The first event in this year’s Anam Cara Community program will be on 10 March 2012.
A senior teacher from the Australian Christian Meditation Community, Ruth Fowler, will be coming to introduce (or remind) us to Christian Meditation.
- Date: Saturday 10 March 2012
- Time: 9.30am for 10am start
- Venue: Christ Church, 138 Princes Way, Drouin (http://g.co/maps/3hmwv)
- Catering: BYO lunch; morning and afternoon tea supplied
- Suggested donation: $5-$10 per person
- Further information and RSVP: Colin Thornby, 0403 776 402 (colin@anamcara-community.org)
Further information on the day can be found in the article below (a version of which was in the February 2012 edition of ‘The Gippsland Anglican’).
The Anam Cara Community’s mission is to provide support, fellowship and resources for those who are making the inner journey into God. Each year a number of events are held on a Saturday across the Diocese, and in Canberra. These events are designed to provide an opportunity for pilgrims to come together, learn, and encounter God. Everyone is welcome to attend any event, and information about membership of the Community is available at the event, or via the Community’s website (www.anamcara-community.org).
The first event for 2012 will be held on Saturday 11 March 2012, at Christ Church Drouin. The focus of the day will be on learning about the way of Christian Meditation. Meditation is a universal spiritual wisdom and a practice that we find at the core of all the great religious traditions, leading from the mind to the heart. It is a way of simplicity, silence and stillness. It can be practised by anyone from wherever they are on their life’s journey. It is only necessary to be clear about the practice and then to begin – and keep on beginning.
In Christianity this tradition became marginalised and even forgotten or suspect. But in recent times a great recovery of the contemplative dimension of Christian faith has been happening. Central to this now is the rediscovery of a practice of meditation in the Christian tradition that comes to us from the early Christian monks – the Desert Fathers and Mothers -and allows us to put into practice the teaching of Jesus on prayer in a radical and simple way.
John Main, a Roman Catholic Benedictine monk, has a major role in this contemporary renewal of the contemplative tradition. His teaching of this ancient tradition of prayer is rooted in the Gospels and the early Christian monastic tradition of the Desert.
Meditation has the capacity to open up the common ground between all cultures and faiths today. What makes meditation Christian? Firstly the faith with which you meditate – some sense of personal connection with Jesus. Then the historical scriptural and theological tradition in which we meditate.
Also, the sense of community it leads to: ‘when two or three pray together in my name, I am there among them.’ And the other means by which our spiritual life is nourished – the other forms of prayer like scripture, sacraments and worship. Meditation does not replace other forms of prayer. Quite the reverse it revives their meaning.
Finally – but also primarily – we meditate to take the attention off ourselves. In the Christian tradition it is seen as a work of love. It is not surprising then if we find we become more loving people as a result of meditating and this will express itself in all our relationships, our work and our sense of service especially to those in any kind of need.
Meditation helps people of all ages and cultures to find a simple and practical way to awaken and deepen their spiritual life. Children can, and like to meditate and their example shows us all how simple and natural it is.
The day will be presented by Ms Ruth Fowler, a senior teacher from the Australian Christian Meditation Community. Ruth was the co-founder of the Christian Meditation community in Australia in 1985, and led the community in its formative early years. She is the National Coordinator of the School for Christian Meditation and in this capacity has presented School weekends in Australia and New Zealand. She also contributes at an international level as a member of the International Resource Group of ‘The School’ to the development of resources for the WCCM. Ruth leads a meditation group and has given many presentations to groups interested in Christian Meditation. She has lived in western and eastern monastic settings and is interested in the points of meeting between the two.
Everyone is welcome to attend this event, which will begin at 9.30am with a cuppa, and conclude with worship at 4pm. Those attending should bring their own lunch. Tea and coffee will be supplied. A small donation of $5 (unwaged) or $10 (waged) is suggested. For further information, contact Colin Thornby (colin@anamcara-community.org, 0403 776 402).
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