This sermon is the third in a series of four.

Perhaps through the healing gift of silence we can better receive the healing gift of tears and the healing gift of laughter.

Rev. Jim Warren, who retired a number of years ago as pastor of the Ruskin Heights Presbyterian Church, said at his retirement celebration a church member commented to him, “Jim, you know what I’m going to remember about your ministry more than anything else – your silent prayers.”  Jim said he didn’t know quite how to respond. 

Silence, solitude, unceasing prayer – all are important aspects of our spiritual lives and perhaps that church member was reflecting on times of silence in the gathered community of faith – times of silence which can be very meaningful.

(The incongruity of the fact that this is a sermon on silence does not escape me! I have a lot to say about silence!)

In his little book, The Way of the Heart, Henri Nouwen writes, “Solitude shows us the way to let our behavior be shaped not by the compulsions of the world…but by the mind of Christ.”

Silence prevents us from being suffocated by our wordy world and teaches us to speak the Word of God.

Unceasing prayer gives solitude and silence their real meaning. In unceasing prayer we descend with the mind into the heart. Thus we enter through our heart into the heart of God, who embraces all of history with eternally creative and recreative love.”

There is a healing gift of silence that comes from God – that enables us to grow closer to God, to understand our own lives and reach out to the lives of others. 

In the Gospel reading, we find Jesus, after a long day of interacting with people, going out to a deserted place.  His disciples were upset. “Everyone is looking for you.”  In Luke’s gospel it says that Jesus often withdrew to solitary places and prayed.  Prayer, solitude, silence.  Important for Jesus.  Important for us. Why, because the gift of silence brings the gift of transformation—what scripture calls being conformed to the image of Christ.

Prayer is not always speaking; it often involves listening.  God’s gift of silence helps us deal with the tension and turmoil of living.  God gives us strength for ministry… in silence.  I like Nouwen’s definition of silence.  “It is primarily a quality of the heart that leads to ever growing love for God and for others.”

The gift of silence can be cultivated by exterior silence…going off to a quiet place.  But the gift of silence is indeed an attitude of the heart.  It is a listening heart that responds to God and to other people.  Sometimes we are afraid of silence because of our own inner turmoil.  If we get too quiet what might we hear?  It is possible for us to be by ourselves and yet never be quiet; never be silent. 

In his book the Wisdom of Pelicans, Donald McCullough writes, “Often, though, silence does bestow gifts; gifts I cannot grasp – only receive.  This is why I keep trying it, often in the dark of the early morning with a hot cup of coffee, or at the water’s edge, sitting on the sand or running along the beach. Sometimes, in these moments, I hear whispered intimations of good news.  I cannot summon them.  They arrive like wind across the water from a force beyond my control.   They tell me once more that underneath it all, down below the layers of doubt and depression, there is Someone with arms outstretched – Someone holding me, Someone who can be trusted.” 

The healing gift of silence.

Looking at the daily news reports we see people caught in turmoil, war, hatred and difficulty.  How do we cope?  How do we keep going?  I believe the gift of silence that God gives us is one way to do that.  It’s part of the way that we renew our spiritual strength, so we can put life’s events into perspective. Jesus went out to a deserted place and prayed.  In the midst of the great need that surrounded him, Jesus again and again and again went off by himself in prayer, in solitude…in listening so that he might have inner spiritual resources to continue.

When I begin to resent the needs of other people, when I want to ignore the pain and tragedy of our world, when I want only to live for myself and the pleasures of the world, I know that something is out of focus.

Elizabeth O’Connor, author of Journey Inward, Journey Outward, has said, “We will take the time to be with God in the quiet places of our spirit so that we can come to know a different quality of life.”

We all have times of feeling drained or disillusioned or defeated…disheartened.  We all have those times. They can point to the possibility of a real burn out in our lives—where we’re being summoned by God to reassess the nature of our spiritual lives.

Hear the words in Isaiah: “Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles.”

At this time I’d like us to experience a period of silence. In this time of silence receive God’s gracious love—the experience of God’s mercy and grace.  I invite you to be quiet for a minute.

I love what Madeline L’Engle says, “I sit on my favorite rock looking over the brook to take time away from busyness—time to be.  I’ve long since stopped feeling guilty about taking ‘being’ time.  Its something we all need for our spiritual health and often we don’t take enough of it.”

I like to walk. For me it is a time of listening, of silence, of solitude. There’s something about walking that quiets my life and enables me to hear in a different way. What works for you? Perhaps sitting quietly in a chair, perhaps walking. Whatever is important for you to have that gift of silence…cultivate that experience.

The gift of silence is something that God gives us in order that we might grow in our love for God, in our understanding of who we are, and in our ministry to a world in need. Amen.