OUR SILENT PLACES

Walking into the cool air of the ancient church was a respite from the mid-afternoon heat. I stood awhile in the vestibule, allowing my eyes to adjust to the subdued light. I dropped some coins into a box, then lit a candle in memory of those I love who were no longer with me.  I chose a seat on the side, about mid-way down the aisle.

I sat. No agenda. No list to pray. Nothing. I just sat.

In the deep quiet of a very old building, I wondered how many others, over the centuries, had sat in this same spot, with no words. Others, who like me, simply sat in the comforting silence.

I noticed, a few rows in front of me, a man wearing a business suit, sitting on the edge of his seat. His head was on his hands that rested on the pew in front of him. For the longest time, he simply sat like that.

I saw a young boy, perhaps 10 years old, in a school uniform, his hands folded in his lap, his eyes looking forward, his face in deep contemplation.

Dotted around the church were others, a few dozen souls, all sitting under the gothic arches of antiquity, in absolute silence.

I, with them, sat in the stillness of the afternoon and felt the comfort of the Holy Spirit where no prayers were spoken, no music played, no sermon preached.

The stillness was the prayer, the music, the sermon.

The quiet was the voice of God.

We live in a very noisy world. Even our current-day churches tend to be noisy.[1]

I often wonder if the cacophony of competing voices, the way we turn our music up loud, the doom scrolling, the world news, the ever-present yapping headphones, are tools we use to fight the silence. 

For silence talks to us with words we often don’t want to hear.

Silence tunes us into the voice in our own head. Our own thoughts, not those of others, jumble around in the quiet, touching hidden corners and sensitive spaces.

Us creatures of noise tend to become uncomfortable with our thoughts, and we turn back to the noise.  In so doing, we miss the voice of the Holy One who speaks to us in our depth.

To hear His voice, it is needful to walk through the valley of our own thoughts, to take note of them, to turn them over, to look at them and to offer them to the God of our depth.

We will hear His voice if we are willing to go to the deep places where, beyond the noise, we find the power of silence.

Here is where transformation happens. Here, is where strength is found. Here, beyond the noise, is Life.

We are connected to that life, created from it and in it.

But, we won’t find it in our carefully curated distractions.

We will find Life[2] in abundance, in our silent places and quiet contemplation.

I pray that we, like Jesus[3], make room for that.

May we think on these things!

[1] There is no judgement from me here. Simply an observation.

[2] John 10:10

[3] Mark 1:35