Jesus launched his ministry from the desert wilderness. After extreme fasting, testing, and yielding to the Holy Spirit, he returned fully prepared to fulfill his calling. These rhythms of activism and contemplation, engagement and withdrawal resonate throughout his life.
The origins of the early church are steeped in the intimacy of close communal groups in house churches and catacombs. During the first century, Paul referred to the knowledge of God as an understanding that exceeds rational and objective thought experienced as presence. Accordingly, relationship is a primary goal of the Christian life.
The specific Christian mandate to “be in but not of the world” is the necessary orientation that fosters and encourages connections to the multiple realities of faith. Persecution strengthened the tendency toward a life that emphasized interiority as well as liberation.
When Christianity began, it was small and intense, communal and set apart, until it found favor with the state. Those adherents who witnessed Rome’s public affirmation of Christianity in the fourth century realized that the contemplative aspects of the faith could not be nurtured under the favor of the state.
The historical model of contemplation offers the rhythm of retreat and return, which is now gaining traction in our modern time.
Psalm 23:1,6 “The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need… Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.”
