Christian meditation has been practiced for hundreds of years

In a darkened worship center, illuminated by soft lights and the faint glow of candles, 35 people sit quietly in deep meditation. Eventually, the silence is broken by a monastic chant, accompanied by two musicians playing piano and flute.

“Come and fill our hearts with your peace,” the group sings. “You alone, oh Lord, are holy.”

No one leads the service at First Congregational Church, but the congregants know the routine. After 45 minutes of alternating between silence and song, a few of them approach the alter to pray and be prayed for.
Despite the Eastern feel of the service, participants say the event is deeply rooted in Christianity. Called Taize (pronounced tah ZAY), the event aims to help congregants move beyond thought to experience the silence of God.

“My biggest enjoyment are the moments of silence,” said Richard Grebenstein, who has been attending Taize services at First Congregational Church for two years.

Some conservative Christians look upon Christian meditative practices such as Taize with suspicion because of their similarities to Eastern meditation. In the 1970s and ’80s, as Eastern meditation gained a foothold in America, some pastors said the practice was dangerous because it could allow evil to enter the mind.
“You can maneuver the mind into all kinds of bad stuff when you’re in silence,” said the Rev. Dave Shumpert of the Cowboy Church of Peyton.

But instructors of Christian meditation say the Judeo-Christian tradition is replete with meditative practices, and far from being evil, meditation can deepen one’s spirituality.

Sister Therese O’Grady, coordinator of contemplative programs at Benet Pines Retreat Center in Benet Pines Monastery in Black Forest, said Christian meditation can be traced to the fourth-century Desert Fathers, whose writings are included in “The Philokalia,” a compilation of centuries of meditative writings by Christian monks.

Other meditative writings in the Catholic tradition include “The Cloud of Unknowing,” presumably written in the 14th century by an English monk, and those by the 16th-century mystic St. John of the Cross.

Taize — which combines music, chants, prayer and silent meditation into a service — developed in the 1940s at an ecumenical Christian monastic community in Taize, France.

Then, in the 1970s, Benedictine monks Thomas Keating and John Main revived some of the meditative techniques found in “The Philokalia.” Keating developed the Centering Prayer and Main developed what became known as Christian Meditation. Both practices rely on a mantra, or sacred word that’s repeated over and over, to focus the mind. The goal is to allow the mantra to naturally fall away to leave the meditator in inner silence.

The Rev. Robert Kippley teaches the Centering Prayer at the Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Canon City. The church also sponsors a Taize service.

Kippley said there are plenty of examples of meditation in the Bible. Prior to Christ’s important decisions, such as choosing his apostles and accepting God’s will to bear the cross to Calvary, he prayed for long hours, Kippley said, suggesting these sessions included both prayer and silent meditation.

Other passages in the Bible — such as in Psalm 46 (“Be still and know that I am God”) and Romans 8:26 (“We do not know how to pray, but the spirit prays within us”) — also imply meditation, he said.

Meditation is part of Kippley’s daily routine. Each morning near sunup, he practices the Centering Prayer. When he misses a meditation, Kippley said, his day loses some of its spiritual qualities.

“I think there is a real hunger,” Kippley said, “not just for cranking out prayers and performing rituals, but for closing the door and sitting in quiet meditation.”
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