Holy Conversation: Spirituality for Worship

Chapter 6: Meditation

98 Chapter 6 Meditation Meditation as a movement in lectio divina builds on and goes beyond the basic proclamation laid out in the readings. During the reading of passages from Scripture, God’s voice in holy conversation is primary. We have the secondary role as obedient listeners seeking insight into the more objective meanings of the readings. In meditation, our role in the dialogue becomes more prominent as we intentionally further explore our initial musings concerning that which the readings evoked in us based on our attentive listening. In meditation we discern different levels of meaning beyond the more objective , intended historical meanings, particularly aspects of meaning that have to do with us in our own day, pro me, for me, pro nobis, for us. In meditation we seek the ongoing revelation that builds on the once-and-for-all Revelation of the Scriptures as the Spirit leads us into all truth. The Sermon and Holy Conversation Meditation proper, in terms of the movements of lectio divina applied to the liturgy, is formalized in the sermon as an expository, interpretive act of commentary that seeks specific implications of scriptural passages for faith and mission in our own day, in our own particular contexts, but based on and 99 Meditation emerging from the givenness of the Revelation. It is typically in the sermon that we seek meanings pro me, for me, and pro nobis, for us. What is a sermon? And what is it to preach? As with worship, there may be as many definitions as there are traditions and devotional styles. Additionally , there are layers of connotations that distract from a faithful appropriation or reappropriation of this proclamatory activity. Curiously and revealingly, in fact, the second-option definitions of the words sermon and preach in the Con­ cise Oxford English Dictionary are negative in tone. Acknowledging it as an informal understanding, a sermon is “a long or tedious admonition or reproof,” and to preach, colloquially understood in terms of preaching at someone, is “to give moral advice . . . in a self-righteous way.”1 Sermon’s closely related synonym , homily, also suffers from negative understanding in the second-option dictionary definition: “a tedious moralizing lecture.” Clearly, these alternative understandings have resulted from people’s conclusions about their experiences , and these experiences have been common enough to be included in a major dictionary. Exploring word origins can aid in redeeming important theological words and also spiritual practices from their negative connotations. Sermon comes from the Latin sermo, meaning “discourse, discussion, talk, speech, conversation ,” even “common talk” or “everyday language—all categories of relational experience far from negative connotations of sermons as tedious lectures. Sermo also relates to sero, from which is derived the word series, and means “to link together, connect, join, entwine.” In terms of an understanding constructed in part from word origins, a sermon is common conversation that links together, entwines God’s Word and our lives and builds us up as the body of Christ in the church, in community. The word homily in its relatedness to Greek word origins emphasizes the communal aspect of this discourse: homilia is conversation addressed to the crowd, the assembly, homilos, with whom the speaker consorts, homilein. The practice of offering reflection on Scripture in the form of a public speech is an inheritance from Judaism and has been centrally featured in Christian faith practice and worship since the earliest days of the church. Peter’s address to the crowd in Jerusalem that follows on the heels of the Spirit’s coming at Pentecost, discourse that results from the Spirit’s empowerment, is itself reflective of sermonic style. That address, recorded in Acts 2:14-36, focuses in large measure on Peter’s use of Scripture to interpret present events. He sees the Spirit’s appearing and the unleashing of tongues, allowing the followers to speak intelligibly in foreign languages, as evidence of the fulfillment of promises recorded by the prophet Joel: “In the last days it will be, God declares, 100 holy conversation that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy” (Acts 2:17a). Peter also alludes to and/or directly quotes from Psalms 16, 110, and 132, and from 2 Samuel, all in an effort to reinforce his proclamation of Jesus’ resurrection, suggesting, for example, that David the psalmist predicted that resurrection: “Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection...