Skip to main content

Sound of Silence

When I hear this phrase, all I can think of is the Simon and Garfunkle song.
I have a love/hate relationship with silence.
Love:
  • I loved the quiet after bedtime when the kids were little.
  • I love silence during worship. The power of people sitting together in prayer is so powerful to me. There was one church I preached several times where the organist would always play quiet music while I led the pastoral prayer. It made me crazy. I could not think, could not hear God and could not lead the congregation where I felt God was nudging me.
  •  I love the quiet in the morning before the house wakes up; I really love being first up in the morning and coming downstairs for quiet reflection.

Hate:
Silence also makes me crazy.
  • I often turn on the TV just to have some company in the house.
  • I love listening to audio books almost more than reading paper books, and have a subscription for one new audiobook a month, at least 8 hours a month listening to books, not counting the podcasts I subscribe to daily.
  • Public radio is almost always on in the car when driving around town. 

I like silence in my worship, but not in my life.
Wait a minute…I am pretty sure something is wrong here.
Am I just leaving space for God to talk to me at pre-scheduled times? Am I boxing God out?
How might I turn my times of being uncomfortable with silence into something good? (But I don’t like to be uncomfortable!)

My favorite quote from today’s reading:
Holy Solitude p. 13
“Ruth Burrows writes that prayer, especially in silence is simpler than we think, because it ‘is essentially what God does, how God addresses us, looks at us. It is not primarily something we are doing to God, something we are giving to God, but what God is doing for us. And what God is doing for us is giving us the divine Self in love.’ The real discipline of solitude and silence is to let go of our preconceptions and distractions, to let God love us—even just for a moment—and to remember that this is the most important practice and nourishment for Christian life, each and every day.”

What’s your relationship with silence? I’d love to know what you think.

Judi

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Holy Saturday

From Rachel Matthews - Today I have been chopping, measuring, mixing, cooking, mixing some more, kneading, baking, waiting, waiting, tasting, arranging, cleaning, preparing.....and preparing....for guests. It is what you do at a funeral. Either you are preparing to serve and comfort the bereaved or, as the bereaved, you are preparing to receive the community, the family, the loved ones to walk with you to the grave and back again. Holy Saturday feels like the days before a funeral. Suspended between death and life, you just carry on. You work, as usual, but not. That's what the women who loved the Rabbi were doing: preparing the spices, arranging the body (Christ's body), wrapping, loving and weeping, and waiting, and waiting and preparing....for guests. I am giddy thinking about the surprise that awaited them - the Guest!! And, I am giddy waiting for our guests to come to our home. My boys won't be here, so there is grief. I miss them so much. But, the new Amer...
Post a Comment
Read more

Friday Fast #1

A note up front: in writing this post, I'm not able to follow the author's instruction to not reveal your fast to others. Today, we begin the first of the Friday Fasts the author describes.  When I read the subtitle, "Drink Only Water (Eat as Usual), I thought I'd have no troubles with this one!  Most days I do drink only water.  I rarely drink coffee or other hot drinks, and almost every meal is accompanied by a glass of water.  Each day, I carry around my First Pres water bottle with, you guessed it, just water in it.   So, no problem for me.  I'll get "credit" for this fast without even trying!  Then I read further and found this instruction: "Drink only water, without ice and without flavoring. Hot or warm water is okay."  Darn.  I love  ice water, the colder the better.  I'm supposed to drink warm or even hot water?  Not my cup of, er, water...but I'm going to do it today.  I'm going to focus on the big questio...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thoughts on Lent and Deuteronomy

From David Bauer: Holy Solitude We learn a variety of ways that help us find solitude: fasting for a set time, changing a daily schedule, time out to be alone. In college I discovered there were times I did my best study by going to the busy student union. In the midst of the hubbub, I found meaningful inner space that helped me focus. In retirement I often get up at 5:00 a.m. to engage in biblical and theological study. I may ask myself: how does this idea or view help me better understand my faith? Why? Ok. Recently. I asked myself, who was King Josiah? (My dad used to talk about his Uncle Josiah who lived in Taylorville). King Josiah was said to be a good king among many who were not good in the time after King David and King Solomon. Yes, people went through the rituals of religion but had little heart or understanding. Selfish and idolatrous behavior was all over the place. Anyway, King Josiah decided to have a fund drive to raise money to repair the temple in Jerusalem. Work...
Post a Comment
Read more