Dean's Letter

June 2008

From The Very Reverend David Bird, Ph.D., Dean and Rector

Ten Minutes with God: A New Opportunity

Not long after I arrived at Trinity I went for coffee down the street with a member of the vestry. We deliberately left the front doors of the cathedral open and the lights on. We drank our coffee where we could see who might be entering the building. At least eight people, some of them by their dress clearly not Christian, went in there and stayed. When we went back to look, eight people, if I remember correctly, were quietly praying or mediating there—more than those who had attended the 12:10 p.m. Eucharist.

More recently, Zane Wilemon tells, a several people were quietly in the church as he prepared for the Eucharist. When he reappeared in his robes, they all disap- peared. One conclusion to be drawn from this is that there are people, seeking God or per- haps seeking peace, who are looking for a different kind of meditation or worship than a traditional Eucharist and that it is our task to discover a means of serving them.

Centering prayer works for some people. Others want a little more structure or direction. The reason for “Ten Minutes with God” is to address the second group and we shall do so on Tuesday and Wednesdays at 12.10 p.m.

Obviously this bald statement raises a variety of questions, including “why 12.10?” It gives people who get off at Noon time to get to Trinity. It is only ten minutes so that if they wish to grab lunch afterwards they can. No one will be asked to leave at 12:20. We shall stay open for people to continue their prayer and meditation, probably until around 1.00 p.m. We will also have an area where someone who might want to speak to us about faith can do so.

I visualize an area where people can join the meditation, with others perhaps keeping silence in a different part of the church itself. The whole idea is to help people pray in ways that will make a difference to them.

What kind of meditation will be offered? This will depend upon the leader but let me give you an example of the kind of thing I will do when it falls upon me to lead. I have deliber- ately chosen a very difficult passage for a clergy person to sue successfully just to give a sense of the numerous possi- bilities which arise when we really try to meditate. The actual meditations we shall use will be less complex, at least until we see what kind of material is wanted by those who attend.

A Meditation: God Speaks to Samuel

Meanwhile, the boy Samuel served God by assisting Eli, who was the priest in charge of God’s temple and the fourteen the judge of Israel. Now in those days messages from God were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon. One night Eli, who was almost blind by now, had gone to bed. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was sleeping in the Tem- ple of God. Suddenly God called out, “Samuel!” “Yes?” Samuel replied. “What is it?” He got up and ran to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” “I didn’t call you,” Eli replied. “Go back to bed.” So he did. Then God called out again, “Samuel!” Again Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” “I didn’t call you, my son,” Eli said. “Go back to bed.” Samuel did not yet know God because he had never had a message from God before. So God called a third time, and once more Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” Then Eli realized it was God who was calling the boy. So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed. And God came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.”

Some ways to meditate on this passage:

1. Read through this story a second time and try to imagine that you were actually there or watching the scene. The lamp is slowly burning out in the house of worship, you have seen the old, almost blind, perhaps saintly man leave to go to bed, and there is just the young man quietly waiting there. Imag- ine what might be going on in the young person’s mind. Would he be excited, tired, afraid, in awe? How do you think he might feel and how would you feel in this situation? Then visualize the rest of the story. How he thought he heard a voice and went to Eli twice, only to be sent back. Finally how would he have responded when Eli told him to say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’ How would have felt if such a thing happened to you? Would it be a “real” experience for you? Do you think everything happened exactly as it is told, with an actual voice calling out, or do you think it is an imaginative tale of a person, her a young person, coming to realize that God has a call for him or her?

2. What kind of thing does God “say” to people when they pray and suddenly in their calm they “hear” God speaking to them. Is there a way for you of working out whether God wants you to do something or not? Do you think that if the voice seems to be telling you to do something violent or vi- cious toward someone else it could really be God’s voice? How are you going to decide what comes from God and what doesn’t? (Many Christians say that if something is clearly something that Jesus would refuse to do, that action is not an action God would be calling you to do.)

3. After reflecting on this story what differ- ence, if any, does it make to your life? Has the fact of thinking about the story helped you to get beyond yourself and your con- cerns and left you feel renewed?

Obviously whenever we meditate there are constant questions which keep coming into our mind. This is good. It is a sign that we are alive and thinking and not “simple-minded” in the sense of believing that God has only one path for us to follow at a given moment. God is a god of endless possibilities, who responds to us with a creativity that outweighs that of even the most gifted parent, mentor or teacher.

What I have written gives a sense of just one way in which we will try to help people pray at lunch time. If you like it, come. If you don’t, come because the experience may be very different. Anyway if you don’t find help or comfort in what we do, you can always go instead to a quiet spot in the church and just meditate on your own or just down in front of you and grab the Book of Common Prayer and use instead one of its many offerings.

Peace,

David

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