly visiting programme. This, they felt, would help her get in touch with herself and her surroundings/community more. She recognised that she knew no one who lived around her, and had no contact with the wider community. Jewish Shabbat: Hse was to host a Friday night Shabbat supper for guests at her house, instead of the Friday ritual of going down the pub with her friends. She was to cook, make the special bread and have some wine, and follow a reflective introduction to the meal, amnybe have a couple of songs around the table and then move on to a spiritual discussion. This, they said, was time outside of time, space to consider, and think in community, and regain perspective beyond the immediate things. So what did she find? She was most impacted by the mediatation, she found that she had greater self confidence as a result of finding inner quiet. She found whirling to be seriously silly, but the very act of doing something she found embaressing and not caring transformed her self confidence. She was REALLY upset about loosing the hair straighteners, loosing self confidence. However after a couple of weeks she started not to care any more and admitted by the end that she was more herself when she didn't straighten her hair, and has in principle given up doing it all together. She will continue the 15 minute walk. She intends to find a real way to connect with her community. She struggled with the Shabbat because it required real friendship that going down the pub didn't give, she found. She intends to continue it to build deeper more real friendships. Why have i bothered reporting all of that? Well it struck me that these practices, all of which have some parallel within the Christian community served to change Michaela in a profound way by giving space in her busy life. So often the church offers busyness, more programmes, quick self-helps, or personal happiness, rather than simple life skills to help bring perspective in a busy stress-filled world. There is no question that God is the one who can transform lives, maybe people need the help to find the space to hear Him? Should the church have guest events that are meditation classes? Or are these practices mentioned here inherently 'demonic' in some way? Should we as the church be skilled in life skills that cause us to be spiritually healthy, if even simple meditation brought a self-confidence boost? Should Christians be the most peaceful, confident, fulfilled people on earth? Posted by: Mark | 2:00 pm |
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