113 – Silence – Intention on the Spiritual Journey

A week ago our class read an article entitled, “Our Deepest Prayer.”  It began with the words to a song written by the article’s author, Terry York,

Waiting here, in silence, God,
we hear and own our deepest prayer.
Until this silence we’d forgotten
that these words were hidden there.
Resurrect to Life and Light
what we have buried in our night.

I wonder what hides our deepest prayers?  our deepest desires?  our deepest fears?

York offers a few suggestions,

“We tuck things away … and walk away. We can stay away if we are busy enough or if our surroundings, even our liturgical surroundings, are noisy enough. Yes, noisy enough. We know the weight of silence.  We have learned that silence and waiting pull us toward that voice and that place and all that is hidden there.  We have long understood that overloaded calendars and daily schedules are not just about things that must be accomplished, that endless television, radio, and iPod music are not just about entertainment, that drinking is not just about being thirsty, and that eating is not just about being hungry. These are our avoidance techniques and ways to forget … Such avoidance techniques are futile attempts to be God rather than to turn the matters of our deepest prayer over to God. Ironically, even shallow prayer can be a way of avoiding our deepest prayer.” (p 60)

Take some time over the next few days to consider what noises and activities you have used to hide.  And as York suggests we might even use religious activities to hide.

Let me close with one additional quote from York,

“Our deepest prayer is our voice connecting with the voice of the Holy Spirit in a place where our waiting connects with God’s waiting.” (p 60)

(You can find the article on pages 59-63 of http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/92489.pdf )

 


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