The Attraction of Silence

If you’re fortunate enough to live in the right place, it’s still not too late in the year to enjoy an early morning stroll in the woods.  You might wake up early, realise that you’ve beaten the alarm, and take advantage of the opportunity to fit something extra into your day.  The silence of the early morning, broken only by the birdsong and the occasional sound of some distant wildlife can be delightfully relaxing.

As I thought wistfully of silence the other day, the phrase ‘domes of silence’ came into my mind, and it was some while before I could recall where I’d heard it.  I rejected the domes of cathedrals and glass-covered hallways in stately homes, and at last my memory struggled back to schooldays, to hard wooden chairs, and to the little rubber studs fitted to the leg-ends.  It was these that were called ‘domes of silence’.  Sadly, but typical of schoolboys, we soon found that only one of the four had to go missing to render a chair far from silent!

The Bible has something to say about silence – or rather the lack of it.  In his letter James tells us to “listen much, speak little” and advises that we should “control a sharp tongue” (James 1:19,26, Living Bible.)  St Paul offers sound advice for the erudite: if we speak for the sake of it, with little thought or feeling for our hearers, he says, we’re wasting our time (I Cor. 13:1.)  Jesus, in His ministry, encouraged simplicity of speech, telling us, “Simply let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’, and your ‘no’ ‘no’” (Matthew 5:7). 

The season of political conferences is now over, but did you notice how many speakers (of whatever party affiliation) offered stock phrases and ‘filler’ clichés to please their eager hearers, without offering any grain of sound and innovative wisdom?  Another thing I find very frustrating in modern times is the incessant music that accompanies shopping.  It’s very difficult to find true silence anywhere.

In the church context, too, silence can be a rare commodity.  I used to know a minister, now ‘promoted to Glory’, who would introduce ‘a couple of minutes’ silent prayer’ by at least twice as much loud exhortation, during which he would indicate many good causes and lines of thought which we might explore.  You may know someone similar.

But let’s not go overboard about silence, to the extent that we are desperate to live in our own personal ‘dome of silence’, saying nothing at all.  If we are to be of use in building up the Kingdom of God, we must accept the responsibility to be Witnesses.  Being a witness means “not only in our lives but with our lips” (to twist the words of a once-popular prayer).  Is this call to speak out an unwelcome challenge?  If so, we should take heart.  The disciples were warned that they would be called to give an account of themselves.  They were also told that they would be given the words to say (Mark 13:9-11).

So, next time you wake early from the night’s slumbers, if you don’t feel like a woodland stroll, why not accompany your thanks for rest and a new day with a prayer to be used to bring a word of encouragement or enlightenment to someone you meet?