Welcome to a gathering of the restful Sabbath

from listener



From time to time I will offer a Sabbath thread to perhaps help us through the world's difficult, dark days. With so much to take in, grasp, mull, act on and let go of these days, it may be helpful to support one another in the spaces between our actions, so that our mullings go deep enough to be meaningful and creative.

I will begin by offering the quote that begins every publication of Friends of Silence Newsletter, which was begun by my friend Nan Merrill:

"Is there enough silence for the Word to be heard?"

What helps you embrace and hold and lean into the deep Silences at the center of your being?

For some it is music. Here are two related quotes to ease your soul...

For a composer silence is something pregnant with expectation ... The most naturally spiritual medium. The music grows in the spiritual life: the silence of monks, the silence of meditation, the silence of not knowing something, the terrible silence of God when we are confronted with evil in the world. Music has always been intimately connected with the numinous and the immaterial. I increasingly believe that the non-corporeal quality of music can be a direct challenge to the world and its materiality.
~ James MacMillan on "Silence," Symphony No. 3

A small bird with a red bonnet on its head came and perched on a rock opposite us. It waved its tail, turned its head anxiously in all directions, then glanced directly at us and as it did so, it grew bold and began to whistle softly, tauntingly at first; but soon it threw back its head, swelled its throat, and gazing at the sky, the light, burst into song with abandon. Everything vanished; nothing remained in the world save this bird and God: God, and a beak that was singing.
~ Nikos Kazantzakis in St. Francis

Peace be with you.
~ listener

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