Forms of Meditation

Today, in class we talked about the four forms of meditation outlined in Foster's book. The video dealt with two types and specifically the first one below:

1. meditation Scripturarum, the meditation upon scripture centering on the internalization and personalization of the scripture passage where the Word is allowed to become a message from God to you
2. re-collection (Middle Age contemplatives) or centering down (Quakers), a time to become still and enter the "recreating" silence, to center the mind ("palms down, palms up")
3. meditation upon the creation, giving attention to the created order, listening for the messengers of God
4. meditation upon events of our time; the attempt through meditation to find the meaning within today's events, to find "prophetic perspective"

In your participant's guide, Richard Foster provides four short steps to prepare for meditation. Take an opportunity to follow these steps at least once (hopefully more) before our next meeting. You may want to start your meditation by again practicing the lectio divina with the scripture passages provided on page 19 of your guide.

Foster also recommends the following resources for meditaion:

Some Fruits of Solitude by William Penn, 1644-1718. (Scottdale, PA: Herald, 2003)

Meditative Prayer by Richard Foster, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1983)