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

Pondering the journey

Betty Hollister writes Judi assured me this week would be easier—more about a journey, maybe even something as simple as a walk in nature.  Ok.  Maybe. I admitted to her that even though I didn’t “like” the week of “Solitude and Struggle,” it did make me think, and I liked that.  And, the thinking, of course, didn’t stop this week.   Monday’s lesson reminded us how Jesus sought solitude by walking away from the crowds after periods of “greatest exertion or emotional distress. ”  That made complete sense.  If Jesus, fully human, but also fully divine, needed time alone to talk to His father and renew his strength to heal the next in line or preach to the next crowd that made complete sense.  Even Tuesday’s suggestions about labyrinth walks to “get lost in God’s creation” made sense to me.  Then, I read about the “blue-gray-green monks” who turned that color due to hardship and fasting and Mary of Egypt who wandered for decades alone in th...
2 comments
Read more

Julian of Norwich

From Rachel Matthews: Today we read about Julian of Norwich, one of my favorite anchoresses. Tuesdays have been wonderful reflection points but today I find myself with not much to say. Things that I have put off since we moved here are looming over me. I turned down a wonderful gift of hospitality last night to be with the Monday Munchers. That made me sad but I did get some stuff done I really need to do. Mornings that are stressful are exactly when I am most grateful for the discipline that nudges me to sit and think and pray just for 10 minutes. The rush of life needs Julians who will listen and offer a prayer and word of guidance. I need Julian of Norwich to say to me, "All will be well, all manner of things will be well." She lived it. What strikes me most this morning about her is that she was there at a calling of God but she was not there alone. There were political structures that approved and encouraged and paid for her well being in that little house, the chur...
2 comments
Read more

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