A Lutheran Approach to Hesychasm

[AMM]

I wrote a blog post about silence and hesychasm in prayer. I would appreciate your thoughts:
A Lutheran Approach to Hesychasm

 

[com7fy8]

about silence and hesychasm in prayer. I would appreciate your thoughts

Hi I am Bill . . . pleased to meet you God bless you

When I saw your title, the first thought which came to me is >

"rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." (1 Peter 3:4)

So, the quietness which we most need is in our spirit, not only in our mouths and minds.

In your article you say that "hesychasm means silence or stillness."

For starters, I would say that silence, if it is desirable, needs to be not only outward silence of not saying words, but also silence of our own thinking. So, this would mean we are not producing any of our own meditation repetition or other things; if we are repeating a prayer, this is not being silent . . . potentially a way of us controlling the mediation, instead of submitting to our Heavenly Father and how He corrects us and has us sharing with Him, in our mediation.

But we would submit to God, then discover if and what He has us praying and thinking in our minds.

You say hesychasm is "a common practice in the Eastern Orthodox church, most commonly practiced by quieting the mind, withdrawing from the senses, and focusing on the words of a repeated prayer, usually the Jesus prayer -- Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner."

Well, in case you use a repeated prayer which you already know and you have planned ahead of time to repeat, aren't you planning the meditation, yourself, to some extent, before you even start?

I, of course, then, can not counsel you with what God will do with you. But my personal experience of meditation and prayer is, I be quiet, but I pray not to be controlling how I am submissive to God, but discover how He corrects me spiritually so I am submissive the way He desires, then discover what He has me praying and thinking, in the ruling of His peace >

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful." (Colossians 3:15)

So, to me this means our basic calling is to obey howsoever at any moment our Heavenly Father is ruling us in His own peace. So, any meditation needs to be initiated by God in His peace, with first any correction He makes so we are submissive to Him in His peace, then He initiates every detail of that meditation.

And, by the way, God can initiate such peace meditation, at any time . . . right while I am in the middle of things with people and my projects . . . so I stay with Him, all the time, and reset and get restored into His "rest for your souls" (Matthew 11:28-30), at any time I am starting to get away from Him. He can retune me, right while I am writing or relating with people in ministry.

So - - - technically . . . if we already have planned what prayer we are going to repeat, this could mean we have already taken the meditation into our own hands and wills. But our Apostle Paul says >

"for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13)

To me, this means . . . always . . . we need howsoever God in us works our willing, with us in constant submission to Him and how He guides us "continually" (Isaiah 58:11).

Now . . . by the way . . . if we have a prayer which we are repeating, even if this is only in our minds, this is not silence in our minds, I would say. So, I would say start in full silence of offering ourselves to God for howsoever He quiets us and then has us enlightened in His love, and then encouraged to do what He pleases

And so, there is no preplanned time limit or anything else which we have already taken into our own control.

And the quietness we seek includes not having any sort of >

"bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking" or "malice", as Paul says in Ephesians 4:31-32.

And our overall purpose of submitting to God is in order for Him to correct us and perfect us in His love (1 John 4:17), so we become conformed to the image of His Son Jesus > Romans 8:29. Therefore, meditation is with the expectation that we become more and more like Christ (Galatians 4:19); and therefore we do not keep on calling ourselves "sinners", if we are receiving how God succeeds to correct us > Hebrews 12:4-11 shows how God's correction succeeds in us who are His children.

So, you say that in the "Jesus prayer" one calls oneself "the sinner". But after one has had fruitful meditation, with how God succeeds in correcting us, then such a prayer would become out-of-date, wouldn't it? And we would discover where God takes us, better than we can know to choose, now

And, again, please note how Paul our Apostle says he focused and related, with God >

"Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily." (Colossians 1:28-29)

So, Paul's focus is to minister for us all to become perfected in Jesus and His love. And Paul approaches this by constantly submitting to how God is working Paul to so labor.

So, in Biblical meditation and prayer, we are processed by God, transformed in our nature to become more and more always submissive to Him in His own peace (Colossians 3:15). And then we continue to relate with Him, this way, after we leave the meditation situation. The private meditation, then, standardizes us how to be and how to be pleasing to our Father and submissive to Him, all the time, even while we may be speaking, later, in order to minister God's love to one another, and minister for one another to grow up in Jesus "in all things into Him who is the Head---Christ---" > in Ephesians 4:11-16.

And our Apostle John calls us "children of God", in 1 John 3:1-2. So, it can be that calling ourselves sinners will become out of date, after we have meditated in the Holy Spirit and God's word. Also, I offer how the prayer Jesus taught us begins with "Our Father", and not with "our sins". So, if we see Him as our Father, this can have us seeing ourselves as being His children. So, the attention of meditation needs to begin with who our Father is, more than who we might consider our own selves to be

And Jesus growing in us shares with us how He is so pleasing to our Heavenly Father. Jesus in us changes our hearts so we are more and more "gentle and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29). So, meditation has us discovering this, then we can stay this way while doing all which God has us doing in sharing with Him in His peace.

 

[AMM]

Hi I am Bill . . . pleased to meet you God bless you

When I saw your title, the first thought which came to me is >

"rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." (1 Peter 3:4)

So, the quietness which we most need is in our spirit, not only in our mouths and minds.

In your article you say that "hesychasm means silence or stillness."

For starters, I would say that silence, if it is desirable, needs to be not only outward silence of not saying words, but also silence of our own thinking. So, this would mean we are not producing any of our own meditation repetition or other things; if we are repeating a prayer, this is not being silent . . . potentially a way of us controlling the mediation, instead of submitting to our Heavenly Father and how He corrects us and has us sharing with Him, in our mediation.

But we would submit to God, then discover if and what He has us praying and thinking in our minds.

You say hesychasm is "a common practice in the Eastern Orthodox church, most commonly practiced by quieting the mind, withdrawing from the senses, and focusing on the words of a repeated prayer, usually the Jesus prayer -- Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner."

Well, in case you use a repeated prayer which you already know and you have planned ahead of time to repeat, aren't you planning the meditation, yourself, to some extent, before you even start?

I, of course, then, can not counsel you with what God will do with you. But my personal experience of meditation and prayer is, I be quiet, but I pray not to be controlling how I am submissive to God, but discover how He corrects me spiritually so I am submissive the way He desires, then discover what He has me praying and thinking, in the ruling of His peace >

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful." (Colossians 3:15)

So, to me this means our basic calling is to obey howsoever at any moment our Heavenly Father is ruling us in His own peace. So, any meditation needs to be initiated by God in His peace, with first any correction He makes so we are submissive to Him in His peace, then He initiates every detail of that meditation.

And, by the way, God can initiate such peace meditation, at any time . . . right while I am in the middle of things with people and my projects . . . so I stay with Him, all the time, and reset and get restored into His "rest for your souls" (Matthew 11:28-30), at any time I am starting to get away from Him. He can retune me, right while I am writing or relating with people in ministry.

So - - - technically . . . if we already have planned what prayer we are going to repeat, this could mean we have already taken the meditation into our own hands and wills. But our Apostle Paul says >

"for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13)

To me, this means . . . always . . . we need howsoever God in us works our willing, with us in constant submission to Him and how He guides us "continually" (Isaiah 58:11).

Now . . . by the way . . . if we have a prayer which we are repeating, even if this is only in our minds, this is not silence in our minds, I would say. So, I would say start in full silence of offering ourselves to God for howsoever He quiets us and then has us enlightened in His love, and then encouraged to do what He pleases

And so, there is no preplanned time limit or anything else which we have already taken into our own control.

And the quietness we seek includes not having any sort of >

"bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking" or "malice", as Paul says in Ephesians 4:31-32.

And our overall purpose of submitting to God is in order for Him to correct us and perfect us in His love (1 John 4:17), so we become conformed to the image of His Son Jesus > Romans 8:29. Therefore, meditation is with the expectation that we become more and more like Christ (Galatians 4:19); and therefore we do not keep on calling ourselves "sinners", if we are receiving how God succeeds to correct us > Hebrews 12:4-11 shows how God's correction succeeds in us who are His children.

So, you say that in the "Jesus prayer" one calls oneself "the sinner". But after one has had fruitful meditation, with how God succeeds in correcting us, then such a prayer would become out-of-date, wouldn't it? And we would discover where God takes us, better than we can know to choose, now

And, again, please note how Paul our Apostle says he focused and related, with God >

"Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily." (Colossians 1:28-29)

So, Paul's focus is to minister for us all to become perfected in Jesus and His love. And Paul approaches this by constantly submitting to how God is working Paul to so labor.

So, in Biblical meditation and prayer, we are processed by God, transformed in our nature to become more and more always submissive to Him in His own peace (Colossians 3:15). And then we continue to relate with Him, this way, after we leave the meditation situation. The private meditation, then, standardizes us how to be and how to be pleasing to our Father and submissive to Him, all the time, even while we may be speaking, later, in order to minister God's love to one another, and minister for one another to grow up in Jesus "in all things into Him who is the Head---Christ---" > in Ephesians 4:11-16.

And our Apostle John calls us "children of God", in 1 John 3:1-2. So, it can be that calling ourselves sinners will become out of date, after we have meditated in the Holy Spirit and God's word. Also, I offer how the prayer Jesus taught us begins with "Our Father", and not with "our sins". So, if we see Him as our Father, this can have us seeing ourselves as being His children. So, the attention of meditation needs to begin with who our Father is, more than who we might consider our own selves to be

And Jesus growing in us shares with us how He is so pleasing to our Heavenly Father. Jesus in us changes our hearts so we are more and more "gentle and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29). So, meditation has us discovering this, then we can stay this way while doing all which God has us doing in sharing with Him in His peace.

Thank you for the very detailed response. I will be sure to provide a full reply over the weekend, but do not have enough time at the moment to properly respond in an equally generous and charitable manner that you have graciously given me.

 

[Tigger45]

This is great stuff for me. I've been looking for some starter meditative practices. I was an E.O. Catechumen and love many things about it but Lutheran theology fits me better.

 

[ViaCrucis]

I wrote a blog post about silence and hesychasm in prayer. I would appreciate your thoughts:
A Lutheran Approach to Hesychasm

I really dig this. Many years ago, during my wilderness period between Evangelicalism and Lutheranism, I encountered a number of topics dealing with Hesychasm, Orthodox Spirituality, the Way of the Pilgrim, etc. The story of the eponymous pilgrim as he learns to pray the Jesus Prayer was very important to my own personal and private prayer life, and have since that time sought to make the Jesus Prayer central to my own meditation and devotion, and to encourage in myself prayerful stillness. As someone who has clinical anxiety and depression, I have often found one of the very few things which can, at times, keep my mind afloat is falling upon this simple prayer, to direct my focus away from myself, to Christ, and to cling to Him for comfort.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[AMM]

When I saw your title, the first thought which came to me is >

"rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." (1 Peter 3:4)

So, the quietness which we most need is in our spirit, not only in our mouths and minds.

Sure, but our body and mind are not separated from our soul/spirit. One affects the other.

In your article you say that "hesychasm means silence or stillness."

For starters, I would say that silence, if it is desirable, needs to be not only outward silence of not saying words, but also silence of our own thinking. So, this would mean we are not producing any of our own meditation repetition or other things; if we are repeating a prayer, this is not being silent . . . potentially a way of us controlling the mediation, instead of submitting to our Heavenly Father and how He corrects us and has us sharing with Him, in our mediation.

But we would submit to God, then discover if and what He has us praying and thinking in our minds.

My thought is that saying a prayer is not producing our own words or thoughts. It is listening to his words spoken to us. If you want to get technical, I suppose you could use a recording of someone saying the Jesus prayer repeatedly (for example. You can find such a thing on YouTube easily). It's not controlling the meditation any more than reading one Psalm every day - in one sense, it is controlled, because on day one you read Psalm 1, on day 17 you read Psalm 17, etc. But it is when we listen to him that we are able to, well, listen to what he tells us (i.e., submit ourselves to him). He corrects us and shares with us through the Word and through prayer that is based on the Word. "We do not pray as we ought, but the Spirit intercedes for us in our weakness with unutterable groanings" says the blessed Saint Paul. Through prayer and meditation on the Word, the Spirit directs our thoughts and minds.
This is the benefit of following an appointed schedule or a specified prayer rule -- you don't get to randomly "pick and choose" which Bible passages to read, because they have already been assigned. If you just chose on your own, then I think that would be controlling the meditation, rather than simply following what has been given or "assigned" to us by our fathers in the faith.

You say hesychasm is "a common practice in the Eastern Orthodox church, most commonly practiced by quieting the mind, withdrawing from the senses, and focusing on the words of a repeated prayer, usually the Jesus prayer -- Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner."

Well, in case you use a repeated prayer which you already know and you have planned ahead of time to repeat, aren't you planning the meditation, yourself, to some extent, before you even start?

I suppose this is true, like I said above. If I plan to pray the Jesus prayer for 10 minutes every morning, for example, then I have planned the meditation. But I'm not sure why this is a bad thing... Things do not need to be spontaneous for them to be beneficial.

I, of course, then, can not counsel you with what God will do with you. But my personal experience of meditation and prayer is, I be quiet, but I pray not to be controlling how I am submissive to God, but discover how He corrects me spiritually so I am submissive the way He desires, then discover what He has me praying and thinking, in the ruling of His peace >

I think this is a fine approach. I don't have anything against improvised prayer, I just find myself bad at such a thing. When I pray, I prefer to pray a certain passage of Scripture (whether a Psalm or otherwise), a Creed, or the 10 Commandments, for example, and I let the Word and the church fathers show me how to pray, rather than merely my thoughts. But if you prefer spontaneous prayer, I'm not going to stop you.
Simply, for me, when I do a spontaneous prayer like you describe above, I worry that I will become an "enthusiast" (using the old meaning) and fall into the delusion that my thoughts and prayers are private revelations from God, when He has given himself to us in his Word.

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful." (Colossians 3:15)

So, to me this means our basic calling is to obey howsoever at any moment our Heavenly Father is ruling us in His own peace. So, any meditation needs to be initiated by God in His peace, with first any correction He makes so we are submissive to Him in His peace, then He initiates every detail of that meditation.

Letting God's peace rule in our hearts doesn't mean "obey!" It means, "remember, Christ Jesus the God-man, lived a perfect life, fulfilled all righteousness, and died for your sins and was raised from the dead to reconcile you to the Father, defeat sin, trample down death, and conquer the devil."
I don't disagree that "meditation needs to be initiated by God". The Spirit is the one who prompts us to pray in all circumstances - I do not pray of my own accord but only through his guidance and direction.

And, by the way, God can initiate such peace meditation, at any time . . . right while I am in the middle of things with people and my projects . . . so I stay with Him, all the time, and reset and get restored into His "rest for your souls" (Matthew 11:28-30), at any time I am starting to get away from Him. He can retune me, right while I am writing or relating with people in ministry.

Right. We are to pray without ceasing. This is a gift from the Spirit, not something we conjure up.

So - - - technically . . . if we already have planned what prayer we are going to repeat, this could mean we have already taken the meditation into our own hands and wills.

I disagree. When the disciples asked how they should pray, Jesus gave them a specific prayer. Early Christians prayed this three times a day. Does that mean they took over from God and took the meditation into their own hands? No. It just means that they responded to what they had been given and what they had been told to do. We've been given a treasury of prayers in the Scriptures, as I mentioned in my article. One hundred fifty psalms, the Lord's prayer, dozens of canticles throughout the Old and New Testament, prayers and early hymns or creeds from Paul's letters, prayers from the parables Christ gives us (Including the origin of the Jesus Prayer: "God be merciful to me, a sinner!" Luke 18).
Using the prayers we've been given is the furthest from taking the meditation into our own hands. We're literally just using what God gave us. He has already told us how to pray.

But our Apostle Paul says >

"for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13)

To me, this means . . . always . . . we need howsoever God in us works our willing, with us in constant submission to Him and how He guides us "continually" (Isaiah 58:11).

In this context though, the "you" that God works in is actually plural -- Paul speaks of God's work in the Church. It is true that he works with us individually through the indwelling of Christ (by Baptism and His Holy, Precious Body and Blood) and the gift of the Spirit. But in this context, that's not what that verse is referring to.

Now . . . by the way . . . if we have a prayer which we are repeating, even if this is only in our minds, this is not silence in our minds, I would say. So, I would say start in full silence of offering ourselves to God for howsoever He quiets us and then has us enlightened in His love, and then encouraged to do what He pleases

Remember the first thing you started this comment with -- "the quietness which we most need is in our spirit, not only in our mouths and minds."
If our mind is constantly repeating God's Word in prayer, this is spiritual silence. It is not my sinful thoughts, but God's Word that leads my spirit. The goal of Hesychasm is not to never have any thought or speak at all (if you want that, become a buddhist monk and pursue zen), but to occupy ourselves with Christ.

And so, there is no preplanned time limit or anything else which we have already taken into our own control.

The purpose of the time limit is NOT to limit our prayer. I use time limits as time minimums. I can pray more if I want, but I set aside time to pray for at least 10 minutes every morning, for example, or at least 100 Jesus prayers, etc. I can always pray more. But if I don't have a minimum limit, then I will skip prayer entirely. Speaking from sinful experience.

And the quietness we seek includes not having any sort of >

"bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking" or "malice", as Paul says in Ephesians 4:31-32.

And our overall purpose of submitting to God is in order for Him to correct us and perfect us in His love (1 John 4:17), so we become conformed to the image of His Son Jesus > Romans 8:29. Therefore, meditation is with the expectation that we become more and more like Christ (Galatians 4:19);

As we become more like Christ, we become more aware of our sin.

and therefore we do not keep on calling ourselves "sinners", if we are receiving how God succeeds to correct us > Hebrews 12:4-11 shows how God's correction succeeds in us who are His children.

The Word does correct us. However, do we perfectly follow? I do not. We are disciplined by the Law and struggle against sin.
Indeed, we are surrounded by a great cloud of martyrs, those who have gone before us and run the race provide an example for us as we run our race. Through our race, we grow more dependent on Christ as our life continues and we realize ever more that we must "look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2). Christ endured this hostility from us (we are the sinners!), but this act strengthens us so that we do not become weary. While we struggle against sin, we may come to the point where we shed our blood - are martyred for the faith as others have done, most notably Christ.
And indeed, he exhorts us to follow the "discipline of the Lord" because he treats us as his sons. The Word (specifically the Law) corrects us and disciplines us constantly, and we can never stop applying the Law to ourselves, for, as the author says, "if you are left without discipline, then you are illegitimate children and not sons." This discipline, though it pains us now, will guide us along the race that has been set before us, and it will function as a curb to keep us on the Path who is Christ (John 14:6). This is "the peaceful fruit of righteousness" that we receive.
We receive Christ in two manners:
First, in the Supper. Christ gives us his Body and Blood, but we are told to "examine ourselves" lest we sin against the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 11). We "examine ourselves" by comparing our life to God's Word. My life constantly falls short and I do not deserve to have Christ come under the roof of my mouth. However, through the word pronounced on me in Baptism, the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and through the word of forgiveness pronounced just before by the ordained minister acting on behalf of Christ, I am healed and made worthy by grace to partake.
Second, in the Resurrection. After running the race, we see Christ face to face (1 Corinthians 13), after the Resurrection of the Body.

So, you say that in the "Jesus prayer" one calls oneself "the sinner". But after one has had fruitful meditation, with how God succeeds in correcting us, then such a prayer would become out-of-date, wouldn't it? And we would discover where God takes us, better than we can know to choose, now

God does correct us. As I stated above, He continually corrects us with his Commandments, guiding our life and showing us our sin. Indeed, I never cease to be a sinner. For, as Paul says, "For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me." (1 Corinthians 4:4)

So we see from this that even if we are able to examine our lives against the Commands of God and find ourselves blameless (which I cannot imagine happening in my lifetime), I still cannot say that I am free from sin, that I am no longer a sinner. Again, to quote the blessed Apostle, "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." (1 Timothy 1:15)

Calling myself a sinner never becomes an "out of date" or incorrect confession. In the resurrection, certainly, I will be given a resurrected, glorified body and no longer be subject to sin. I will be able to serve my neighbor in gladness without doing it for myself out of greed. I will no longer worry about myself but will be able to entirely direct my service to my neighbor and to my Lord and Savior, the Lamb who was slain and sits on the throne surrounded by a multitude of angels and saints.
But until that day - that most blessed day, which I await with eagerness - I am the chief of sinners. Lord have mercy on me. Forgive me for all my sins, those that I know, and those which I am unaware of.

And, again, please note how Paul our Apostle says he focused and related, with God >

"Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily." (Colossians 1:28-29)

So, Paul's focus is to minister for us all to become perfected in Jesus and His love. And Paul approaches this by constantly submitting to how God is working Paul to so labor.

Exactly. We are to strive for holiness and perfection.

No one said we would achieve that before the new creation.

So, in Biblical meditation and prayer, we are processed by God, transformed in our nature to become more and more always submissive to Him in His own peace (Colossians 3:15). And then we continue to relate with Him, this way, after we leave the meditation situation. The private meditation, then, standardizes us how to be and how to be pleasing to our Father and submissive to Him, all the time, even while we may be speaking, later, in order to minister God's love to one another, and minister for one another to grow up in Jesus "in all things into Him who is the Head---Christ---" > in Ephesians 4:11-16.

Sure. Like I said earlier, as Paul admonishes us, we are to pray without ceasing. That should be our goal. Even once our scheduled prayer period is done, we can still pray while we work, sanctifying our daily tasks, singing "hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs" (Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16).

And our Apostle John calls us "children of God", in 1 John 3:1-2. So, it can be that calling ourselves sinners will become out of date, after we have meditated in the Holy Spirit and God's word. Also, I offer how the prayer Jesus taught us begins with "Our Father", and not with "our sins". So, if we see Him as our Father, this can have us seeing ourselves as being His children. So, the attention of meditation needs to begin with who our Father is, more than who we might consider our own selves to be

Yes, but recall what Saint John says earlier in his epistle:
"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 1-2)

If I ever say that I am no longer a sinner and no longer have a sin, then I make Christ a liar.

Additionally, the Lord's Prayer does begin with "Our Father" - we pray alongside Christ and all Christians from all time, praying the same prayer. However, it also includes a petition to "forgive us our sins!" because we are always in need of forgiveness of sins.

And Jesus growing in us shares with us how He is so pleasing to our Heavenly Father. Jesus in us changes our hearts so we are more and more "gentle and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29). So, meditation has us discovering this, then we can stay this way while doing all which God has us doing in sharing with Him in His peace.

In theory, yes, we grow more Christlike and cease to sin.
If you are able to do this, then praise be to God who has granted you the ability to cease sin!
I am not. I continuously fall short of the glory of God and always find myself engrossed in yet another sin, not praying as I ought, not fearing, loving, and trusting God above all else, not loving my neighbor but seeking my own good. I pray every day that God has mercy on me, for I am a great sinner. I pray every day that he will rescue me from this body of death and take me from this vale of tears. I constantly pray that I will be cleansed of my sins, and my iniquities will be washed from me. I pray that I will be kept in the faith until I die and be given a blessed end and be shown mercy, for I am unrighteous and deserve nothing from Thrice-Holy, Mighty, Immortal God.

"So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty’" (Luke 17:10).
"Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities" (Psalm 51:9).

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Most High God, have mercy on me, the sinner.

 

[AMM]

This is great stuff for me. I've been looking for some starter meditative practices. I was an E.O. Catechumen and love many things about it but Lutheran theology fits me better.

Thank you. I'm glad you found it edifying. I have similarly found great benefit in some Eastern Orthodox practices and theology, to the point that I have considered converting (have not taken catechesis classes though), but I also find Lutheran theology truly beautiful and accurate in most regards. So instead I cannibalize the stuff I like from the EO and make it Lutheran

I really dig this. Many years ago, during my wilderness period between Evangelicalism and Lutheranism, I encountered a number of topics dealing with Hesychasm, Orthodox Spirituality, the Way of the Pilgrim, etc. The story of the eponymous pilgrim as he learns to pray the Jesus Prayer was very important to my own personal and private prayer life, and have since that time sought to make the Jesus Prayer central to my own meditation and devotion, and to encourage in myself prayerful stillness. As someone who has clinical anxiety and depression, I have often found one of the very few things which can, at times, keep my mind afloat is falling upon this simple prayer, to direct my focus away from myself, to Christ, and to cling to Him for comfort.

-CryptoLutheran

Thank you. I have found similar benefit in keeping me focused on Christ and not myself - I have a neuromuscular disease which often causes great pain in my legs and hands (as well as other problems), and grabbing my prayer rope to help as I repeat the Jesus Prayer until the pain subsides has been beyond helpful on several occasions.

 

[com7fy8]

not something we conjure up.

If prayer is spontaneous, yes there is this issue of if I am conjuring up the meditation and how I could be self producing how I suppose I am being submissive to God.

at least 100 Jesus prayers, etc.

Well, I think it could be good to feed through a whole epistle, verse by verse so we don't skip anything. This could have us seeing some things which we might not be ready to receive by Jesus prayer or spontaneous meditation.

First, in the Supper. Christ gives us his Body and Blood, but we are told to "examine ourselves" lest we sin against the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 11). We "examine ourselves" by comparing our life to God's Word.

I think the context supports that Paul wants us to examine how we are relating with one another while partaking. People were shaming the poor. I think this is a major part of the context of what Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 11. And so, I consider that "not discerning the Lord's body" could mean they were not appreciating how those poor are the body of Christ.

So we see from this that even if we are able to examine our lives against the Commands of God and find ourselves blameless (which I cannot imagine happening in my lifetime), I still cannot say that I am free from sin, that I am no longer a sinner.

Yes, we all still do sin. And I think that as we mature, more and more we see our sins in terms of if we are loving others the way God wants, or not, and if we are being pleasing to God.

Thank you

Bill

 

[AMM]

Well, I think it could be good to feed through a whole epistle, verse by verse so we don't skip anything. This could have us seeing some things which we might not be ready to receive by Jesus prayer or spontaneous meditation.

Sure, reading an epistle or a prophet is certainly beneficial. I'm not disagreeing. Reading Scripture is essential to the life of the Christian!

I think the context supports that Paul wants us to examine how we are relating with one another while partaking. People were shaming the poor. I think this is a major part of the context of what Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 11. And so, I consider that "not discerning the Lord's body" could mean they were not appreciating how those poor are the body of Christ.

Right -- sins are against our neighbor. Sins are sins because they hurt or harm our neighbor in body or soul, in some way. Examining ourselves includes our actions against God and our neighbor.

Yes, we all still do sin. And I think that as we mature, more and more we see our sins in terms of if we are loving others the way God wants, or not, and if we are being pleasing to God.

We are pleasing to God on account of faith alone (Heb 11:6).
The commands of God are positive and negative. For instance, the command against murdering means that we should (1) fear God and (2) love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body but we do help and support him in every physical need. Note that it even includes our thoughts (Matthew 5:21-26). As we grow more dependent on Christ, we should find ourselves able to restrain our flesh more and more (i.e., we don't punch our neighbor, and we do care for him) but still struggle against our fleshly concupiscence (i.e., we still get mad and want to punch our neighbor, and we don't want to give alms or help someone who is sick and gross).

 

[Tangible]

I think that whatever healthy practice of personal piety you find to be beneficial to you is fine. One caveat, though, is to avoid sliding into the practice of mysticism, as defined by Koeberle, to avoid seeking an unmediated experience of God or "listening for God speaking to you" other than through Word and Sacrament.

"The second ladder is mysticism. Mysticism is the ladder of emotions. The mystic thinks that heaven can be reached by an emotional experience. If we sing the song enough times, if we sit in profound silence, if we discipline our soul, we can feel God, experience God, somehow climb the ladder of the emotions into the bliss of heaven. But this ladder, like the ladder of moralism, is woefully short. Searching the depths of the human soul for the flower of divinity, it finds instead the horror and the depth of sin clinging not just to our flesh but to our very soul. Mysticism, if it is honest, finds that we are sinners, and that we cannot change that on our own. Mysticism, if it is not honest, becomes inflated with is idolatrous pride that thinks “God lives in me.” No one one is saved by ascending the ladder of mysticism."
Three Broken Ladders - World Wide Wolfmueller

"For those who are certain of having heard “the voice,” there are a variety of possible explanations that can reconcile experience with Scripture, ranging from an over-spiritualized epiphany or imagination to mental illness. But we shouldn’t confuse the work of the Holy Spirit with personal revelation. Jesus taught that the Holy Spirit would guide us into all truth and remind us of His teaching. Those moments when a Biblical passage or teaching we’ve struggled with suddenly makes sense to us, those times we struggle with a decision and Biblical teaching on the matter is brought to memory or made clear: this is the work of the Holy Spirit through the written Word. If it cannot be traced back to the written Word, it is not of God. God is not a liar. He speaks only where He has promised to speak, through preaching and His Word. Hmmmmm, who could it be, who could it be, that is urgently desiring to distract our focus from the Bible and direct it towards terminal introspection, seeking to find some inner light from within?"
Which Part of “From the Devil” don’t you understand?

 

[AMM]

I think that whatever healthy practice of personal piety you find to be beneficial to you is fine. One caveat, though, is to avoid sliding into the practice of mysticism, as defined by Koeberle, to avoid seeking an unmediated experience of God or "listening for God speaking to you" other than through Word and Sacrament.

"The second ladder is mysticism. Mysticism is the ladder of emotions. The mystic thinks that heaven can be reached by an emotional experience. If we sing the song enough times, if we sit in profound silence, if we discipline our soul, we can feel God, experience God, somehow climb the ladder of the emotions into the bliss of heaven. But this ladder, like the ladder of moralism, is woefully short. Searching the depths of the human soul for the flower of divinity, it finds instead the horror and the depth of sin clinging not just to our flesh but to our very soul. Mysticism, if it is honest, finds that we are sinners, and that we cannot change that on our own. Mysticism, if it is not honest, becomes inflated with is idolatrous pride that thinks “God lives in me.” No one one is saved by ascending the ladder of mysticism."
Three Broken Ladders - World Wide Wolfmueller

"For those who are certain of having heard “the voice,” there are a variety of possible explanations that can reconcile experience with Scripture, ranging from an over-spiritualized epiphany or imagination to mental illness. But we shouldn’t confuse the work of the Holy Spirit with personal revelation. Jesus taught that the Holy Spirit would guide us into all truth and remind us of His teaching. Those moments when a Biblical passage or teaching we’ve struggled with suddenly makes sense to us, those times we struggle with a decision and Biblical teaching on the matter is brought to memory or made clear: this is the work of the Holy Spirit through the written Word. If it cannot be traced back to the written Word, it is not of God. God is not a liar. He speaks only where He has promised to speak, through preaching and His Word. Hmmmmm, who could it be, who could it be, that is urgently desiring to distract our focus from the Bible and direct it towards terminal introspection, seeking to find some inner light from within?"
Which Part of “From the Devil” don’t you understand?

I agree entirely, but it's always a good reminder, so I thank you for that.

Also, ew, gross, a Wolfmueller quote. Now I have to bleach my eyes and delete my browser history, lol.

At least it wasn't from Table Talk Radio

 

[Daniel9v9]

What can I say - I like it. I think it finds a good balance that doesn't fall into either scholasticism or mysticism. It's also my personal feeling that there are many things (adiaphora) we can learn from our Eastern Orthodox friends, so your words appeal to me.

I can identify with the conviction, and actually, checking out your website a bit more I was inspired to reform my own praying, so thank you. It's something that has been on my heart for a while now.

As iron sharpens iron, hey!