The Kingdom of God is like a buried treasure, Jesus told us in a parable. When love appears like when I play with my son or go beyond myself and pray for a fellow worker, who, though an unbeliever, needs prayer for a personal pain, the truth of this parable shines through to me.
Be still and know that I am God. These words are a call to a deeper prayer life and one that rarely is called for from our pulpits. Meditate and contemplating on the Kingdom and God are frowned on in many circles. The practice of Lectio Divina and many traditional contemplative practices that have been around since the early church and practiced by Martin Luther all the way back to St .Augustine and further are viewed suspiciously within Evangelical circles. This, even as science has looked at the practice of mindfulness as beneficial to the health and well being of humans. So why are practices that have been with the church since the beginnings being viewed as strange and discouraged today? I am not sure.
What I am sure of, though, is that being aware of the presence of Jesus in my life makes me like the man who finds treasure and will give up everything for that treasure. Loving God and loving others maybe commands, but they are also enrich my life. Finding Jesus in the midst of my son’s brain surgery and the glorious light the surrounded and filled his recovery room, I know God is real and with us. Practicing contemplating on the presence of God maybe viewed as a bit of New Age malarky within Evangelical circles, and yet, I know to be still and contemplate on the nature of the Holy Trinity is good and biblical.
