Well… Meditation: a Protestant Presence program to (re)discover
Every month, on the 1st Sunday, Ma Foi… takes the truant path of the major issues of faith: sidewalk noises, field investigation, reflection with a guest, and getaway in the middle of nature with Damien Boyer. Ma Foi… is an initiation into a surprising world with those who, sometimes in a very disconcerting way, have chosen to follow Jesus Christ.
He pulled me out of the infernal pit, bottomless mud. He put me back on my feet, both feet on the rock; he made my step sure. - Psalm 40
“Mayday. Mayday,” the Titan sank. S.O.S. The pride of our titans speaks volumes about our depths. The higher a man elevates himself, the darker the depths of his soul. The more tragic the fall.
Sometimes, at 447 meters depth, a simple small hole in a thick (titanium?) shell can be enough to implode lives. On June 18, 2023, what happened to the Titan, the small submersible that sank body and soul with five people on board while trying to explore the wreck of the Titanic, is very similar to the story of the author of the song Amazing Grace, John Newton. The end less.
Aboard the Greyhound in 1748, John was also a titan in his own way: seasoned sailor, explorer of the human depths, slave trader, rejected by his family, he had nothing left to prove. But when the contrary winds were unleashed on the ship, unable to retreat any longer, he made the choice to plunge into prayer and turn to greater than himself: God. No doubt he had no other option than to immerse himself in himself so that, from the heart of the storm which roared off the coast of Ireland like from the heart of his dark soul, Prayer. The prayer for help, the one that would lead him on the paths of redemption. The one by which he asked God to save him from the "infernal pit", from "bottomless mud".
Our abysses are not only pride of course. From potholes that cause the handlebars to fork and fail in a gutter at the Marianne pits, there are so many! Inner wounds, life accidents, depressions, dramas, take your pick.
So here's the deal: while some well-being tuners, all-out experts in yoga and zenitudes offer small bamboo ointment to calm our spiritual commotions, the Bible invites us to a completely different form of meditation. . That of surrender to greater than oneself, that of humility, that of life. Not a regression towards childhood, towards innocence, towards the being that we were before, no. But, therefore, a redemption, that is to say a journey towards a peace led from above which makes it possible to pass the course, to go, on the contrary, forwards, forwards, to overcome all the tests. Like Jesus.
To talk about it, two incredible testimonies: a woman with the name of Admiral, Laura Nelson, vice-president of BLF editions and unfortunately an expert in the test of life, and Francine Kreiss, seabed observer and freediving champion. For them, meditating on the Bible, the Word of God, breathes life and saves. For them, to calm our storms, there is only one door, only one buoy, only one beach, only one salvation: to stand at the foot of the cross.
Mayday. Mayday. S.O.S. Save Our Souls. Yes, Lord, save our souls.
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Christopher Zimmerlin for Protestant Presence
