Contemplation and Action

By Charles Ringma

This resource was originally delivered as part of a TEAR Queensland event at the
Brisbane School of Theology, Cross Street, Toowong. August 2, 2014.

Welcome to todays event. Let me start with my conclusion. We need to be

pregnant with the holy. We need to carry the seeds of the Kingdom of God within
us. We need to be mystics and contemplatives. As such, we need to be gazers into
the heart and mind of God and the movement of the Spirit. And we need to be
gazers into our world with its beauty and pain and injustice. And we need to be
gazers into our own lives with its good purposes and its stupidities. All of this we
are called to if we wish to be activists in impacting our world. Activism of itself does
not nourish and sustain activism. Contemplation does. Contemplation should lead
to service. And action should lead us to contemplation. It is mysticism that leads to
prophecy and the work of justice, not simply our good plans and strategies.

1. SO WHY ARE WE HAVING THIS CONVERSATION?

One may think that what I have just said should be self evident. But for some it is
not. Some are nervous with the language of mysticism and contemplation. Many of
us have been shaped by the activist traditions of Protestantism and Evangelicalism.
The missionary and the social activist are our heroes. We have no heroes of men
and women of prayer. And for some, contemplation simply belongs to the world of
the monastery and the claim that monks have dropped the ball and have only a
concern for piety and not for social transformation.

So maybe we should have this conversation after all. Let me suggest a few
reasons. You may be able to think of many more.

We are being encouraged to think and act in more holistic ways. One
expression of this is to speak of head (theological formation), heart
(spiritual formation), and hand (missional formation). In other words:
vision, passion and action belong together.
 We are being invited to move beyond dualistic ways of thinking and
acting. In the older world of Christianity we had the elevation of the soul
over body, virginity over marriage; and piety over service. In the
Christianity of modernity we have simply turned these around. Where we
are now is that we are rethinking all of this? Maybe work and service and
a Sabbath spirituality belong together? Maybe piety and service are
closely linked. Maybe the cave (the place of prayer and meditation), the
canteen (being part of the community of faith) and being on the road (the
place of service and mission) are integral to each other.

We are being encouraged to develop more of a Kingdom of God (or

Reign of God) vision rather than an ecclesiastically based vision of acting
into our world.

We are being invited to more fully develop the spiritual practices prayer,
lectio divina, meditation, centering prayer, contemplation, fasting,
journaling, spiritual direction and other ascetic practices not to gain
credit in Gods bank, but to sustain our connectedness with God, to
grow in spiritual insight, to enhance self-care, and to be more fully
empowered for service.

Possibly we are discovering that the older evangelical word-focused way

of witness and the present day deed-focussed way of service dont quite
cut it. Our presence in the world should involve word and deed the
word of love and forgiveness and acts of love and forgiveness. But this is
not enough in and of itself. We also need to be pregnant and in labour
pains for Gods new world to spring forth (Romans 8: 22-23; Galatians 4:
19; Ephesians 1: 17-23). This is the call to an inner life of prayer. The
Latin American theologian Segundo Galilea once said: the first
temptation is to abandon prayer.

2. JESUS THE MODEL: THE CONTEMPLATIVE AND MISSIONARY

GOD

In order to ground some of the above, it is important for us to first turn to Scripture.
While we should turn (but we cant due to limited time in this presentation) to the
wisdom and practice of the church in its long two thousand year journey (yes,
Christianity did not start with the Reformation), as Evangelicals (whoever they are
and they are becoming more diverse and more difficult to define and maybe that
is good???) we need to hear from Scripture as the normative narrative that shapes
our life and practice. This is a good thing to do.
And of course, we could start in many places. We could look at Leviticus 19 where
holiness and right conduct are clearly linked, including the call to love the alien as
yourself and to have honest balances, honest weights (Lev. 19:34-35). Or we
could go to the prophetic tradition and hear the words: this is the fast I choose: to
loose the bonds of injustice[to] bring the homeless poor into your house (Isaiah
58: 6). Or we could go to the wisdom literature where in worship we extol[our]
God and King and bless your name forever and ever and then celebrate and
emulate the Lord [who] upholds all who are fallen and raises up all who are bowed
down (Psalm 145: 1, 14). Or we could turn to Matthew 25 where service to the
least is an act of worship to Christ himself (Mt. 25: 40). Or we could be guided by
the wisdom of the author to the Hebrews where we are invited to continually offer a
sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name and to do
good and to share what you have for such sacrifices are pleasing to God (Hebrews
13:15-16). Here spirituality and service are clearly linked.

But rather than stringing verses together, let us go the great normative narrative,
Christ himself, the Word made flesh and the icon of the new humanity. Christ is
both our redeemer and model. Being a Christian is not simply believing in Jesus,
but Christ taking shape and form in us (Galatians 4: 19). We are to take on the
gestalt of Christ. In the words of Karl Barth, we are to be a small repetition of the
life of Christ. In this sense, Christians are to be a second incarnation. One basic
implication of this is that Christ conformity is crucial to our witness and service in
the world. And in the contemporary churches in the West with their consumer
mentality and lack of formation and spirituality, it should not surprise that we have
separated Christ conformity and service. In many ways, we have become the do-
gooders of the world rather that the radical disciples we are called to be in
following the Messiah who made a new way.

The simple point then that I wish to make is that Jesus is both the activist and the
contemplative. Without seeking to overplay these two themes, we see the activist
Jesus most clearly and urgently in Marks Gospel. Everywhere there is the then he
did this and then he said that. One scene quickly moves to another. Marks Jesus
is in a hurry. And Jesus activism is most clearly seen in his-

Proclamation of the Kingdom;

Calling people to conversion and repentance and to follow him;

His ministry of healing;

His pushing back the powers of darkness in the ministry of exorcism;

His building a fraternal community;

His confrontation with the religious leaders of day;

And his activity of religious/civil disobedience by healing of the Sabbath.

Ched Myers in his Binding the Strong Man: A Political Reading of Marks Story of
Jesus (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1988) notes that this Gospel is a story by, about, and for
those committed to Gods work of justice, compassion, and liberation in the world
(p.11). He goes on to say that Marks Gospel is the manifesto of an early Christian
discipleship community which was seeking to live as a contrast society (p.31) from
below (p.40).

Jesus the contemplative is only briefly glimpsed in this gospel: Jesus testing in the
desert (Mk. 1:13), Jesus praying at the beginning of the day (Mk. 1: 35), Jesus
going to a deserted place to rest (Mk.6: 31), Jesus experience of transfiguration
(Mk. 9: 1-8), Jesus in Gethsemane (Mk. 14:32), and Jesus prayer of forsakenness
on the cross (Mk.15: 34).

It is in Johns Gospel that we more fully meet Jesus the contemplative. This gospel
highlights the intimacy between Jesus and his Father, their mutual indwelling and
their common participation in all that Jesus sought to do. Jesus does what the
Father wants him to do and their bond is so close that Jesus can say the Father
and I are one (Jh. 10:30). Contemplation is about attentiveness and gazing. It is
about joining, abiding and union. It has to do with a merging of the one with the
other so that one reflects the other more fully. This is what we see so clearly in
Johns Gospel. Lets highlight the key themes:

Jesus speaks of knowing the Father (but I know him, Jn. 8:58, 17:25).
This is the language of an intimate knowing not simply an intellectual
knowing. And Jesus speaks of a mutual knowing: just as the Father
knows me and I know the Father (Jh. 10:15).

Jesus celebrates that the Father loves him: the Father loves me (Jh. 10:
17. See also 3:35, 5:20, 15:9).

Jesus acknowledges a mutual indwelling: the Father is in me and I am in

the Father (Jh. 10:38. See also Jh. 14:20, 6:57).

Jesus testifies that he is doing the work the Father has given him: I have
not spoken on my own but the Father has given mewhat to say (Jh.
12:49. See also Jh. 7:16). Jesus speaks of doing the works that the
Father has given me to complete (Jh. 5:36).
 Jesus constantly acknowledges that the Father has sent him (Jh. 5:36,
7:16, 8:16, 14:24).

Jesus confesses that he has fully revealed the Father: I have made
known to you everything that I have heard from my Father (Jh. 15:15).

And finally, Jesus asserts that he is such an embodiment of the Father

that: If you know me, you will know my Father also (Jh.14:7).

Clearly this is the language of a most amazing union and unity of intimacy and
purpose between the Father and the Son. This is the language of love leading to
service, and as we know from the Gospel, a service that leads to the ultimate self-
giving.

Where we as Protestants and Evangelicals are missing the boat, is that we are
constantly being encouraged to follow the Jesus of Marks Gospel while neglecting
the Jesus of Johns Gospel. More to the point, we are failing to see that the Jesus
of Johns Gospel lies at the back of the Jesus of Marks Gospel. In other words, in
Johns Gospel we see the inner life of Jesus (of course his mission too) and in
Marks Gospel we more clearly see Jesus in action. To use psychological language
Mark reflects more Jesus public persona, while John shows us Jesus inner self.

Now it goes without saying that if we want to follow Christ in the imitatio Christi we
need to follow the whole Christ Christ the activist and Christ the contemplative.
Not only are we challenged at this point but we are further challenged to embrace
the central idea that becoming a Christian is not only to believe in Jesus but to be
invited into the intimacy of the Trinity: Those who love me will keep my word and
my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them
(Jh.14: 23). And the Spirit whom the Father will send through the Son (Jh. 14: 26,
15:26) joins in to this mutual indwelling.

What this means for our reflection on the topic of contemplation and action is that
an intentional inner life needs to be part of our missional praxis. Johns Gospel then
hits this home with a core statement that we tend to neglect because we have
become too enamored with Mt. 28:19-20, as the Father has sent me, so I send you
(Jh.20:21). This means that both Jesus praxis and his inner life of love and
obedience with the Father are to be normative for us.
 3. THE WITNESS OF THE CHURCH IN HISTORY

We have already noted that there have been periods in the history of the Christian
church where there has been a one-sided emphasis on the inner life without
sufficient emphasis on a life of witness and service. Just as in contemporary
Western Christianity there is an emphasis on the outer life without sufficient
attention being given to the inner life. The pendulum swings in history are sadly
also part of the history of the church.

But the over-riding picture is clear enough: love of God involves love of neighbour.
Cassian the great formator of early Monasticism highlights that the ultimate goal of
our way of life isthe Kingdom of Godthe immediate aim is purity of heart. He
goes on so long as injustice prevails in the world works of mercy are needed.
[The Conferences of Cassian in O. Chadwick (transl.) Western Asceticism, Vol.
XII. The Library of Christian Classics (London: SCM Press, 1958) 194, 201]. And
there are many other voices-St. Maximus the Confessor: we shall be judged for
the evil we have done, but especially for the good we have neglected, and for the
fact that we have not loved the neighbour; Geert de Groote: let me first seek the
kingdom [of God] and then I shall so much the better be able to serve my
neighbour; Meister Eckhart: do all you can in the way of good works, solely for the
praise of God; Walter Hilton: contemplative life lies in perfect love and charityby
a true knowledge and sight of God in spiritual things and active life lies in love and
charity shown outwardly in bodily works; St. Catherine of Siena: no virtuecan
have life in itself except through charity and humility. [See C. Ringma, Hear the
Ancient Wisdom (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2013)].

This is such a large topic that this would constitute a separate talk about how the
church in history has understood and outworked the inner and our call and the life
of friendship with God and service to the neighbour.

What needs to be stressed however is that prayer is a spiritual activity and it is a

work. Service is also a spiritual activity and a work. Thus we express our
spirituality both in contemplation and in action.

4. CLARIFYING CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

One of the ways to think about Christian mysticism is to think of ecstatic

experiences. And unless one has had such a visionary or out-of-body or other
dramatic experience one cannot be a Christian mystic. There are Christians who
clearly fit in this category such as St. Augustine, St. Francis, St. Bernard of
Clairvaux, and Julian of Norwich among many others.

The other way is to understand that Christian mysticism is an experience of the

direct and transformative presence of God [B. McGinn, The Essential Writings of
Christian Mysticism (New York: The Modern Library, 2006) xiv, xvii]. It is this
understanding of mysticism that makes it a common experience to many Christians
and therefore makes the link between mysticism and contemplation leading to
prophecy and the work of justice more accessible to most Christians.

5. THE GIFT AND PRACTICE OF CONTEMPLATION

As we have noted earlier, contemplation has to do with attentiveness and gazing.

The more contemporary term would be mindfulness. And one of the reasons why
we are being drawn to think more about this has to do with our overly-connected
and distracted life-styles. Many today suffer from being 24/7 on call and from an
attention deficit disorder. Many others feel pulled in too many directions at the
same time and thus claim to be time poor. And many do not feel well loved in and
for the service they bring to others.

There are other factors at play as well. In our functional and pragmatic world we
are longing for relationship, connection, intimacy and union. We long for home-
coming. And in much of our church activities and service to the world we know little
of God being our dwelling place (Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all
generations, Ps 90:1) and abiding in the life of Christ (Jh. 15: 4). In fact, we feel
much more like religious refugees and exiles and some feel that God has
abandoned us. We have little sense that we working with God and more that we
are working for God and for the religious institutions of which we are a part and that
some of our work has become a beast of burden.

So let us then reflect on the art of contemplation and highlight two inter-related
themes-

Contemplation as gift

Contemplation as a spiritual practice

We are obviously most familiar with contemplation as a spiritual practice. For many,
this means setting time aside to be still in the presence of God. In this stillness
there is a laying down of our agendas and issues and what we think God should do.
This means that we learn how to wait in hope. Thus surrender and expectancy are
core elements. This is all very different to trying to have a blank/empty mind.

We may add other elements to this key practice of being still lectio divina or a
meditative reflection on Scripture, worship, prayer, journaling, etc. But these other
practices still have listening/attentiveness at their core.

Contemplation as a gift means that God through the Spirit reveals himself/herself
(the God who is beyond gender) in some way. This may be as the God of comfort
and nurture. It may be as the God who affirms or consolidates something. It may
also be as the God who confronts us in some way and calls us to repentance. It
may be as the God who heals or as the God who directs us in some way.

While the great gift in contemplation is to be loved well, a secondary gift is to be

undone in order to gain a new self and new perspectives. Let me focus today on
the latter. Immersed as we are in daily life and shaped by the dominant values of
our culture (Rom. 12: 1-2), we need to withdraw into the cave, the desert, the
closet in order to denuded stripped bare undone from our contamination,
illusions and self-made plans. In this nakedness we need to be reborn, come to
see ourselves in a different light and see Gods purposes more clearly. When this
takes place as Gods great gift to us, then many implications flow from this,
including a new way of engaging our world and finding our place in the vast
operations of the Spirit in renewing the world. Put simply, this means that
contemplation empowers action.

This concept of undoing in order to be remade is well illustrated in the work of

Victor Turner. He speaks of the dynamic of moving from order (ones present
gestalt of life) to a time of disorder or liminality. This can occur through a major
crisis, a re-location, and a phase in ones psycho-social development. It can also
occur in the place of prayer and reflection. In this in-between stage one is undone
and a new sense of self and purpose and calling may emerge.

The Asian New Testament scholar, Noli Mendoza, illustrates this with the undoing
and remaking of Peter in his vision of the large net with all kinds of creatures that
he is ordered to kill and eat. This powerful experience turned Peter to embrace
mission to the Gentiles (Acts 10). Thus most basically: the place of prayer and
contemplation can be the place of transformation which can have huge implications
for our mission to the world.

Carlo Martini points out how the practice of contemplation may have the following
inter-related dimensions:

Consolatio where we gain hope, courage and renewal in the comforting

and healing presence of God. This is where we hear the words: you are my
beloved son/daughter.
 Discretio where through the prompting and nudging of the Spirit we make
new life and ministry choices. This is where we hear the words this is how you
need to live and act.

Deliberatio where we wrestle with the voice of God and the leading of the
Spirit and come to a place of surrender and obedience. This is where we say the
words Yes, Lord, I love to do your will.

Actio where we live out in the world the call of God and the commitment
we have made. This is where we say Lord have mercy upon me and empower
me to do your will.

In order to make all of this sharper and hopefully clearer regarding the interface of
contemplation and action, let us hear the wisdom of Segundo Galilea. He makes
the point that contemplation must be two-directional. In the move of transcendence
we contemplate the face of God. In the move of incarnation we contemplate the
hidden face of Christ in those we seek to serve. When we seek the face of God,
God will remind us of the neighbour in need. When we serve the neighbour/the
poor/the enemy, we will be reminded to seek the face of God on their behalf.

And so lets close with the words of St. John of the Cross:

If you want

the virgin will come walking down the road

pregnant with the holy,

and say,

I need shelter for the night,

please take me inside your heart,

my time is close.

Then under the roof of your soul,

you will witness the sublime intimacy,

the Christ

taking birth.

D. Ladinsky, Love Poems from God (p.306)

For further reading:

Thomas Merton, Seeds of Contemplation (Wheathampstead, UK: Anthony Clarke,

1961)

Thomas Merton, Contemplative Prayer (London: Darton Longman & Todd, 1969).

Thomas Merton, Contemplation in a World of Action (Garden City, NY: Doubleday,

1971).

Charles Ringma, Seek the Silences with Thomas Merton (London: SPCK, 2003)

Charles Ringma & Karen Hollenbeck-Wuest, eds. Walking with God: Christian
Spirituality in an Asian Context (Manila: OMF. Lit., 2014).

Victor Turner, The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure (New York: Cornell
University Press, 1969).

Charles Ringma

PO Box 1546, Stafford City, Brisbane, Qld. 4053.