A collection of prayer-meditations selected from worship services. Themes: The Mood of Celebration, No Man Is An Island, and Search Me, O God.
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A collection of prayer-meditations selected from worship services. Themes: The Mood of Celebration, No Man Is An Island, and Search Me, O God.
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In his autobiography, "With Head and Heart", Howard Thurman describes the nature of his 1969 book, "The Centering Moment". He writes ("With Head and Heart", pp 220-221)
"In 1969, I was asked to publish a volume of prayers. I felt some conflict about this because in prayer the full range of vulnerability of the human spirit is laid bare before the Creator of life and all existence. Nevertheless, it seemed important to publish 'The Centering Moment'. As I edited the prayers, there emerged gradually a sense of sharing that neither violated my need for privacy nor inhibited by spirit, for it took place within the heart of the divine encounter".
Thurman's reflection on "The Centering Moment" aptly captures the theme of the book. The volume's short prayers and meditations focus on the fallible human person distracted by the many and varied activities of daily life and by selfishness. The book speaks of a return to one's self, to meaning, and to relationship to God and one's fellows. The book eloquently describes the need for forgiveness and acceptance, for taking oneself as one is, and for moving forward.
The prayers in this book were given over many years at different religious services. Some emphasize specific holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. Other prayers make reference to events of the day, such as the 1958 attempted assassination of Martin Luther King in Harlem, the fight over school desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas, the French war in Algeria, and more. Most of the prayers do not refer to such specific events but are more deeply introspective. Although Thurman was an ecumenical thinker, most of the prayers are specifically Christian in language, doctrine, and imagery.
The book consists of ninety short prayers framed by opening and concluding meditations and by a Prologue. The prayers are grouped into three sections. The first section, "The Mood of Celebration" largely focuses on particular holidays and individuals. In a moving prayer, "The Day of Atonement", Thurman refers to "Our brothers of the House of Israel as they assess, even as we ourselves do likewise, the stewardship of the common life, the private undertaking, and the individual enterprise." A short meditation considers the neo-Platonic philosopher Plotinus, a thinker highly important to Thurman. He writes, reflecting on Plotinus.
"The world, the cosmos, my little life, are contained in God, and if I keep the roadway open, even as I live, doing my thing in the world of things, I can keep journeying back home to be recentered, renewed, recreated, redeemed, over and over again, as long as I live and beyond."
The prayers in "No Man is an Island" focus on peoples' relationships to one another. In a meditation titled "Our Minor Absolutes", Thurman describes how individuals often get stuck in the rut of daily routine and have difficulty in reflecting and in moving ahead. Thurman writes: "We would be better than we are but as we wait in Thy Presence, we are not sure that we want to be better than we are. There is so much reassurance in the comfort of our life; so much confidence has been built up in the familiar role and the familiar style of our life. If under the aegis of Thy spirit, our lives were changed, we are afraid, our Father, of what might become of us. Work over us, knead us, to do what our spirits require, not that we may be better than we are, but that we more deeply desire to be better than we are."
The final section of prayers, "Search Me, O God" is the longest and most intimate. The meditation "Some Centering Moment" forms the basis of the title and theme of the volume. Thurman describes the need to find the center of one's life through prayer and meditation to defeat pettiness and lack of meaning. He writes:
"We wait in the quietness for some centering moment that will redefine, reshape, and refocus our lives. It does seem to be a luxury to be able to give thought and time to the ups and downs of one's private journey while the world around is so sick, and weary, and desperate. But, our Father, we cannot get through to the great anxieties that surround us until, somehow a path is found through the little anxieties that beset us. Dost Thou understand what it is like to be caught between the agony of one's own private needs and to be tempest-tossed by needs that overwhelm and stagger the mind and paralyze the heart? Does Thou understand this, our Father?"
I have learned a great deal from Thurman (1900 -- 1981), a great African American mystic, theologian, and philosopher, over the past few years. I have mentioned above some of the insights in this volume of prayer and meditation to which I responded. Other interested readers will make their own selections.
