Comments on: A Merton Minute http://towardgod.com/2009/05/26/a-merton-minute/ Our faith journeys: the places of connection, friction, and intersection between God and man Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:54:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: jeff. http://towardgod.com/2009/05/26/a-merton-minute/comment-page-1/#comment-26 jeff. Wed, 27 May 2009 05:40:55 +0000 http://towardgod.com/?p=474#comment-26 " In meditation we do not seek to know about God as though he were an object like other objects which submit to our scrutiny and can be expressed in clear scientific ideas. We seek to know God himself, beyond the level of all objects which he has made and which confront us as “things” isolated from another, “defined,” “delimited,” with clear boundaries. The infinite God has no boundaries and our minds cannot set limits to him or to his love. " For me, what Merton says in this quote is most key to his relationship with God and appreciating his writings. I've personally found that to most 'professing' Christians, when pressed, God is nothing more than a concept contained within the pages of a leather bound book. He is not living and real to them. A view I've never felt comfortable with, somehow knowing it fell short of what was possible and meant to be. This awareness and longing desire probably became most pronounced to me when Phil 3:10 & 11 ( http://bit.ly/TBdyE ) hit home. This is where meditation comes in. To be still, acknowledge my place and relationship with God, and know, He IS LORD. Yes, there is more to meditation than that, but taking the time to have a period of solitude with Him is the starting point of having communion with my Creator and Savior. Not holding onto bound pages of inked words, which by themselves can never really hold me in their arms and wrap me with Love. It is in these moments I spend with Him, that what He has said in the Bible now come to life, touch my heart, and change my life; and that still small voice can now be clearly heard. jeff. ” In meditation we do not seek to know about God as though he were an object like other objects which submit to our scrutiny and can be expressed in clear scientific ideas. We seek to know God himself, beyond the level of all objects which he has made and which confront us as “things” isolated from another, “defined,” “delimited,” with clear boundaries. The infinite God has no boundaries and our minds cannot set limits to him or to his love. ”

For me, what Merton says in this quote is most key to his relationship with God and appreciating his writings. I’ve personally found that to most ‘professing’ Christians, when pressed, God is nothing more than a concept contained within the pages of a leather bound book. He is not living and real to them. A view I’ve never felt comfortable with, somehow knowing it fell short of what was possible and meant to be. This awareness and longing desire probably became most pronounced to me when Phil 3:10 & 11 ( http://bit.ly/TBdyE ) hit home.

This is where meditation comes in. To be still, acknowledge my place and relationship with God, and know, He IS LORD. Yes, there is more to meditation than that, but taking the time to have a period of solitude with Him is the starting point of having communion with my Creator and Savior. Not holding onto bound pages of inked words, which by themselves can never really hold me in their arms and wrap me with Love. It is in these moments I spend with Him, that what He has said in the Bible now come to life, touch my heart, and change my life; and that still small voice can now be clearly heard.

jeff.

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