Spirituality #5: Silence

It seems like the television is on at my house almost all the time. My wife has Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, a disorder of unknown origins which carries with it a variety of disabling symptoms: a terrible fatigue, debilitating muscle and joint pain, and severely disordered sleep, to name but a few. During the long hours of night, when she is unable to sleep and I am snoring, she will often have the television going for company. I live in a world of ongoing sound even during my own sleep, so that periods of silence in my life are almost always an experience of grace.

"Be still and know that I am God," the psalmist says (Psalm 46:10). My noisy life underscores the importance of silence as a context for prayer. Added to the busy-ness of a pastor's ministry, the distractions in my life usually overpower my own poor ability to attend to the presence of God. In short, I need silence in order to experience the "Cloud of Unknowing" that seems to be the most refreshing and sustaining sort of prayer for me. Silence is important for prayer, and is a precious and too-rare commodity in my life.

Every generalization has its exceptions, I suppose. For me, one notable exception to the connection between silence and prayer seems to be music of certain type. The "type" is not easy for me to put into words. Gregorian chant helps facilitate my times of prayer, while jazz usually does not. Songs from Taize' facilitate prayer for me, rap does not. Some "praise music" facilitates prayer for me -- the songs with contemplative words and melody -- while other, louder contemporary Christian songs do not.

I'm not sure what the point is to these ramblings. Except perhaps to wonder if most Christians in our noisy world of 2010 might not be starved for silence as well, or at least hungry for deeper communion with God. Listen to your own life. If there's anything in this that resonates with you, you'll undoubtedly know.