‘In prayer we discover what we already have. You start from where you are and deepen what you already have, and you realize you are already there. We already have everything but we don’t know it and don’t experience it. Everything has been given to us in Christ. All we need is to experience what we already possess.’ Thomas Merton
Members of meditation groups that meet in the Devon Area gathered on Saturday 27 September at the Boniface Centre, Crediton, under the banner ‘Meditation & Community’. The simple pleasure of meeting in one place with those known only online, others not seen before, and old friends, too, gave our gathering a gentle underlying joy.
‘In prayer we discover what we already have. You start from where you are and deepen what you already have, and you realize you are already there. We already have everything but we don’t know it and don’t experience it. Everything has been given to us in Christ. All we need is to experience what we already possess.’ Thomas Merton
Members of meditation groups that meet in the Devon Area gathered on Saturday 27 September at the Boniface Centre, Crediton, under the banner ‘Meditation & Community’. The simple pleasure of meeting in one place with those known only online, others not seen before, and old friends, too, gave our gathering a gentle underlying joy.
We began in simple worship by considering Rubelev’s famous icon of the Trinity as a community. From there we sat in silent, wordless meditation. Meditation engenders a depth of silence that holds us both as individuals and as a group more deeply than any words.
Words, too, though may also be beautiful:
After worship we heard from our speaker Brian Shillingford about his experience of how meditation and community are entwined. Brian has run a meditation group in the Crediton area for some twenty years. During this time the group has grown in frequency of meetings and also in numbers, with a steady turnover of members.
What has emerged in Brian’s understanding is that community is not created but is revealed, in the depths of silence, as being ever-present. As he pointed out, this clearly resonates with John Main’s view that there is only one prayer and that is the prayer of Jesus, ‘the stream of love that flows between Him and His Father that is the Spirit. . . “Our prayer” is simply our entering into this stream of divine love.’
One way to enter this river of divine love may be through the changing nature of our relationship with silence and the life of a meditation group. Brian spoke of how in hindsight he had at times experienced a taste of silence that helped to prepare him for the expansion of silence found in meditation.
Each of us, too, at various points in our lives, such as when sitting in a quiet church or when out walking, may recall such a taste of silence. On subsequently joining a meditation group, the changing depth and membership of the group becomes part of the love that flows between Christ and God – we may realize that, like a river, all is flowing towards God, a moving community of love.
We considered how the gift of meditation might be shared more widely within Devon. The support of the WCCM as a whole was noted, for example through its excellent newsletter, web site and training such as The Essential Teaching course. Locally, we may have another volunteer for the role of Area Team Member.
We also chose to further promote our online Devon meditation group. This group covers the whole of Devon. One of its aims is to enable the formation of face-to-face groups when enough people from a particular area have joined online. Finally, after our closing prayer, we continued in hospitality through the unpacking of lunches and further conversation. Thank you to all who attended.
John Rhodes
Area Team Member for Devon
Editor: We hope to present a historical perspective on Devon next time.