Contemplative Fire part 1

I spent Thursday afternoon/evening and all day Friday at a "Contemplative Fire" retreat being held at St. Paul's, Bloor Street. Contemplative Fire is a movement that has emerged in England out of the Fresh Expressions renewal they are experiencing in the Church of England. Contemplative Fire itself is interesting is exploring the contemplative path of Christianity with people using meditation, body prayer, lectio divina, liturgy, and other techniques. It's more broad than many similar movements (like Centering Prayer) and more comprehensive. "Companions on the Way" of Contemplative Fire join small groups that meet on an on going basis for listening, prayer, and discernment. In all of this I heard the echos and synthesis of dozens of different methods and techniques that have been floating around church circles for many years. The unique thing here is that they are being taken back to the mainstream Christian experience and made more accessible by being packaged together into a whole experience.

The leader of this retreat (actually, more of a "time apart" since we all went home Thursday night and returned in the morning) was Philip Roderick. (You can read his blog here, btw.) Philip is a very gentle guy with a contemplative heart and skillful at leading these kinds of events. What I especially appreciated was his willingness to let things develop spontaneously. There was much less planning of, say, the liturgy than you might expect. This would have driven some folks I know crazy, but we had broad outlines as various pieces and it all worked out just fine. Personally, I like worshipping in that style!

One of the pleasant surprises was the music. At several points in the event Philip led the group in simple chants. Sometimes this meant singing along to pre-recorded music. Other times he led us a cappella or using a Djebe (borrowed from COTM) or even with a Hang Drum.

Never heard of a Hang? Me either. It's a very rare instrument related to the steel drum. Unlike the steel drum, however, it is played with the hands and can make music in other ways than simple percussion. For example, drawing you finger along it can make it ring like a Tibetan Singing Bowl. Touching or thumping different areas produce different notes along a single scale (in this Philip's case, Dorian). Very cool. I recommend this you tube demo of this unique instrument:


So imagine your meditation leader using something like this to create contemplative worship!

Personally, my "time apart" was rewarding. Someone asked me "is it working?" I replied, "I'm not sure how I would talk about whether prayer was 'working.' But if you mean, 'are you having a good-feeling of God's presence,' I would say that I haven't had any big epiphanies, but lots of small consolations. And small consolations are all I need these days." So I'm glad I went and also glad that I took part in some of the planning and execution. I hope that there are more events like this in the future.

-t