Silence Communicates

July 1, 2008 | Filed Under georges boujakly, spiritual formation |

In response to last week’s synchronized blog dealing with the word “missional” I wrote a post in which I tried to deal with both the theological distinctions that I believe should be included when defining the word, as well as five practical issues that are necessary to consider when attempting to foster a missional mindset. The first of these practical issues was the need to start with an emphasis on spiritual formation.

With that topic in mind, here is a very good aritcle on the discipline of silence written by my friend Georges Boujakly. I am going to share the first part of his article today and the rest of it tomorrow. Here is part one:

Silence Communicates

Silence communicates. Silence has to be explained. Silence is capable of a variety of emotions, thoughts, conditions (states of mind), and attitudes. When the principal enters the classroom, a hush prevails. When the child refuses to answer for his actions, rebellion is not hard to see. When a witness to a crime refuses to testify to save the innocent, silence destroys. Sometimes silence is hard to explain.

How would you interpret Aaron’s silence (Lev. 10:3)? Is it grief, rebellion, or submission? How about God’s silence in Psalm 44:23 and 83:1? Consider Jesus’ silence at his trial (compare Mark 14:61 with Isaiah. 53:7)? There is no escaping it, silence speaks; sometimes more than words can say.

Confession: Often I am uncomfortable with silence and its partner listening. I would rather speak than listen. Especially in prayer. My sympathy is more with the one who says “listen, Lord, for your servant is speaking” than with young Samuel when Eli coached him to “speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” In my prayer silence is the underdog. How about you? I’m pulling for the underdog.

Several barriers are to blame. I will only name two. The first culprit is noise. We are always filling our world with noise. 90 decibels or more is nothing for restaurants. Church sometimes fares worse, depending on the music and the excitement of the preacher. Especially so when silence has taken a prolonged vacation from our worship! In life, the electronic gadgets we enjoy contribute a lion’s share to the noises of our lives.

Silence is hard to do. The screams of consumerism, materialism, diversion, and entertainment are hard to ignore. But we must.

Prayer depends on silence. Silence and its friend listening are the life spring of prayer. We must strive to live in conscious awareness of the presence and activity of the God we say we love with heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Silence as prayer is a good habit that will rescue us from the noises of life. Silence is a great help in living and praying in the present moment, the only moment we truly have. 

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