A Soothing Psalm 23 by Bobby McFerrin

Beautiful setting of Psalm 23 by Bobby McFerrin. Listen to it and let it soothe your soul. Listen to it again and let it inspire you to create your own melody to a psalm. If you have a bit of musical talent, it’s not that hard. Let God be your only audience….he will LOVE it!

Creative Drawing with Psalm 67

My new friend Kaitlyn gave me her cool rendering of Psalm 67 the other day. It’s the special passage of her team as they minister to other students in Paris. I thought it makes for a great example of how to doodle around with a bible passage while meditating on it. Try something similar yourself. Let the passage give you the key symbol for the centre and wrap the verses around it.

Verbal Remix

The other day, as I was cooking up a little something for my “knock-knock” time (Rev 3:20 says that God is standing at the door knocking and if we hear him and open the door, He’ll come in and we’ll dine together). I was looking for an opening course of praise for our dinner together when I came across Psalm 147. I read through it, looking for a recipe idea…something creative I could do with it…a different way of reading it. WOW! Look at the verbs in this thing! It’s as if the writer of this Psalm was making a list of verbs with a few praises of praise to break the monotony.

Read through Psalm 147 for yourself. Write down the verbs and verb phrases. (builds up, gathers, heals, binds up, counts, gives names, supports….) Read through the Psalm again aloud, this time emphasizing each verb phrase.

Now give this Psalm a remix by keeping the same form but changing the phrases and verbs to reflect the divine actions you’ve seen in your own life adventure.

Often we refer to God as “The Word” (as in John 1:14) but I sometimes like to think of Him as “The Verb”. Some Spanish and Portuguese Bibles even translate this verse with the word “verb”…..”The VERB became flesh”. I actually think it suits him better. From the very beginning He was was an action verb, “In the beginning God CREATED”. He’s not just a static “word” on a page….He’s a VERB that acts, that moves, that heals, that sustains, that forgives, that loves.

Eat your Broccoli and Cauliflower!

BROCCOLI AND CAULIFLOWER …remember when your mom insisted that you HAD to take a bite of each before you could leave the table! (I know, you still don’t like those veggies because of that traumatic day!) ANYWAY….

MEDITATION AND CONTEMPLATION … Oh brother! these two are even worse! Like these two similar looking vegetables, meditation and contemplation are similar and similarly distasteful to lot of us. Probably the least practiced, least understood, and more difficult, more mature forms of spiritual activity that are out there.

It has taken me quite a while to understand the subtle difference between these two spiritual practices. Like staring at twins until you realize that there ARE  slight differences in the noses…..and then you’re embarrassed for staring so much. And like broccoli and cauliflower there are more differences than just the color.  I admit my to slowness, but also must throw in an excuse: very few people along my journey have helped me with this.  It points out the fact that there is an incredible lack of information out there on HOW TO PRAY….the raison d’être of this site.

Back to our twins….it is quite simple actually. Although they both are very introspective,  quiet and reflective, meditation is stimulated by something external (like a text, a quote, an image, a thought) while contemplation by the internal, (silence, stillness, void, lack of reasoning and rational thought).

OK??? You may be thinking…I knew I wasn’t going to like this broccoli!

ALLOW ME TO GET MORE PRACTICAL…After you have led off your praying with a few courses like praise and thanksgiving, you may open your Bible to a few verses that have already been meaningful to you (but this is not Bible study time). If you read them again and pause to reflect on them, to taste them, to chew on them…..you are “meditating” on these words. (in the tradition of David in Psalm 119:15,23,27,48,78,97,148) This is fleshed out a little more in SIMPLE MEDITATION RECIPE

If you take this one step further and sit in silence for just a few minutes….not really processing or thinking about the text but just open to receive what it wants to give you…..then you have moved into contemplation.

Once the silence seems to have run its course….you may look back at the text or image that has inspired you….intentionally thinking about it or meditating on it. Then move back into the silence and stillness of contemplation. Cycle back and forth as long as there’s something there.

Give it a try. Like broccoli….it may take some getting used to.

PS: I am very appreciative of Cynthia Bourgeault who has helped me to understand this beautiful interplay of the twins: meditation & contemplation.

Psalm Re-write

Here’s a little idea that I pull out every now and then: I like to re-write Psalm 136….you know the one with the phrase that repeats all the way through: “His love endures forever” (or something similar depending on your translation).

• Read it through one time as it is in its original version.
• Go back and notice that at verse 9 in begins to recount the story of the Exodus.
• Now start at the beginning. Read it aloud slowly and thoughtfully. But this time substitute phrases of your own story at verse 9 (your own exodus maybe) taking your cue from the style of the Psalm….”to Him who_____” ….each time repeating and even “tasting” the beautifully simple refrain “His love endures forever”. (I think saying it aloud is hugely important! The continual repetition is a symbol of the forever-ness)
• After you do that for as long as you like, kick back in to the ending of the Psalm at verse 23 to finish it off.

I think you’ll agree that it makes for a great opening course….like a hearty salad….a mix of praise and thanksgiving.