Here are a few notes from the seminar I have presented on the Selah service -
What does it mean to Wait for the Lord?
The Biblical idea of “waiting for the Lord” can be summed up in the phrase: “Surely to God only is my soul dumb.” This idea conveys that I am subject to God Almighty. He has a right to lay on me what he pleases; and what he lays on me is much less than I deserve: therefore am I dumb before God. The Vulgate, and almost all the Versions, have understood it in this sense: Nonne Deo subjecta erit anima mea? Shall not my soul be subject to God? In other words, God alone has a right to dispose of my life as he pleases.
God anticipates us, and Himself arranges the words and form of prayer for us, and places them upon our lips as to how and what we should pray, that we may see how heartily he pities us in our distress. . . Therefore God also requires that you lament and plead such necessities and wants, not because He does not know them, but that you may kindle your heart to stronger and greater desires, and make wide and open your cloak to receive much.
– Martin Luther (1483–1546)
What is Contemplation?
To contemplate is to consider with continued attention; to ponder or meditate on. Part of its Latin origination is com - templum – which is where we also get our word for temple, the ‘sacred precinct’ or space marked out for the observation of auguries – the prophetic divining of the future by observing birds and other animals and their entrails and other parts.
“Finding God” means much more than just abandoning all things that are not God, and emptying oneself of images and desires.
If you succeed in emptying your mind of every thought and every desire, you may indeed withdraw into the center of yourself and concentrate everything within you upon the imaginary point where your life springs out of God: yet you will not really find God. No natural exercise can bring you into vital contact with Him. Unless he utters Himself in you, speaks His own name in the center of your soul, you will no more know Him than a stone knows the ground upon which it rests in its inertia.
Our discovery of God is, in a way, God’s discovery of us. We cannot go to heaven to find Him because we have no way of knowing where heaven is or what it is. He comes down from heaven and finds us. He looks at us from the depths of His own infinite actuality, which is everywhere, and His seeing us gives us a new being and a new mind in which we also discover Him. We only know Him in so far as we are known by Him, and our contemplation of Him is a participation in His contemplation of Himself.
– From “New Seeds of Contemplation” by Thomas Merton
What is Meditation?
To meditate is to enter a process of organizing one’s thoughts on a particular subject. The word has its origins in the same words that spawned medicine or medical. There are two streams of meditation – similar, yet subtle in their differences. One form emphasizes the intuition and trusts that what one is seeking can be found within themselves. The other emphasizes a process of ordering one’s thoughts on the basis of that which is already known through reading and learning. The Biblical form of meditation seems to combine the two through a process that considers and ponders (“waiting on the Lord”) based on that which has been revealed to us by God in direct and natural revelation.
While both contemplation and meditation are often practiced individually and in private, there is much to be gained and nurtured when they are encouraged corporately in worship with others. One of the major components of Selah and approaches like it is providing ample time for silence and prayer.
What is Prayer?
Prayer is the natural outcome of contemplation and meditation. Its origins imply to entreat or implore. It is the logical response of adoration, confession, supplication and thanksgiving that results from a true consideration of the true reality of God, the creator and author of all.
So when we use the term “contemplative worship,” we are not suggesting a practice that is new to our Christian tradition. Indeed, while many of the acts of worship found in Scripture are celebratory in content and tone, there are many more examples that focus on the contemplation of the heart – as reflected in a pondering of our own standing before a Holy Creator, the contrition of the heart, a faltering of our spirit all leading to the cry of supplication and mercy. To arrive at this true view of reality, is to arrive at what it is to worship.
What is Worship?
Worship, which originates from words meaning to revere that which is worthy of our most true and genuine respect. It is not just singing praises or reciting a creed or ritual but rather a description of the complete process of contemplation, meditation and prayer, as previously defined. In this understanding of the term, true worship is not limited to a period of time set aside during the week, but rather a moment to moment, faith and life-sustaining activity of our minds, hearts and souls.
