An Ecumenical Lenten Breakfast Talk, Merchantville, NJ, on February 27, 2002
by Rev. J.W. Gregg Meister, President, Interlink Media
As Christians, we seek an "Inner Kingdom
of the heart" which is an interior, secret, private life with
Jesus the Risen Christ. This inner kingdom is the terrain
we are called to, that far country which is closer to us then
our hands and feet. This Inner Kingdom constitutes the hills
and valleys we are invited to explore.
This invitation calls us to a life time expedition,
with faith in Christ our only passport. Our conviction-shared
by every Apostle but clarified by St. Paul-is that this revelation
of Jesus as the Christ comes not through the traditions and
teachings or even good works of the human order but only through
Jesus Christ, the Crucified and Risen Historical Jesus. This
conviction-which for us is the foundation of our existence-is
the obstacle and stumbling block which every man-made and
woman-made system of belief chooses not to accept. Yet those
of us who by grace believe it and claim it are increasingly
like the Psalmist who yearned to "taste and see" - to experience
first hand - that the Lord is good. As the deer pants for
streams of water, our soul yearns for God. (Ps. 42 )That which
is deepest in all the universe attracts the deepest in us
with a magnetism so subtle it defies measurement yet so persuasive
it defies resistance.
Nothing so satisfies the soul, offers the
peace, salves the aching heart, or provides the joy, as the
treasures uncovered in this Inner Kingdom. For our compass
on this journey we yield to the promise that just over the
margin of our daily living is the expectation of the union
of our essential created nature with the Risen Christ, a union
granted through the Holy Spirit.
What are some of the ways that we can develop,
nurture and sustain this secret life with the Master? However
we answer that-and we each must ultimately discover our own
unique footpath, or the secret life would no longer be secret-
the multitude of paths must revolve around the revealed Word
of God in Scripture. While other philosophies and insights
offer their illuminations, and many encourage all types of
laudable works on behalf of the human venture, these foreign
guides are like mere stars twinkling in the darkness or moonbeams
across a lake. At their best they are only glimmers of the
full revelation of God’s nature and purpose as revealed in
what we call the Old and New Testaments, a Holy Nature given
ultimate clarity through the accounts of Jesus of Nazareth.
Knocking on these scriptures we can be certain that we will
seek and find the contours of the kingdom of God, Yahweh,
the Creator, the "I AM" of the burning bush-and not the shadows
and mirages of the great imposter.
Reading the Word
First of all, therefore, we need for our
own benefit on this spiritual expedition to develop the discipline
of daily reading of the Word. While any method for such reading
is better than none, we are blessed to have a structured way
of doing so with the One Year Bible. Easily obtainable at
most bookstores, it provides the option of several different
translations. Organized by daily reading in the Old Testament,
the New Testament, and the Psalms, in about 15 minutes a day
you will read through the entire Bible in one year.
Reading the Bible does not of course mean
that we understand it fully and in all its parts. But reading
the Bible is the prerequisite for understanding it. More importantly,
perhaps, is the fact that such a daily discipline demonstrates
the intentions of the heart. Without such regular reading
it’s like taking a cross country trip without a map. You could
just follow the sun and stars and thus hold to the general
directions of north, east, south and west, but your journey
is likely to involve much meandering. Reading the Word helps
guide the daily journey - and reading it in the morning helps
the most. As one poet as written, "You must seek God in the
morning, if you want Him through the day."
Praying the Word
After reading the Word, it’s useful to pray
the Word. The benefits of clothing the soul in the language
of the Word are numerous, for these are the words which promise
the spiritual traveler wisdom for the moment as well as life
eternal. We intuitively know this through our liturgies, for
when we pray the Lord’s Prayer we are praying the Word given
to us by the Supreme Prayer Himself. This collection of verses
is shared by every manifestation of the Christian faith. Praying
them is surely among the marks of genuine Christendom.
One of the most succinct sentences, however,
for praying the Word is the Jesus Prayer, a gift to us from
the Russian Orthodox tradition:
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
While we can spend hours discussing the depths
of the Jesus Prayer, and a lifetime practicing it, let's take
just a few moments now to underscore its value in the development
of the secret life with Jesus.
Repeat the prayer silently, three times.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Other prayers found in Sripture are also
of great value. The Rosary, for instance, has tremendous depth,
and with the possible exception of one phrase, is entirely
scriptural: "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord art with you.
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of
thy womb, Jesus." These are the words of an angel! Only the
cultural limitations that some of us have because we were
raised in the Lutheran or Reformed traditions keep us from
appreciating the Rosary. Even so, for many centuries the Rosary
has tamed the dragons in the interior life of countless Christian
saints.
Memorizing the Word
Praying the Word leads naturally to memorizing
the Word. As challenging as we might find memory work, it
can be, actually it probably will be, the only anchor we have
when we find ourselves in the center of our greatest storms.
There will be those times when you are all alone and in great
need: on the gurney before the operation, in the wheelchair
waiting, just waiting, for someone to come; the day after
your loved one’s funeral. These are the moments when we can
only draw upon whatever spiritual gems we have already polished
along the path of our private walk Jesus. What will those
be?
Let me give one example here, with the qualification
that many of my friends are rather earthy and don’t always
talk as if they’re sitting in a church pew. One very close
colleague was telling me recently that he had just been hospitalized,
in upstate New York, with a serious heart problem. He described
how he was in the midst of what turned out to be three hours
undergoing angioplasty. He said to me, "Gregg, it’s not particularly
encouraging when your doctor has these tubes up your veins
and he keeps muttering things like, ‘Damn, oh no, not that.’"
After sharing his laughter, because for the moment at least
he’s survived that ordeal, I asked him, "What were you thinking
or saying to yourself at that moment." He paused and then
responded, "You know, Gregg, I have seldom felt so alone.
And the one thing that kept coming to mind was, ‘Now I lay
me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.’"
There is deep trust and great wisdom in that
prayer which so many of us learned in childhood. To claim
in our inner most beings the faith stance we learned in our
youth at our hour of trial places us in good company with
Jesus, because when our Lord was on the cross and cried out,
"Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit" He is praying
the 22nd Psalm. I’ve been told that this is the phrase from
that Psalm which Jewish parents especially in the first century
taught their children at bedtime.
How sad and how empty must be the life which
reaches deep at the hour of need and can find little more
than fragments of a poem or a Beatles song, as lovely as those
might be on a cloudless day.
We read the Word, Pray the Word and Memorize the Word.
We should also Sing the Word.
Even those of us who can barely carry a tune
know that music addresses the soul-which is certainly one
reason to be discerning about what music we attend to. But
we are as human beings always in motion, with energy continually
throbbing through us. Beats and notes and rhythms and pacing
characterize us from our blinking eyes to our twitching fingers
to our beating heart. It’s as if our whole being wants to
sing and to "extol the Lord at all times," as the Psalmist
says, in joy over the awakening awareness of our Creator and
Redeemer and Sustainer.
Any biblical kind of lyric will do. One song
that many people who are drawn to the contemplative life enjoy
is one which you can try right now.
Jesus, I adore you. Lay my life before you. How I love you.
Father, I adore you. Lay my life before you. How I love you.
Spirit, I adore you. Lay my life before you. How I love you.
And another, especially good for the morning:
Come into my heart.
Come into my heart.
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus.
Come in today, come in to stay,
Come into my heart Lord Jesus.
Finally, when we leave here his morning, let us also Walk the Word.
St. Paul encourages us to pray continually:
to make our life an offering of praise and thanksgiving. What
better way to do that, what better way to harness the fundamental
rhythm of our day, than to pray while walking. To give just
one example of prayer walking, from which you will over the
coming months and years discover your own variations, walk
to the words of "Praise God." This is a silent prayer walk-because
it’s the secret life in Christ that we are cultivating. With
one step, silently say the word "Praise." With the next step,
the word "God." And so on.
Let's close these remarks with the words
from one of the great mentors of the secret life in Christ,
Thomas Kelly, in his classic book, A Testament of Devotion.
There is a way of life so hid with Christ
in God that in the midst of the day’s business one is inwardly
lifting brief prayers, subdued whispers of adoration and of
tender love to the Beyond that is within. No one need know
about it. I only speak to you because it is a sacred trust,
not mine but to be given to others. One can live in a well-high
continuous state of unworded prayer. There is no hurry about
it all. It is a life unspeakable and full of glory, an inner
world of splendor within which we, unworthy, may live. Some
of you know it and live in it. Others of you may wistfully
long for it. It can be yours. Amen
The above presented by Gregg Meister, President, Interlink Media