Be Still and Know
Written by Ng Zhi-Wen
I recall what the first Circuit Breaker (CB) was like. The first few weeks were spent either in sullen silence or in frenzy (HBL + WFH!!!). I was losing my sense of time – my normal routine went out the window. And it was awful seeing how pandemic fears and CB restrictions were also afflicting others around me.
So imagine the dread that many have been facing ever since we plunged into Phase 2 (Heightened Alert). Call it a semi-CB or what you will, but do you recall what practices helped you sustain and nurture your walk with the Lord the last time? What simple rituals or activities helped you to ‘keep your centre’, fix your eyes on Him, and thrive?
I remember this one practice that I tried during CB last year.
For twice a week at midday, a small group of us would meet ‘virtually’ on Zoom. We took turns to run a half hour of contemplation. Sometimes we would meditate on a painting inspired by a scene from Scripture (e.g. of Jesus calming the storm). Sometimes we would scroll through a short Bible passage at a crawling pace. A word or an image may catch our eye and we’d linger over it. At other times, it’d be a song, a poem, a photograph, or a combination.
We always did it in silence.
At the end of that half hour, people would be free to pen a prayer in the chat (we learned from each other’s prayers). And then we’d either leave or stay on for informal fellowship. No obligations.
That was it.
And it helped me… a lot.
It provided some restoration of rhythm to redeem the time.
It was a chapel in time, a deliberate moment to pause in the day and listen to the Lord. And I found it life-giving.
You can read more about it here: https://www.micahsingapore.org/contemplatives
I heartily recommend it for an Action Group, or just with a few friends. But you don’t have to adopt it wholesale; The key thing is to intentionally establish some spiritual routines in your daily life – both individual and family/community routines. That habit of Quiet Time for example, which I trust you have been practicing since you became a Jesus follower, is now so much more precious.
Many of us have now become cloistered at home, and that not of our choosing. Even in such a time, may we seek Him and find Him in that secret place.“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68)
