Dear Group Leaders and Friends in Christian Meditation,
I have been thinking extensively about the John Main Seminar. The discussions that flowed out of the contemplative listening sessions were bonding, inspiring and challenging. It has always been my experience, as Fr. John Main prophetically understood, that meditation builds community. A member of our gathering remarked to me after the seminar that he has been meditating for 10 years and this was the first time he has meditated in a group. Even though he was growing as a meditator on his own, he could feel an energy in the experience of meditating together that he never felt in his years of saying the mantra in the silence of his own heart while meditating alone. I always find that coming together with other meditators in our tradition encourages me and inspires me in my own daily meditation. I did however find the seminar conversations challenging when asked if using the word “Christian” in Christian meditation is off-putting to some, particularly younger people searching for a contemplative practice.
I struggled hearing that some could be “allergic” to something that has given me such life. When I think of “Christian” I am not saying that the church has always given me life abundantly. I have had my own struggles with the institution which we call church. I spent my life, until recently, as a Roman Catholic and for much of my adult life, I served as a priest in the tradition. Soon I will be received as a member of the Episcopal church. The church of which I am a member has changed just as I have changed in my own life. I’ve been saying to those with whom I have shared glimpses of my own journey, I needed a different canister to hold my faith. But the idea of being a follower of Jesus, hasn’t waned, even though my experience of Jesus has grown over the years and my faith evolved in different ways.
I have great respect for other faiths. I have learned from my Muslim friends; I have been inspired by reading the Gita and from being taught by Zen Buddhists and Tibetan lamas. My faith has been informed by my own experiences, both good and bad. I have met Christians that make me wonder if they have ever read the Bible. I have been hurt by the church that nurtured my faith and my call. In my own life, I have missed the mark in following Jesus countless ways and a multitude of times. However, I remain a follower of Jesus. I meditate because I follow the way of the Christ. I feel inspired to share the gift of meditation not to make others Christian but to make others feel inspired to follow whatever path that God has placed them on in their own life. Fr. John Main put it this way in Gethsemani Talks:
“I learnt to meditate from a man who was not a Christian, but he certainly believed in God—knew God—and had a deeply vital sense of God dwelling within him. Now it may be significant that it was not until 15 years after I learned to meditate with him that I began dimly to understand what my master had taught me and to understand the incredible richness of its full exposition in the Christian vision”.
I am struck by the idea of “Christian vision.” In our polarized country, it appears that there is a great divide in what a Christian vision might look like in the present moment. Some have hijacked the name Christian for their own partisan means. It is easy to forget that for followers of Jesus, we are Christians first, then followers of whatever other adjectives we use to define ourselves. I am rooted in my Christian faith, but one that is inclusive and loving to all. That is something that has always spoken to me as a member of the World Community for Christian Meditation. For me, it says it all in the WCCM mission statement:
To communicate and nurture meditation as passed on through the teaching of John Main in the Christian tradition in the spirit of serving the unity of all.
I want to reclaim the word, Christian. For me as a faltering Christian, I simply want to do what Jesus told me to do to live life abundantly: to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind…” and to “…Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” For me the best preparation for this life of faith in the Christ is the twice daily saying of the mantra in silence, stillness and simplicity. Maranatha!
Warmly,
Kevin Maksym
