[Charismatic movement]
Dear Donagh,
I was in a charismatic prayer group years ago and we used to meet on a Wednesday evening. I found it very good. There was a lovely spirit in the group and we were all good friends. Then over the years the numbers began to dwindle, people died or got sick or housebound. In the end there were only 3 or 4 of us and it wasn’t easy, we were getting old ourselves, so we decided to end it. I think it was the same all over. You hardly ever hear of charismatic prayer now. Wasn’t this a great loss? What do you think? Is there any prospect of it coming back again? May
Dear May,
I've heard this question asked a few times recently, and yes it is sad to see a favourite practice left behind. There was great energy in the charismatic movement and we are left to wonder where it went. Let’s hope that what physicists say about energy might be true also of spiritual energy: it is indestructible.
My own hunch is that the charismatic movement evolved into the meditation movement. It quietened down, its energy became less expressive, less visible. This doesn’t mean that it is was destroyed, or even diminished; it just became quieter. An image helps me to make sense of it. When you light a fire, there will be leaping flames and flying sparks for a while. But all that intensity eases off gradually to a warm glow. It’s the same fire, just quieter. The charismatic movement became worldwide. Likewise the meditation movement: it is all over the world, or nearly, and it attracts people of different ages and backgrounds and even religions.
I remember a little book by Henri Nouwen called Praying with Icons. I don’t have a copy now, but I remember that there were reproductions of various icons and a brief reflection on each. The last in the book was an icon of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. The biblical text is this: “When the day of Pentecost came, [the disciples] were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them” (Acts 2:1-4). That describes a tumultuous event, but the icon shows the disciples sitting peacefully in a circle, with a little tongue of flame on each one’s forehead, no bigger than the flame of a match. No tumult, no startled looks, not even a raised eyebrow. Nouwen’s comment, as far as I remember, is that the Holy Spirit had come to rest in them, to live in them. The Holy Spirit had gone so deep in them that it was already a mysterious stillness.
The world is full of meditation groups now, May, as it was full of charismatic prayer meetings in the past. If you would like to find out about one kind of Christian meditation group, you could check the John Main website: https://www.johnmain.org/ And of course you can still keep an eye open for charismatic prayer resources.
Donagh