Silence. Nothing moving. Nothing stirring. Still.

Complete and utter silence is a foreign concept in today’s society. If nothing is making a sound, something is wrong. The car engine isn’t whirring, the refrigerator isn’t humming, the phone isn’t buzzing. We can call somebody to fix all these noise-makers so they can resume their drone, but what if the birds aren’t chirping? What if the leaves aren’t rustling? What happens when there is a room full of people not saying a word? We can’t necessarily call the local mechanic.

Let’s take a step back to our machines. Oh how we love our machines! Our machines make great noises! They can whir, buzz, hum, click, ring, ping, honk, ding, tick, vroom, flutter, and the list just goes on! It’s odd to go about our daily lives in the absence of all these sounds. When I was little, I would always be the one to light all the candles if there was a storm in the area that might knock our power out. I could go around and make sure all the candles were lit, but the candles didn’t make noise. They still don’t actually! When the power went out, there would be that stillness caused by the silence. Everything suddenly felt less animated. The world had gone still. The machines could not make their noises. This silence did not last long though. The people at the power plant dutifully got us back on the grid so the machines could resume their dissonant melodies.

Now consider the stillness in the middle of an open field or in the middle of the crowded forest or on the shores of some body of water. Is the silence different? Is there silence or is something being noisy? Is it the overgrown grass silently swishing off one another in that open field? Or do the leaves above you in that crowded forest brushing against each other sound like the waves lapping the shore on the beach? Serene? Yes, but far from silent. What happens if these sounds stop? These sounds cannot be simply turned on and off. The grass can be muffled by snow and the leaves fall to the ground to wither away, leaving the field and forest rather quiet, but not silent.

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Silence is no sound. I’m most familiar with silence in a worship service. Some may argue that if there’s no noise in a worship service, there’s no praise, and if there’s no praise, then there’s no worship. I’m all for singing my favorite hymns until my throat is raw, but silent praise is an equal counterpart to audible praise. Too often in the day we rush to our different horizontal obligations. Well I don’t know about you, but my world is right-side up! Not sideways-sitting. One interpretation of horizontal, but not how I mean it. Our horizontal obligations are the obligation we have to those around us. In a worship service, there is vertical peace. Silence in a worship service is nothing to fear. Silence in a worship service is our time to reflect on how we are sinful, but the great thing God has done to save us, then worship him the rest of the service for that single act of love which provides forgiveness, peace, and joy beyond our understanding.

Praising God silently,

JS