We have not had Sunday morning church with everyone there for two weekends in a row. I miss you all, and I have been working over two sermons about good habits for disciples, silence and humility. Since I’ve had extra time, and since my thoughts have been about silence, I’ve been blessed to have more quiet in my life than usual. I don’t usually fall asleep very well or very quickly. Like many of you, I’m sometimes so tired I can hardly get off the couch only to go lie down in bed fully awake. The past three weeks I’ve been using that time as well as catching other times in the day to be silent.
When my daughter was little, she used to sing a song called “The Daddy Pokey.” It was a parody of “The Hokie Pokey” and it went something like this: “He turns the TV on, he turns the radio on, he turns his computer on, and he plays his guitar. He does “The Daddy Pokey” and turns himself around. . .” We used to crack up over that song. I wonder if y’all do stuff like that. Do you get up and turn on the TV; get your phone on a radio station before you go to the car, listen to background music or news while you work, and so on til you fall asleep with the TV on? I don’t think this is what God wants for us, but how do we break away from it?
In Mark chapter 6, Jesus and the disciples are having a very busy couple days. The disciples were sent out two by two to preach, heal and cast out demons. After the disciples mission trip, Jesus tries to get them to a desolate place for rest and prayer, but 5000 men and their families followed them to the desolate place. He knew they needed quiet and rest, and he wanted quiet and rest. For Jesus a quiet time with Father and Holy Spirit was not a hardship, but a refreshing time that he longed for in the midst of being pressed in upon by humans’ needs and desires. One thing I am learning from Jesus is that silence and solitude are good, and to remind myself that I want them. What’s so hard about getting quiet? Like many things, the hardest part is getting started. This is why I’m setting apart some time to be quiet. If I can’t sleep in bed, I’m going to sit by the fire and listen to anything God wants me to hear. In the car, sometimes I will not listen to the radio, and sometimes I will.
Jesus faced some of his hardest moments in quiet and solitude. At the beginning of his ministry he spent 40 days and nights fasting and alone, and then he was tempted by the devil. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he came to terms with the extreme pain of the cross that was before him, as well as the awful miracle of experiencing separation from Father God. I’m trying to learn to embrace the silence that is filled with heartache and questioning. How many of us, when we were 14 or 15, played music so loud in our headphones at night, because we didn’t want to face the bottomless thoughts that our developing minds were exploring? We still need to face the painful silence, the uncomfortable silence, the empty silence.
“Lord, help me delight in you, even in silence. I want to hear you speak to me through your word and through Holy Spirit. Draw me aside to a desolate place where I can rest and where I can learn to hear your voice. “
