The Great Silence

Monastic Great Silence is practiced in many monastic orders. It runs for eleven or twelve hours starting about 8 or 9 p.m. and running until about 8 a.m. the next morning. Monks only speak during nighttime prayer services and in cases of necessity. Mostly they remain in silence within themselves and alone with God. Many people who practice silence as a part of their spiritual discipline find it exceedingly difficult at first. We are not used to being alone without background noise, and it can be uncomfortable. A lot of folks are kind of afraid of looking within, because they are afraid of what they will find. Maybe they think that if they see darkness within they will be condemned. Do we think God does not already know us better than we know ourselves? Ironically, from both a psychological point of view and from the viewpoint of Christian theology the opposite is true. What we bring into the light of day will become that which causes us to grow if we offer it to God.

We live in the noisiest time in history. I grew up with television on in the background and I actually find when reading something I prefer to have it on than have complete silence. It is just habit, but not necessarily the best way to study! We have increased the number of devices that keep us outwardly focused with entertainment and music, and that doesn't even account for the noises produced by engines and other means. We need some silence. Of course some of us undergo different kinds of silence such as the silence of a home when a loved one has passed on, or when our children move out. Some of us feel anxiety stress and depression and feel that God is silent when we pray. That is actually a phase of the spiritual life and if we persist we will find it is not true. Many are lonely and experience silence in another way, in the absence of loved ones or friends when they need them. That is a painful silence too. But silence is necessary to growth as Christian people.

In this, perhaps, the noisiest times of our noisy year, we are inundated with the music of the season, parties and services to attend, and shopping to do. Advent, by contrast, is a great silence. We are not celebrating Christmas yet. We are emphasizing the wait of the world for its Savior's first coming, as we wait to celebrate it. We are acknowledging our wait for Christ to return and put things right in our world. Don't get so fatigued with activities from Thanksgiving to Christmas time. Yes, we have much to do, but let us give place to Advent silence a few minutes a day. Spend some time alone with as little background noise as possible. What does it mean to your life that Christ has come? What does it mean in the midst of your joys and sorrows, that he is with you now and will come again. Let a little silence in your life as a place of repose where your soul can rest with God. It will make a difference in your Christmas and maybe your life.

In Expectation,

Jim Stahr

Best Against Worst

One of the problems with religious debate in our nation right now is that we often compare the best of our argument with the worst argument of the opponents. What I mean is, we look over our debating points and find what we believe is our best point and then look over the opponent's worst argument and thus we rig the arugment so that we win. Thus liberals will always accuse conservatives of being insincere and hypocritical, and perhaps even say that all conservatives want to kill people in the name of God. Then they argue for the best they have of inclusion, pacifism, reconciliation and anything else they think that makes them better. Of course, the same is true on the other side. The conservatives will find extremist liberals who want no restrictions on sexual morality, or other issues of any kind, or don't really beleive in the existence of God and accuse liberals of being amoral and trying to destroy the faith. We do this all the time.

What would happen if we were to discuss, rather than debate, our best against their best and look at our worst and theirs? Maybe we could find some common ground doing that. Maybe we could quit stereotyping others and start listening. You simply can't debate with another by assuming that their intentions are evil. Most people, on both sides, are sincerely trying to find their way in a world where sometimes a clear way is not always obvious. Would this result in comprimise? Perhaps a bit yes, but not always. What I would like to see, as the old song says, is a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Give the other side their props, what's wrong with that? Learn to restate the argument of your opponent in a way that is fair to them. Find the truth in the other side. I imagine you will still hold your point of view, but I also think that you might learn how to debate in a way that is fair to the other side. Divisions are killing the mainline denominations and our national life too. What if we really heard what the other is saying.?Are we afraid they might win us over? If we are does that mean we are so unsure of our argument we don't believe it can stand up to the intellectual test? Why are we afraid of the truth that is contained in the opponents argument? Why do we want to silence it, and stereotype others? If we say "All conservatives are..." or "All liberals want to..." and then insert a negative trait, are we not merely showing prejudice? When we label a certain position with the word "all" we assume that there is no difference between people of a certain point of view. Have we talked to all people from the other side? Maybe toning back the rhetoric and learning to restate the other's argument is a way of loving your neighbor, or even your enemy. It would be a first step out of the morass we are in.
Peace,
Jim