The Sound of Silence, part 3

From Lanny Parks - a hymn for our journey in silence.  She wrote it to be sung to the hymn tune LAYING DOWN ... but it is a beautiful poem to ponder, with or without the music, maybe even in silence:


In silence now I search for you, O Lord.
My breath the only sound that I can hear.
I long for refuge from my troubled soul
And feel you near.

In silence now I watch for you, O Lord.
A sign that you will break my heart of stone
And fill it with the love I want to give
To you alone.

In silence now I wait for you, O Lord.
To know your presence, sense you close to me
Despite the anxious turning of my mind,
To simply be.

LWP
1/13

The Sound of Silence, part 2

Since the last entry on this "backporch", more than 25 of us have started on this journey into silence - a 30-day exploration of the role of silence in our lives and the role it plays in bringing us closer to God.  We are all at different places in our journeys - although we're all at different places ... some have not yet started, some have just started, or only a few days along on the journey ... and some started over 10 days ago.  AND we're in different places geographically (from Texas to North Carolina to Virginia to Washington D.C. and even some in Queen Anne's and Kent Counties!).

Some of us have been trying to schedule the silence for the same time every day, to be able to use a routine to help us focus. Others have "snatched" the time when we could find it.  Some of us have a special quiet place to go to, others have been walking or others finding that time in the car (without the radio on!) can be a great place for quiet.

So what have we been learning along the way? Last Thursday, some of us gathered to share (or commiserate over!) our journeys into silence.  Here are some of the comments shared and some of the things that were the best, worst, that surprised us the most, and what we wonder about along the way:

• This is hard!  (universally echoed by everyone)
• It's hard to get away from noise.
• I didn't even know how busy I was until I took time to be silent.
• I am making more intentional choices about what I listen to.
• I keep remembering Ecclesiastes: there is a time to speak and a time to refrain from speaking (loosely translated!).
• It's not just being without SOUND, it is about not doing what you usually do ... whether it's turning on the tv or radio for background noise, or filling silence with talking, or talking before thinking.
• As my own hearing has started to fail, I have become more aware of the blessing of sound.
• It's more than the absence of sound. It's more than noise; it's the distractions too.
• The best surprise was finding how much I love it, even if I can't do it!
• It's hard to find the time.
• Intentional silence is really different (and difficult!).
• It surprised me that I could be disciplined enough to do it.
• We shouldn't be so hard on ourselves if we don't get it "perfectly."  This is a journey!
• Questions we have we want to keep exploring:
• How do I turn off the distractions in my mind and keep my mind from wandering?
• One of our group suggested thinking about prayer as moving along in a boat, you "notice" things on the shore or in the water, then let them drift on by.  They are past you, you don't have to keep noticing them.  So with distractions in our silence! Notice them, then let them drift on past.
• Others suggested:  deep breathing, visualization (focus on an image in your mind), use a photo of a place that you find peaceful to focus on
• How is silence prayer?
• What is "sheer silence" in prayer?  Is silent prayer an oxymoron?
• How does this help us grow closer to God?

More to come!  Feel free to write comments here with questions you'd like to ask the group.

The Sound of Silence

Simon and Garfunkel aside, the sound of silence is not always a "sound" we are comfortable with.

Some of us may find ourselves yearning desperately for a bit of silence when our days and hours are filled with tweets, texts, emails, chats, phone calls, conversations, classroom lectures, TV, spotify, sirius xm ... you name it.  Silence sometimes is hard to come by and some of us crave a time when it would all just stop.

While for others of us, we find that silence becomes a reminder of loss, absence, loneliness and we do whatever we can to avoid the silence.  We may have had bad experiences with silence, having our voices unheard or rejected.  Or maybe we are afraid to stop and listen to the silence.

And yet, silence can become a way in which we "make space" for other things to happen - to see things more clearly, to listen for clarity in the midst of chaos, ultimately in the silence to make space for God.

So at PCC over the next weeks leading up to Lent, I am inviting our members and friends to join me in exploring the "Sound of Our Own Silence" through a 30-day Silent Retreat. No, it's not 30 days of total silence.  It's a commitment to spend 30 days exploring our relationship with silence ... and yes, practicing a bit of silence along the way.  This is a retreat designed by Tracey Marx at www.scriptureecho.com ... and I'm looking forward to this journey with a variety of other people - all doing the retreat wherever they are, at their own pace. Over the next 6 weeks we'll share some of our insights from along the way on this blog, and what we're learning about the Sound of Silence.

Epiphany Star Words

Tomorrow is Epiphany, and in worship, along with communion and ordination/installation of new elders and deacons ... for the past several years at PCC we have been giving out "star words."  On paper stars there are written words that are a gift to receive for the coming year to see how that word might keep coming up in your life! Not always something YOU need to do, but maybe simply something to pay attention to, or to be ready to receive from someone else. Words like: forgiveness, grace, wholeness, integrity.  While I don't presume that everyone holds onto their star much longer than worship that morning, I am always delighted when someone takes the time to tell me what their word has meant to them or how it has surprised them sometime during the year.

Here is what PCC member Lanny Parks wrote about her "star words" ... 

       It’s almost Epiphany and that means that Star Words will be distributed on Sunday: those little pieces of colored paper that contain a word to help guide each of us in the coming year. I, for one, look forward to receiving mine.
The first year of the Star Words my word was ‘restraint.’ Oh, how I agonized over this one. There were so many things in my life that seemed to be running amok, and I struggled with the application of this concept. I considered multiple meanings and tried to understand how ‘restraint’ was going to help me when my inclination was to go full-force into solutions and resolutions. If nothing else, it restrained me by simply being foremost in all my planning.
The second year I had two words. In January my word was ‘learning.’ I loved that word! My father always said that I would have stayed in college my whole life as long as he continued to pick up the tab - and he was right. But, I learned that there are many other ways of learning and they are not all academic; neither are they pleasant. Life has a way of providing lessons that we would rather not learn.
Fortunately, in the fall when some of us participated in the freshman welcome service at Washington College, Pastor Sara once again brought out the Star Words as a way of inviting the new students to accept another kind of guidance for their new phase of life. All of us were encouraged to take a new word. This time my word was ‘peacefulness.’ And, oh! how I needed that one! After the year of ‘restraint’ and the time of ‘learning’ difficult lessons, I really needed some ‘peacefulness’ in my own life.
As I look forward to whatever word chance or divine guidance will assign to me this year, I know that I have already chosen another to partner with it. My co-word is ‘attend.’ Once more, this is an uncomfortable word with multiple meanings: it means ‘show up’, it means ‘listen’, it means ‘pay attention’, and as I struggle with all of its ramifications in my daily inner and outward life, I know that it will somehow enrich me all the days of this new year and I can hardly wait to see what its partner word will be.

Lanny W. Parks

1/4/13

On the Road Again ... Part 2

For those of you who have been following the travels of our "second Jesus" - he did indeed arrive back at the church safe and sound yesterday - when the Sudlersville Elementary School re-opened after the Christmas/New Year's break.  He was right where he should have been - on a counter in the school office, right under this wonderful painting of children.  As all of us keep saying, "he was right where he should be."  (scroll down to see the photo of Jesus' "visit" to SES -that's his black file box in the middle of the counter)

And while our "second Jesus"and his box are back at the church, I think all of us this season are much more aware of how Jesus isn't kept safely inside the church, but is always "out there" among us and with us, surprising us, inviting us, challenging us to follow.  May it always be so.

With the permission of the author, Tracey Marx and her website www.scriptureecho.com, I share this "Winter Blessing":

This winter, may you encounter Jesus in unexpected places.

In your office or home, in the midst of what seems like yet another interruption of important work, may your frustration turn abruptly into awareness that you are standing on holy ground.

In the sanctuary, when you are winter-worn, and unsure of what more you have to give, may your weariness nudge you to rely on God completely.

In yet another meeting or activity, when you are wondering why in the world you do what you do, may you shift your gaze and see what God sees, and may you be confirmed in your call and your response.

May the Spirit surprise you and delight you in these winter weeks. And may those divine, unexpected encounters give you the energy, enthusiasm, perspective and grace you need.

Amen. (From the January 6, 2013 edition of Lectionary Liturgy.)