Today's Scripture Reading (December 16, 2025): Proverbs 4
Several years
ago, on a Saturday in March, I took off to visit my own little desert. It was a
beautiful day, and the experiment was to take place at a small church just south
of the city. I had arrived with some friends to spend the day in silence. We
arrived just before nine in the morning. We greeted each other and sat down in
the small sanctuary. Our mentor, the one who was going to be our guide through
this journey, led us in singing an old hymn. There were no instrumentalists; we
just used our voices to offer this prayer.
Open my eyes that I may see
Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me
Place in my hands the wonderful key
That shall unclasp and set me free
Silently now I wait for Thee
Ready my God, Thy will to see
Open my eyes, illumine me
Spirit Divine
Open my ears that I may hear
Voices of truth Thou sendest clear
And while the wave notes fall on my ear
Everything false will disappear
Silently now I wait for Thee
Ready my God, Thy will to see
Open my ears, illumine me
Spirit Divine (Clara H. Scott)
And there we
stopped singing. The next verse says open my mouth, but for the next few hours,
our mouths were closed for business.
It is incredible
the dialogue that goes on even when our mouths are closed. The practice of
silence is anything but easy. Voices continue to ring in our minds through the
silence. It sometimes seems almost impossible to stop them. Lists are made, the
mind remains active, and all of this continues to drown out the voice of God. I
took to doing some journaling. I recalled the story of another pastor who had
suffered a burnout experience and stopped everything to spend some time in a
monastery where the monks had taken a vow of silence. He told the story of how
he filled yellow legal pads with his writing, just trying to get his thoughts
out. By Thursday, he needed some contact, so he left the monastery for a few
hours to visit an internet café, where he emailed everyone he knew, desperate
for human contact. Then he returned to the monastery and took his place among
the monks once more. Later, someone asked him if he had gotten in trouble for
leaving the monastery, and he remarked, "Nobody said anything." There
is a joke there that you might get in a few minutes.
Late that
afternoon, we gathered again and shared silent communion. It was an intriguing
experience, pantomiming the whole communion liturgy, lifting up the bread, breaking
it, saying thanks for it, and then sharing it with each other. Then, pouring the
cup out into small glasses, but still much larger than the ones we usually use
for communion, once again thanking God for the cup and then taking and
drinking. Finally, our voices once again penetrated the silence.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost
Amen
And it might
not have been until the silence was broken that I became acutely aware of how
much I needed the silence. And how much more I needed to bring silence into my
life.
I love the words of Chuang Tzu, a Taoist philosopher. He writes this;
The purpose
of a fish trap is to catch fish, and when the fish are caught, the trap is
forgotten. The purpose of a rabbit snare is to catch rabbits. When the rabbits
are caught, the snare is forgotten. The purpose of the word is to convey ideas.
When the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten. Where can I find the man
who has forgotten words? He is the one that I want to talk to.
He is also the one to whom I want to speak.
Sometimes the best way to keep our mouths free from perversity and free
of gossip and slander is just to be silent. To be that person who has forgotten
words, unless there are new and vital ideas that must be grasped.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading:
Proverbs 5
No comments:
Post a Comment