Maranatha

“On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. ‘If you consider me a believer in the Lord,’ she said, ‘come and stay at my house.’ And she persuaded us” Acts 16:13-15

I wrote a blog a few months ago about King Solomon’s prayer (found in Proverbs) to be granted a listening heart. I’ve been thinking about this petition lately as I’ve thought about a situation that has surprised me with the number of twists and turns it has presented me.

To make a long story short, I’ve found myself assigned to an unexpected (and very interesting) project, I need people with very specific and specialized skills around me to get the project done, and getting the right people has turned into a bit of a roller coaster ride. Consequently, I’ve been praying for a listening heart to try to figure out what I am supposed to do.

Then, this past Sunday, after Fr. Joe’s sermon on jealousy and invitation to tomorrow’s address by Kim Phuc at 7 O’Clock at the Metropolitan Bible Church (2176 Prince of Wales Drive) I went to the foyer of the church to find the details on this address and, to my great surprise, found something of a guide on my quest to be granted a listening heart.

Someone left a one-page (double sided) handout on Christian meditation that sums up the teaching of John Main. Actually, there was a stack of these handouts and I assume they will be available again next Sunday. I urge you to pick up a copy.

Basically, it is a guide on how to meditate. It explains that meditation is a “pilgrimage to your own centre, to your own heart”. The summary also explained that “our aim in Christian prayer is to allow God’s mysterious and silent presence within us to become the reality which gives meaning, shape and purpose to everything we do, to everything we are.”

Without transcribing the summary, it suggests setting aside 20 to 30 minutes, either at the beginning or end of each day (or both) to go sit in a quiet place. I know, for those of us with kids, this may seem like a near impossibility but, when there is a will, there is a way!

Then it explains that quietly, in our mind’s voice, we are to repeat the word “Maranatha” in four, equally stressed syllables like so: “MA – RA – NA – THA”.

Maranatha is a word in the Aramaic language, the language Jesus Christ spoke, that is said to mean “Come, O Lord”, but apparently – my only exposure to this language is through the Bible and Mel Gibson’s The Passion of The Christ – if broken in two (Maran atha) it can also mean “Our Lord has come”.

I tried it once this week, and I must say that the warning in the handout that random thoughts are likely to drift into our minds is certainly true. The suggestion to bat these ideas away (in order to make room to simply be in God’s presence) is to repeat “MA – RA – NA – THA” and I enjoyed varying degrees of success.

This is, however, a discipline I hope to develop further because the end goal promises to be so rewarding.

I find it sad that in popular culture people of the Christian faith are either portrayed as unskeptical dullards or outlandishly stern defenders of seemingly nonsensical dogma and that this popular view seems to have gained traction in cradle of Christendom.

I don’t kid myself. If our current Pope’s life quest is to hope to gain a glimpse of God, I am far from being anywhere near as righteous as him. But I have faith in the Pope’s conviction that God is an omnipresent, loving, and benevolent creator who – while I don’t always understand why I am put to the test or through some tough challenges – does everything for my own good.

A final observation I’d like to share is how my spouse gave me a book by French author Marc Levy a few years ago for my birthday titled Sept jours pour une éternité... (Seven Days for an Eternity) and in it is a depiction of God that made me think that if this were a reasonably valid and accurate portrait of our Creator, then I am glad to knock myself out to try to get to know Him.