The Meditating Pastor pt. 2

In the first part of this series we defined meditation as: "The ability, with intention, to pause and focus calmly on one task at a time for an extended length of time.”

In this, the second of our of three part “The Meditating Pastor” series we want to compare the modern idea of “mindful meditation” with the ancient practice of meditation mentioned in the Bible. What the differences between these similarly named practices?

A word search of the English Standard Version of the Bible finds 14 instances of the word  “meditate” with the vast majority of mentions occurring in the Psalms. Most of the instances of the word meditate - in the original languages - are written to describe the context in which the author relates to the promises of God in a purposeful, musing, and sometimes even a complaining manner. The Bible poses both singular and dialogical possibilities to the process of meditation. Dialogical in this context meaning thinking/talking to oneself or in prayer to God. A wonderful example of chewing over a text can be seen in John Piper’s “Look at the Book” video series found here.

In his seminal classic “Knowing God,” theologian J.I. Packer defines meditation, in part as:

“...often a matter of arguing with oneself, reasoning oneself out of moods of doubt and unbelief into a clear apprehension of God's power and grace.”

Pastor and author Eugene Peterson in his wonderful volume on biblical reading, “Eat this Book”  describes a Hebrew word, hagah, which is found in Isaiah 31:4 describing a lion’s growling over its prey. Peterson discovered that the Hebrew word hagah is oddly enough is found in other verses describing meditation. While watching his dog chew on a bone Peterson describes a having spark of insight about what the Bible really is getting at when talking about meditation:

“Hagah is a word that our Hebrew ancestors used frequently for reading the kind of writing that deals with our souls. But ‘meditate’ is far too tame a word for what is being signified. ‘Meditate’ seems more suited to what I do in a quiet chapel on my knees with a candle burning on the altar. Or to what my wife does while sitting in a rose garden with the Bible open in her lap. But when Isaiah's lion and my dog meditated they chewed and swallowed, using teeth and tongue, stomach and intestines: Isaiah's lion meditating his goat (if that's what it was); my dog meditating his bone.”

Mindfulness has a lot of press right now. So, what is it? A good, simple definition of mindfulness is:

“Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.”

Mindful meditation is an intentional process that only requires three simple step, described by ABC journalist and author of “10% Happier,” Dan Harris:

“One, sit down with your spine straight and close your eyes. Second, try to notice where the feeling of your breath is most prominent, and try to focus on what it feels like every time it comes in and goes out. And the third step is the key. Your mind is going to start wandering like crazy. Every time that happens, every time you catch your mind wandering, forgive yourself and bring your attention back to the breath. That moment is the bicep curl for the brain.“

That last statement is the key of it all. Mindful Meditation’s great benefit is in its ability to strengthen weakness in the mind. The American Psychological Association states: “Researchers theorize that mindfulness meditation promotes metacognitive awareness, decreases rumination via disengagement from perseverative cognitive activities and enhances attentional capacities through gains in working memory. These cognitive gains, in turn, contribute to effective emotion-regulation strategies.” The other benefits of mindfulness include: reduced rumination, stress reduction, boosts to working memory, increased focus, less emotional reactivity, more cognitive flexibility and increased relational satisfaction.

As we’ve seen, Biblical Meditation is like sitting down to chew on and digest the Word of God. Biblical Meditation is the practice of attempting to relate with a text that is alive and accepting its invitation to enjoy it and the God who wrote it. Stereotypes of biblical devotion often imagine sterile, quiet and even boring reading sessions but true meditation on the Word of God seems to be more like enjoying a favorite meal with best friends.

Mindful Meditation is exercise for your brain. Unlike any physical workout, mindfulness only involves sitting still, focusing on deep breathing and bringing the mind back to breath-focus when it inevitably wanders off to the million other thoughts it wants to have. Another simple definition is: “Mindfulness is the ability to know what’s happening in your head at any given moment without getting carried away by it.” Stereotypes of mindful meditation seem to picture the practice as a spiritual emptying when in fact - if practiced with enough frequency - it fortifies the mind in order that we can more enjoy better things like biblical devotion for longer.

Even though both share the similarities of stillness, focus and intentionality, Mindful Meditation and Biblical Meditation are not the same thing. The two practices share the english word “meditation” but are different in essential aim. Difference in aim, though, does not negate a potentially powerful complementary nature that Mindful Meditation brain training and Biblical devotion can share.

Next time we want to answer the questions: How can mindful meditation be leveraged by the Christian as a tool to strengthen mental and emotional deficit? Can mindfulness help the Christian to love God and people more?

Look for the third and final part of this series next week to learn about the devotional potential of synthesizing mindful and biblical meditation in your life.

"Yes" is Killing You

Today, in the church, niceness is the coin of the realm and customer service is the rule of the realm.

We would all probably say that we’d rather live in a majority nice world than a majority mean world. And we’d all probably enjoy attending and serving in a church that has more nice people than mean people. But have we, as a Christian culture, somewhere along the way distorted the meanings of “nice” and “mean”?

The last fifty years in America the commodification and consumption of church/pastoral services has paralleled the exponential commodification and consumption levels of secular culture. We have come to expect our pastors and church staff to be less like shepherds of souls and more like spiritual concierge.

The sheep and the shepherds are both to blame in the paradigm shift of church culture. But the shepherds are the ones who feel the painful effects of the shift most acutely. Pastors and church staff just cannot take, for long, the erosion of any dividing line between their work life and their personal lives. The healthy border of work/life that many attendees get to enjoy in their own personal lives is not a luxury normally afforded to pastors, church staff and para-church workers.

The construction of a healthy boundary requires us to look at a person and tell them “no.” To someone who is nice, the very thought saying no to another person may feel tantamount to slapping a person in the face. But, a person who implements a healthy boundary may find, like Brené Brown, “I’m not as sweet as I used to be, but I am far more loving.”  

The conflation of “meanness” with proper boundaries is one of the greatest threats to the modern ministry worker today. The desire to seem kind by extending oneself past what is healthy is neither loving nor safe.

A wonderful definition of boundaries is: “What is okay and what is not okay?”

• Is it okay that for the 3rd week in a row church work has gotten in the way of date night with my wife?

• Is it okay that I only get 4 hours of sleep a night?

• Is it okay that I eat and feel so poorly all the time?

• Is it okay that this one couple at church requires undivided attention several times a week?

• Is it okay that I have only been to a few of my daughter’s soccer games this fall?

• Is it okay that I just “turn the cheek” to the consistent insults of my church members?

• Is it okay that I really hate my church members?

A challenge to putting boundaries in our lives is that people react poorly to them. Here is the good news: the way you can tell if a boundary was needed is if someone reacts negatively to that boundary. The litmus test for how needed a boundary is: how loud a person screams when they butt up against that newly placed boundary.

Another challenge to placing healthy boundaries in our life is identifying where we need them. It becomes apparent where we need boundaries when our life detonates around us. But how do we spot warning signs before things explode? A trusted, objective, third party like a counselor or an older more experienced mentor, can be a massive help in spotting areas that may need the implementation of a boundary.

What is one area of your life or who is one person in your life that needs a boundary this week?

Emotionally Transmitted Disease

The work of soul care can be incredibly rewarding. It can be so rewarding that it often comes with an effect called “helper high.” It feels good to try and make people feel good, especially when the results are positive.

People work is not always rewarding. If you have done soul care for any length of time you know that it is slow work that necessitates wading into people’s deepest, darkest emotional and relational swamps. Whether we know it or not (or like it or not)  emotions rub off on us and affect us. Over time, those in helper-type professions can become inundated with “emotional contagion” and become negatively affected.

A Yale University study defines emotional contagion as "a process in which a person or group influences the emotions or behavior of another person or group through the conscious or unconscious induction of emotion states and behavioral attitudes.”

Emotional infection can be a 1 to 1 situation where the mood of a person you are interacting with caused you to begin to feel that feeling. Humans in their complexity can also experience emotional contagion at even second and third hand interactions. Hearing a story of how someone reacted or feeling pressure by a person or group to feel a certain way that they deem as appropriate can cause you to experience certain emotions.

Like the flu or a cold, being infected by emotional contagion comes with certain signs and symptoms. And like a cold, emotional contagion also comes with certain remedies.

Signs you may be affected by emotional contagion:

• Do you feel more anxious after working with an anxious person, more depressed after working with a depressed person? This subconscious mimicking is a strong sign of emotional contagion.

• Do you overall have less energy and drive to do the work of soul care than you normally do or you have in the past?

• Do you avoid intimacy in your personal life because you are too tired or overwhelmed?

Remedies for the effects of emotional contagion:

• Rituals of resetting - immediately after doing intense soul care with an individual or group develop and practice a sort of “mental hand-washing” that can help you realize and contain the work rather than carrying it with you. This could include prayer, self-talk, brain quieting, getting up and walking the halls, closing your eyes and breathing, etc…

• Know your emotional vocab - the ability to have the correct words to attach to the things you may be feeling seems like a small thing but it can be a massive help. Collections like this one may be helpful in getting more specific with what you are feeling.

• Launch a counter-attack - feelings of calm and serenity are potent emotions that can counter many feelings associated with negative emotional contagion. The practice of mindful meditation and processing with the purpose of letting go of another’s pain can help greatly in strengthening emotional antibodies.