CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY
Contemplative spirituality is a way of being that is attentive to the presence, action and invitations of God in the midst of everyday life.
Contemplative practices and postures are part of our heritage of Christian faith. This refreshing stream has flowed down through the ages and is always waiting to be discovered anew.
An often quoted statement from Jesuit theologian Walter Burghardt is that contemplation is “a long, loving look at the real.”
This phrase evokes a sense of spacious awareness, loving acceptance and a depth of seeing that perceives sacredness in everything we behold.
Here in Aotearoa New Zealand, we find resonance in wairuatanga - an awareness within Te Ao Māori that the two ‘waters’ of the spiritual and the natural worlds are present at all times in every aspect of life and flow together as a single stream.
Contemplative Spirituality | At a Glance
Contemplative Spirituality:
is the mystical heartbeat of the Christian faith, seen in Jesus, the apostles, the mystics and saints.
is more focused on ‘being’ than ‘doing’. We act with love and for justice from a place of inner rest and communion with the loving presence of God.
is a spirituality of receptivity; pausing, softening, opening.
invites a sacramental view of reality that sees God in all things.
offers practices of silence, stillness and simplicity to help us discern the current of Spirit flowing within us.
Further Explorations
Exploring contemplative Christian spirituality in Aotearoa, New Zealand
The contemplative path offers a deeply nourishing way of being formed and transformed in Christian spirituality.
Spiritual Growth Ministries (SGM) seeks to shine a light on contemplative spirituality in Aotearoa, New Zealand. We recognise that the land of Aotearoa, New Zealand and it’s indigenous peoples offer us context and ancient knowledge (Wairuatanga) that informs, adds to, and fits naturally within the contemplative stream that has flowed down through the years within our Christian faith heritage.
One gift of contemplative Christianity is that it invites us to pay attention to the “holy in the ordinary” and discover that the Sacred is present in all things. In Te Reo Māori, we hear this same song being sung with different words.
One expression of Wairuatanga is a word-picture of the two “waters” of the spiritual and the natural worlds flowing together into a single stream, ebbing and flowing through life. These two waters are present at all times, in every aspect of life.
If you are curious about contemplative spirituality and what gifts it might hold for you, we invite you to explore contemplative postures, practices and perspectives as a refreshing stream within our Christian spiritual heritage right here in Aotearoa, New Zealand. A stream that offers beauty, refreshment, wisdom, love, rest and deep nourishment for the journey of faith.
Like many of the best things in life, language is inadequate to encompass it’s many dimensions and experience is the best teacher. In that spirit, the following explorations are not intended to be definitive but to open some windows on the beautiful light that is always shining.
Contemplative spirituality is the naturally mystical heartbeat of our Christian tradition.
The contemplative way invites us on a homecoming journey of becoming aware that we are already united with Divine Love - God - at our deepest core; and learning to experience and live from that inner home more and more.
We hear it in Jesus’ words that, “The Father and I are one”
And in Paul’s mystical theology in his repeated refrain of ‘In Christ’.
We hear its pulse in the lives of the Desert mothers and fathers who sought union with God away from the entrapments of empire and institutional religion in 300-400 AD.
We hear it in the words of the mystics through the ages as they attempt to express their paradigm-shifting experiences of intimate union with Loving Mystery.
‘My deepest me is God.’ ~ Catherine of Genoa
“The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God's eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love.” ~ Meister Eckhart
‘The fullness of joy is to see God in everything.’ ~ Julian of Norwich
“I am a feather on the breath of God’ ~ Hildegaard of Bingen
CONTEMPLATIVE POSTURES
Learning to rest in Love.
Contemplative spirituality is a spirituality of receptivity.
One way of describing the contemplative stance is that of receiving God’s gaze of love. As we open ourselves to being seen, we begin to experience the Loving Presence of God who is at home within us. As the eyes of our heart begin to perceive the eyes of Love gazing at us, we learn to rest in that love and let it take root within us.
“At the heart of contemplative spirituality, for me, is love – first and foremost the love of God. Whatever or whoever I contemplate, I know that it is upheld by the love of God, as I am also. Even what is painful or dark – it is all part of the ‘hazelnut’ of Julian’s vision. And the looking is attentive, open, and above all honest. - David Crawley
Contemplative spirituality is a spirituality that values taking time to rest in Love. To let God love you and consciously bring that love to bear in daily life and relationships. It focuses more on silence, on the devotional heart, rather than words, doing and productivity. It is more anchored in ‘being’ in a way that transforms our ‘doing’. It can offer a sanctuary, a well, a place to be and receive. - Trish O’Donnell
Learning to live from Love.
The fruit of contemplation is not quietism but an enlivened faith expressed in love.
When we speak from silence, and move from stillness the quality of our speaking and moving is imbued with Loving Presence. When we cultivate an inner simplicity we become freer to engage with the complexity of the world and to embrace the paradoxes of being human without losing our centre.
As we are rooted in love, our lives begin to branch out into loving action, justice, acceptance and the ability to be lovingly present to others.
“The person who realises that God gazes on her or him with love will begin to glow in their own unique way.” - Pope Francis
To me, contemplative spirituality is being present with the loving God (the I Am); being open to embracing both mystery and reality; letting go and being transformed. I think the ‘contemplative stance’ that we sometimes talk about is a place to stand with God, in myself, and in my family, in my community and the world. Because God changes me in this place, the world is changed. - Joanne Garton
CONTEMPLATIVE PERSPECTIVES
Seeing God in all things.
Contemplative spirituality encompasses a sacramental view of theology which sees God in all things - an invisible grace made visible in all that has been created.
“Life is this simple: we are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and the divine is shining through it all the time. This is not just a nice story or a fable, it is true. ” - Thomas Merton
In perceiving our Loving God as Creator, Birther, Wisdom or Ground of Being we awaken to the reality of a world that is shimmering with Presence. We open to a belief in a God who is lovingly present and hiding in plain sight - waiting to be discerned and discovered in nature, relationships and in all the profound and mundane expressions of our lives.
“For me, contemplative spirituality is about a return journey to home. Connecting with the infinite loving presence and through becoming unified with the presence becoming vessels of just, loving action. It is seeing that everything is spiritual and connecting with this continuous dynamic unfolding. It is beginning to see the Christos’s enfolding energy that is imbued in all matter.” - Bruce Maden
CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICES
“Prayers are tools not for doing or getting, but for being and becoming.” - Eugene Peterson
Contemplative prayer is rooted in receptive spiritual practices of silence, stillness, simplicity – opening in deep trust to the loving presence and action of God within us.
A contemplative prayer practice usually involves a ‘dropping in’ or an ‘unhooking from’ our busy mind. We learn to sink into our hearts or a posture of ‘noho puku’ - sitting in the belly. Practices like meditation, centering prayer or breath prayer can help us to become more aware of this inner home.
From this centre, contemplative prayer can be wonderfully creative, embodied, varied and joyfully authentic. A life of prayer spills out into kaleidoscopic colourful expression where the morning’s commute, a fishing trip or an afternoon walk can become a meeting place for the soul and God.
For me the gift of contemplative prayer is that we can ‘find God’ in the everyday. Giving space to slow down and look; to take time to ‘listen’ anywhere and everywhere, allowing that God may speak through anything and everything, gives a vibrancy to our relationship. The next corner may lead to another conversation, and potentially to more life. - Jo Anastasiadis
“I think its most precious gift is that contemplative spirituality is gentle and patient and it assists people to centre on heart and relationship rather than beliefs and thinking. It helps develop a way of looking that is attentive to the present moment.” - Trish O’Donnell
What are some of the gifts of contemplative spirituality for our churches and communities?
“I think contemplative spirituality has much to offer the church today – especially for those who are finding church doesn’t ‘work’ for them anymore. Many see Christianity as a set of rules to follow. There may be very little on what it means to be ‘with’ God or explore who God is. Contemplative spirituality invites my actions to come out of my deepening relationship with God, not a formula or a set of rules.”
Joanne Garton
“I think we are in an era where many are seeking 'truth' or larger life meaning. It seems to me that the contemplative emphasis on listening, self expression, deep connection with people and a 'journeying with' another to truth is very suitable for the seeker today.”
Vicki Roberts
“I think contemplative spirituality ultimately becomes a way of offering ourselves to God and the world. One of the side-benefits, in terms of shared life, is that it is a very ecumenical spirituality, where denominational differences melt away. I also think that the disillusionment rate for church-goers is increasing, and contemplative spirituality offers a place of anchor where people can rest and re-find their way (or be re-found).”
David Crawley
