The Silence of Holy Moments

 The Silence Of Holy Moments

Be silent before the Lord, all humanity, for he is springing into action from his holy dwelling.” Zechariah 2:13 NLT

God has a perfect story for each of our lives. But I am spiritually blind and spiritually deaf to God’s voice when I live in fear of God’s judgment and misunderstand His commandments of love. When my image of God is that of an angry Judge and not as our Heavenly Father, His seed of grace cannot bear fruit - my heart is hardened like a path instead of being a fertile soil. 

I am then driven to seek to do good works to please God instead of living out my life as His masterpiece of Love. I am misled to strive to live a life of prayer instead of thriving and bearing the fruit of the Spirit by abiding in God’s grace through the silence of contemplative prayer. Prayer is not a ritual but the spiritual breath of our souls. It is easier to spend time talking to God instead of listening to His still small voice. And so often I miss God’s voice in the silence of holy moments. Our Shepherd of Love has given us everything we need to live the life that we are called to live:

“Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.” 2 Peter 1:3-‬4 MSG

But, as John Blackwell so rightly pointed out in his book, “The Noonday Demon,” our eyes are closed and maybe blind to the gentle nudges of Love offering us the gift of sight. He asked us to imagine how the practice of our “wondering” together what God is saying to us, in us and through us will transform our lives. By becoming a community of reflection that we become more fully human.

Instead of studying the bible, we can reflect on what is God calling us to accomplish together. We can simply share what we heard - a verse of Scripture or a line from a hymn. Discussing what we think only lead us to wander in the wilderness of our human thoughts. Spending moments of silence to ponder on our sharing about what we feel God was saying to us in those moments will draw us closer to God and to one another. As we do so, we may be able to see how God is molding us each day in all our moments - in our pain, our conflicts, our fears as well as our joys. Henri Nouwen reminds us:

“Community is not a talent show in which we dazzle the world with our combined gifts. Community is the place where our poverty is acknowledged and accepted, not as something we have to learn to cope with as best as we can but as a true source of new life.”

Advent is a time to reflect on the story of the birth of Jesus Christ in a manger as there was no room for his mother in the inn. This is to illustrate the truth that blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Our spiritual life, according to Henri Nouwen, is “a life in which we wait, actively present to the moment, expecting that new things will happen to us, new things that are far beyond our own imagination or prediction.” The spirit of poverty helps us give up control over our future and to let God define our life.

So let us worship our God of the Present Moment by seeking His presence in the silence of holy moments as we proclaim:

“Joy to the world! The Lord is come
Let earth receive her King!
Let every heart prepare Him room
And heaven and nature sing
And heaven and nature sing
And heaven, and heaven and nature sing.”