The Garden Tomb
A few months back, I decided to give meditation a serious go. I found the process to be unnatural for me — as I couldn’t quiet my mind (Playing guitar is really the only thing that truly quiets my mind.)
Around this time, my brother and I were watching the James Cordon/Mark Wahlberg episode which is quite funny.
I was struck by Wahlberg’s daily prayer regimen — and it dawned on me that he uses prayer as ‘a form of mediation’.
Although no longer practicing, I was raised Catholic. My father was even in the seminary before I was born. Given my Christian background, I decided to give prayer a try in place of mediation.
I found prayer to be absolutely intuitive and life-changing.
When I was a kid, I disliked going to church, and tuned out of Christianity. I thought of myself as a believer, but just barely. Not only has my prayer regimen reaffirmed my faith in Jesus Christ, it’s given me a profound sense of gratitude and humility.
My prayer (and connection to Jesus Christ) came at just the right moment too. I ran into a few unfortunate personal and professional circumstances that were totally out of my control. Through prayer, the Holy Spirit guided me through these events with uncanny precision.
I think the how, when, and where, of prayer is different for everybody. Personally, I need some type of short workout (lifting weights or yoga) to get mentally primed. Then, I sit on my basement floor, close my eyes and begin the process of connecting to God.
I speak in a quiet tone, humbling myself, admitting my sin from he previous day, and focusing on areas of improvement. This sounds harsh, but it’s not. If you’re even remotely self-aware, you can easily think of a few circumstances that you’d like to have back.
Next, I acknowledge my enormous gratitude for all that God has given me: my health, my family, my work. The list goes on and on.
Finally, I share my troubles and desires with God: usually this is what I want to achieve for myself and my family.
As Jesus Christ became more real to me through prayer — I’ve gained an interest in the archaeology of his tomb.This basically comes down to the two sites: The crowded Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the modest Garden Tomb.
There are biblical and archaeological pros and cons to both sites. While no one can say for sure which might be the tomb of Jesus Christ — I prefer to meditate on The Garden Tomb, discovered in 1867.
The Garden Tomb looks and feels like (what would be) the temporary resting place of Christ; subtle and humble. Perhaps this also what the traditional Sepulcher tomb would look like, if not architecturally altered and time-damaged.
This song is a mediation on The Garden Tomb.
You might also like to play…
The Passion of the Christ: Jesus Goes to Mary + TAB
How to play The Garden Tomb by Evan Handyside
This song is beautifully written across 3 pages. You’ll play it straight through, repeating the entire thing twice. I recommend it for intermediate guitar players and up.
Enjoy, the guitar tab is available below:
The Garden Tomb – Evan Handyside (ambient, World guitar)
The Garden Tomb is played in a DADGAD tuning with a capo on the 5th fret.