Silence in the New Year

Hi. Here is the devotion I gave in language class on Friday.

After great deliberation I have decided that the topic of silence is appropriate for today’s devotion. You see I like to listen but lately people keep telling me I need to speak – I just can’t seem to figure out why. You see the Bible is full of passages that talk about silence. We hear the story of Elijah and God’s voice being in the stillness and in the silence. In Isaiah 32:17 we learn that the fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. Later in the prophets I read “In repentance and rest is your salvation; in quietness and trust is your strength.” In 1 Timothy 2 Paul urges that we should lead peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness because this is good and pleases God our Savior. There are numerous other places that talk about and urge us to live quiet lives. So I am left asking, “why can’t I too be silent.”

In my nightly readings I came across a section of writing by Henri Nouwen that address the damage of noise. He writes….

Recently I was driving through Los Angeles, and suddenly I had the strange sensation of driving through a huge dictionary. Wherever I looked there were words trying to take my eyes from the road. They said, “Use me, take me, buy me, drink me, smell me, touch me, kiss me, sleep with me.” In such a world, who can maintain respect for words?

All this is to suggest that words, my own included, have lost their creative power. Their limitless multiplication has made us lose confidence in words caused us to think, more often than not, “They are just words.”

Teachers speak to students for six, twelve, eighteen, and sometimes twenty-four years. But the students often emerge from the experience with the feeling: “They were just words.” Preachers preach their sermons week after week and year after year. But their parishioners remain the same and often think: “They are just words.” Politicians, businessmen, ayatollahs, and popes give speeches and make statements “in season and out of season,” but those who listen say: “They are just words… just another distraction.”

The result of this is that the main function of the word, which is communication, is no longer realized. The word no longer communicates, no longer fosters communion, no longer creates community, and therefore no longer gives life. The word no longer offers trustworthy ground on which people can meet each other and build society.

Henri Nouwen The Way of The Heart

Silence is to be regarded as good and sacred or words become useless. But there is also a time to speak. Throughout the Old Testament the prophets are given words from God to speak. In Ezekiel we learn that it is the role of the watchman to cry out and that if the watchman does not come and disaster falls on the city he is to blame. Jesus spoke to the crowds. Paul wrote letters. Words can be good and communication is very helpful. Although I understand a great deal by watching hand gestures and facial expressions I miss much of the abstract when words are not used. I am a writer, after all, without words where would I be. When used correctly language is a positive powerful tool that allows for the quietness to be sacred.

In conclusion I guess I better start speaking.

Blessings in the New Year (we celebrate the coming of 2001 on Thursday September 11)