CREEDE HINSHAW: In measuring the awe of God, silence is golden

By Creede Hinshaw
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Church can be a noisy place.

Friends greet friends, tales of victory or defeat are exchanged and embellished, laughter swells and tears flow. The sounds of church are many. Some forms of worship produce hearty “Amens!” or “Hallelujahs!” during the service; others include multiple persons speaking or praying simultaneously.

These church sounds are mostly interpreted as a sign of health. Few people are attracted to a place filled with stultifying silence. Some worshipers lead lives filled with enough loneliness during the week; church is where they come to talk, to be energized, greeted and connected.

And yet, particularly during the Advent Season, the heart yearns for holy, sacred silence, if for no other reason than to replicate the desired mood set by Austrian lyricist Joseph Mohr’s beloved “Silent Night.”

An ancient Advent hymn dating to the 4th century and attributed to James, the brother of Jesus (which is a pretty good reason to sing it), “Silent Night” emphasizes the need for sacred silence in the face of the inexpressible gift of Jesus Christ at Bethlehem:

Let all mortal flesh keep silence,

And with fear and trembling stand;

Ponder nothing earthly minded …

With fear and trembling stand!

Or kneel. Either way, keep silent.

In the chatter and clamor of Christmas, has your church carved out a space for holy awe? In your private prayer life, have you devoted time for listening to the prompting of the Holy Spirit?

It’s challenging to “ponder nothing earthly minded,” which is why most of us flee from silence.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is correct: “In being quiet there is a miraculous power of clarification, of purification, of bringing together what is important.”

For most of us, silence is just plain terrifying. In the church of my childhood, the choir began every single worship service with this sung call to worship:

The Lord is in his holy temple;

Let all the earth keep silence before him.

Keep silence, keep silence, keep silence before him.

This somber, solemn exhortation to silent reflection and awe was followed by 60 minutes of words, hymns, more words, responsive readings, prayers, and organ music. There wasn’t a shred of silence in that service.

Even the Revelation According to John, the Bible’s last book, notes a dramatic period of silence. Along with the four horsemen, the shaking of the foundations, blasting trumpets, weeping, and wailing, and the angels singing praise and glory, there is silence. When the seventh seal (revealing the fate of humankind) is broken, John reports “There was silence in heaven for about half an hour.” (Rev. 8:1)

I’m unsure how 30 minutes was measured in eternity, but the point is not lost. There are moments of holy awe even in heaven, where nothing earthly minded should be pondered.

Phillips Brooks sets the right tone in his enduring classic “O Little Town of Bethlehem”:

How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given,

that God imparts to human hearts the blessing of his Heaven …

Before you proceed to the next article or task, why not first set aside some time for silence?