The Sound of Silence – part 2

During Advent I published a post on the blog entitled ‘The Sound of Silence’ http://suitcasesojourner.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-sound-of-silence.html

I was reflecting there on how we deal with the apparent silence of God. I commented then that for me the experience of ‘heaven’s silence felt like an assault upon me’.

And I continued ‘this is not a new experience for me and it is far from unusual for people of faith to experience darkness and silence’, and I referenced some biblical episodes to illustrate this.

But in this post it is not God’s silence that I want to consider, but our silence... the ‘discipline of silence’, if you prefer. During this Lenten Season I have been considering this a bit and pondering how I might better exercise this spiritual discipline.

It occurs to me (not that this is in the slightest original!) that today, in our busy and noisy and crowded world, there is little space or place for the discipline of silence. We drive with the radio or music on in our cars, our homes have speakers in many (or all) of the rooms constantly streaming sound, or we wander along the road with our earphones plugged into our phones, listening to podcasts, music or audio books. Even our expressions of Christianity seems to be very noisy and wordy and our worship is often devoid of silence!

I am not seeking to be critical of any or all of these things per se. I  am simply asking myself the question of when and where do I find silence? And is it not so often in the silence that we can deeply encounter God and hear him speak?

After Elijah fled from Jezebel, he ended up on Mount Horeb. There, after the wind, earthquake and fire there was ‘a sound of sheer silence’ (1 Kings 19: 12). And God then met with him and spoke to him.

Where and when do we find or seek these times of ‘sheer silence’? Could it be that the absence of them is why we do not deeply encounter God or hear him speak?

But I am increasingly aware that the silence we need is not simply the outward silence of the absence of sound. It is inner silence, when all the thoughts, worries, concerns and voices within are stilled and we can simply ‘be’ in the presence of God. No words, no spoken (or thought) prayers... just being there in God’s presence. It is what I suppose the hymn writer John Greenleaf Whittier had in mind when we wrote in his well loved hymn ‘Dear Lord and Father’ the line ‘the silence of eternity...’

In that hymn he goes on;

‘With that deep hush subduing all

Our words and works that drown

The tender whisper of Thy call,

As noiseless let Thy blessing fall

As fell Thy manna down.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,

Till all our strivings cease;

Take from our souls the strain and stress,

And let our ordered lives confess

The beauty of Thy peace.

Breathe through the heats of our desire

Thy coolness and Thy balm;

Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;

Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,

O still, small voice of calm’

 Yes, indeed.