“Create safe places where people can find the courage to enter their own depths.” Wow! I can’t think of a better description of what real worship is meant to be. Not performance punctuated by posturing and pretending, but letting go before the Presence. Sinking into Him. Drowning in Him and finding it possible to breathe for the first time.
And so often, our way of 'doing' our faith favours the extravert too! I think people can find silence threatening, which is why they rush to fill it. It needs to be offered, in public worship, in a safe way. This is one of the blessings of a religious way of being: as a community, everyone understands what the silences are for, and when they happen, and why. How can we offer that in public worship, I wonder?
Thank you so much for saying this! I try to practice silence every morning and I have forgotten that God is indeed in the silence and hears my heart speaking as only a heart can, without words.
“Create safe places where people can find the courage to enter their own depths.” Wow! I can’t think of a better description of what real worship is meant to be. Not performance punctuated by posturing and pretending, but letting go before the Presence. Sinking into Him. Drowning in Him and finding it possible to breathe for the first time.
And so often, our way of 'doing' our faith favours the extravert too! I think people can find silence threatening, which is why they rush to fill it. It needs to be offered, in public worship, in a safe way. This is one of the blessings of a religious way of being: as a community, everyone understands what the silences are for, and when they happen, and why. How can we offer that in public worship, I wonder?
Your words are welcome and respite and true..
… “Silence is not absence, it’s presence” these truths are what save us…
Thank you so much for saying this! I try to practice silence every morning and I have forgotten that God is indeed in the silence and hears my heart speaking as only a heart can, without words.