Contemplative Practices:: Meditation

When I was growing up yoga and voodoo were synonymous. 

Anything Eastern was to be mistrusted  and it was a way that the devil could infiltrate your soul. 
While that language sounds over the top, I can promise you that is a direct quote. 

Where does this kind of fear come from? Why would people in relationship with the One God of all people be scared of other religious practices? If your faith requires isolation to be safe, then what kind of faith do you really have? 

This isn't to say that I think that every idea is neutral or beneficial. I think there are very real dangerous thoughts that lead to all kinds of very real dangerous practices. The way that I know these ideas are dangerous is because we've seen the harm they've created in the world. 

The key difference was that the mistrust of Eastern practices and ideas I was exposed to was rooted in ignorance. Could you really say that yoga and meditation has created harm in our world? This is the same culture that taught me to consume products at an unsustainable pace for sake of the economy, but people who focused on breathing while stretching were evil??

This message is the wrap up to our message series on prayer and contemplative practices. I think it's important to evaluate barriers in our history that are keeping us from helpful prayer practices for no discernible reason. I hope this message meets you ready to open to a wider definition of prayer to get the core of connecting with a good and loving God.