Sounding the silence
Posted on Wednesday 4th February, 2009
An invitation to a time of guided quiet, prayer and reflection.
Why silence?
Knowing our need. Perhaps we have already known the blessing of silence and want to explore more deeply where it could lead us. We may long for peace and quiet to bring calm to a busy life or a troubled mind. Or we may fear that silence will only highlight the loneliness we already know in our lives. We may feel the great words of belief have begun to leave us cold and empty. We may have some sense that silence could be a way of solidarity with those who have no voice in our world. We may have a deep longing for God which time and time again gets crowded out. –
For any of these or other reasons we can stand on the threshold of silence and the prayer of loving attention and have difficulty in letting go of the words or pictures which fill our mind, the inner videos which entertain us, distract us or disturb us.
Attending to God. Silence is a way of coming to know Emmanuel, God with us; it is a way of dying to ourselves and of rising to new life. So silence links Christmas and Easter, birth, death and resurrection.
It may therefore be a good way of spending a few hours just before Lent begins, to see if we can find a way of giving up a lot of words and simply becoming still enough to know that God is God.
Finding the way. Most of us at some time or other on our journey of faith find it valuable to have the support of others to enter a friendly and spacious field of silence where we can “safely graze”. That is what this day will seek to offer. It will be an opening for practice – not a discussion group or a study session but a time for waiting on God in the company of others doing the same. On offer will be guided introductions to some of the pathways of silence and time for personal exploration of them.
I shall be drawing on many years’ experience of leading retreats and adult Christian learning programmes in England and Denmark, and I know that all of us, myself included, are always beginners when we turn to God in the noise or the silence of our hearts. Welcome to a time for making your own soundings in the depths of God’s Silence and to refreshing your humanity in God’s hospitable Presence.
John Nicholson
When? 21 February 2009 (Saturday before Ash Wednesday)
Where? In church
Time? 14.15 – 20.00
How many? Maximum 18 participants (to give plenty of space for personal quiet)
Cost: 100 kr. on enrolment
Enrolment: See folder with programme and more details in the church entrance lobby
How to get there: For those driving, we will try arrange a car pool from the Vicarage and lifts as necessary
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