Last night I went to my first Taize service in a long time. If you don't react violently to candles or repetitive music, they are restful, peaceful services. The service leader (a good friend) made the very valid point that one cannot empty the mind, it is impossible. I don't understand one hand clapping (except Bart Simpson's version), nor do I want an empty mind. In listening to "Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom" I was able to focus and sharpen my mind, not dull it. Christian meditation is not something to be frightened of, dismissed as idolatry, etc as some more cognitive forms of Christianity are want to do.
I kept thinking of a failed revolutionary expecting to bring in God's kingdom by violence seeing someone forgive and not revile, a pacifist executed as a murderer, and realising that what he had longed for would be achieved one day. He didn't expect to be in paradise that day, but he did.
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