Advent Silence 11;15 Dec 14 PUMC
Kathleen Norris
is a writer that I would fully recommend to you and in her book
Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith by Kathleen Norris
She writes about an exercise that she developed
back in the years when she was a resident artist
in elementary schools in North Dakota.
she wanted to teach children about the mysteries of silence.
She said to them
first you get to make noise
and then you will make silence
the first part was pretty easy
apparently they already know how to make noise
Norris
would raise her hand and that was the signal to make as much noise as they could
the only rules were that you could not leave your desks
you could only use your hands,
feet and mouth
and when Norris put her hand down the noise had to stop

they would stop.
Actually This usually took a few tries to get a serious noise..going but
but also to stop.

The rules for the silence were also simple.
Don't hold your breath
and make funny faces
breathe normally
but quietly
and sit still enough
that was the hardest part..
Sit still enough to make no noise at all
..of course they would have trouble with someone moving or a pencil would roll off a desk
But
she said
In all her years of doing this
there was only one time
that a class of children
failed to find the silence.
It turns out that a certain class had a teacher
who was constantly
yelling orders at them ....
this teacher would yell
– Write, don’t print your name
in the upper right-hand corner of the paper;
set a left-hand margin and keep it;
use a pencil, not a pen;
line the paper up with the edge of your desk for collection.
These children had so many little rules barked at them
all day long
by a burned-out teacher
that they had stopped listening,
and listening does tend to be is a prerequisite
for silence


well
anyway
In most cases
Norris said the children
were able to become so still
that the silence
was like a presence in the room.
The interesting thing though
was not just that they could do it ..but what they discovered and experienced in the silence

Most kids thought it was fun
and they wanted to do it again
. Some ..however thought it was scary
like the little boy who said
"It's like we're waiting for something - its scary!"

After the exercise,
Norris s would have them write about their impressions
and what they experienced.
Because what she really wanted to see... In that experiment
was how it opened up the imagination
She found out that when the children wrote about the noise
it was mostly
the usual cliches
like
'we sound like a herd of elephants'.
But when it came to the to the silence
they came up with some stuff that was
deep
and thoughtful
One boy came up with an image of strength
as being
'as slow and silent as a tree'
another person wrote that
"silence is me sleeping.. waiting to wake up.
Silence is a tree spreading its branches to the sun."
In a private religious school
there was a third grader who wrote this poem kind of prayer school,
"Silence is spiders spinning their webs,
it's like a silkworm making its silk.
Lord, help me to know when to be silent."
And in a tiny town in western North Dakota
a little girl
offered a gem of spiritual wisdom. . .
. "Silence reminds me to take my soul with me wherever I go."
.....I am talking about this because...as you might know
,we are using wonder .
.the sense of wonder
as a spiritual practice
or spiritual disciple for the month of December
I am inviting us to do some intentional wondering.
and silence
being in silence is one of the ways to do that

here again we have seem guidance and clues right tin some of the most popular and I would say most prayerful Christmas songs
so pay attention to the signals that are built into these traditions
Think about
the third verse in o Little Town of Bethlehem,
is a prayer ful reflection
how silently how silently the wondrous gift is given
No ear..
May hear its coming... (Get that)
no ear may hear his coming.)
So it’s a different kind of listening and silence right?
But in this world of sin
where meek souls will receive him still the dear Christ enters in.


you hear that the invitation to silence for the birth of Christ in your life
or think of the most popular church Christmas song ...silent night
we are going to sing it here on Christmas eve
it usually comes at the end of a service
after all the other business of Christmas
It s like
we instinctively or intuitively know that after the noise
after singing the louder song of joy to the world
and Hark the herald angle sings ..songs about glory
then its time to be silent

silent night holy night
all is clam ..all is bright


but you see
we are not there yet

we are still in the noise part of the exercise and that ok too
because the nosie is part of life
and the noise also happen to so we get the contrasts


here in advent we have the noise of John the Baptist
Crying
shouting even
in the wilderness
repent the kingdom of God is at hand
prepare the way of the lord

we are in the the advent season of the busy world and the crowds

But there is also another kind of silence
Do you remember in Kathleen Norris example
she told about a kid
who said the silence was kind of scary
and like we are waiting fro something

that is so true
In advent
we also read the prophets and we read about the vision and the dream of shalom
you get the worlds about the lion and the lamp shall lie down together
and they shall study war no more
Swords beaten into plowshares
and spears into pruning hooks
That’s the vision and the peace
and we simply are not there...it leaves us speeches and in the silence of longing..
It takes some silence .
.to hear that ..and be with that .
That silence is also .is unsettling and sad because we know that we are not there yet
it is the silence of naming our reality
and our shortcoming
we are waiting ,,
as in O come o come Emannuel ...longing..yearning
and it is not easy to listen
and feel the reality of violence ..injustice...sin...in the world
to think about terrorists...Iraq or Afghanistan
or the tragedies of drought and famine
or maybe your own economic worries
and
Well
it is tempting to just keep busy
and make noise and be distracted
rather than feel the calling of the vision..
The noise can be easier than the silence of reflection
Or maybe
when everyone else is talking about Christmas cheer and good will and The Bible dream when Sorrow and morning shall flee way
.. Maybe it is hard to be in silence
because
well we know the emptiness and the Grief and the loneliness
That Is also Who we are
and the contrast is just to much to bear
so gain the silence is frightening
maybe we are afraid that there is the silence of giving up
the silence of hopelessness
That maybe in the silence it will just be too dark

but
let me ..in the name of Jesus Christ..
Call us to try the silence
any way
because in the silence
in the deepest silence
you can also here the words Of hope
The light shines in the darkness and does not over come it
Christmas ..remember
is about the world becoming flesh
in other words the world actually coming to us
entering our lives
And maybe the way for that to happen
is for us to become the sacred
listeners
to be silent enough to just hear the WORD
the world of Immanuel ..God with Us
god with us
the word of hope and healing and light and life
the word Was with god
and the Word is God
and the WORD is what we have in Jesus Christ..
That word is being birthed
and Given in this Bethlehem story
but God is also still speaking in the living Word
and very soon
John the Baptist will
step aside
he will quiet down ..
And we can prepare the way by becoming the silent listeners
For the word
the silent word of wonder the silent world of love
the world that says you are loved even when you’re not doing anything
but just sitting still

I wonder
how much of Christmas
we are missing
because we are so much enjoying the noise part
That we forget
or cannot simply be still
The silence in Advent and Christmas is pregnant
Christ is being born
. Something new is trying to be born.
As that little boy from Norris example said
said,
it is
as if we are waiting for something.

If you I can take you to the end of the Christmas story in Luke it will say that Mary pondered all these things in her heart.
Sound like silence and wonder to me

So I invite you to yes
make all the good noise
you can even enjoy it
and have fun with it..
but when God ..
Gives you the signal to stop and be silent..
Don’t miss the experience .
Don’t miss that silent part
because that is the part that will
Stir your imagination
that is the creative part that will Overcome the frightening silence that is in us
and take us into the true and deeper
silence of hearing Gods word
Silent Night Holy Night All is calm
all is bright
How silently how silently the wondrous Gift is given