In Praise of Silence
I'm excited to be speaking at the Liturgy Collective conference in Nashville on October 13-14. It'll be a wonderful opportunity to connect with other musicians, pastors, and liturgists.
This year, the theme of the conference is “rest,” which I think is perennially needed, but even more so these days.
The topic of my two talks will be on the nature of Silence in Worship, and my basic argument is that we need far more of it than we usually presume.
Silence is fundamental to faithful prayer, I suggest, because prayer begins with the act of listening, not talking. God gets the first word—not the pastor, not the musician, not any of us.
Silence also is fundamental to faithful singing because in silence, we attune our ears to “the chief Conductor of our hymns,” as John Calvin once put it.
We do so in order to be reminded that we were not the first to arrive on the liturgical scene. In humility, we listen first—then we sing.
Silence is likewise fundamental to faithful preaching because the preacher must make time for the people of God to inwardly digest the word of God so that it has a fighting chance to take root in our hearts and bear good fruit in our lives.
Silence, of course, is not merely negative—the absence of speech, the omission of sound, the refusal to act. It is also a positive thing. Much like Mary’s “let it be,” uttered in response to the divine word in Luke 1:38, silence is an “active passivity” which creates space for God to transform us.
In other words, the absence of noise is not an emptiness; it is always a generative fullness, and in some cases, a terrifying fullness.
In silence, we are confronted with God’s voice, a voice that we often drown out for fear of being found out or found wanting.
In silence, we are judged for our desperate need to fill up our lives with frenzied activity.
In silence, finally, we discover that we are not ultimately in control; we are weak and vulnerable and desperately in need of God’s grace.
This, among many other reasons, is why we need it far more often than we give it space in our practices corporate worship.
If you're interested in attending or know someone who is, check out the conference link here.
Other fun people who will be there include Josh Garrels, Taylor Leonhardt, Carl Ellis, Jr., Sandra McCracken, Russ Ramsey, Leslie Jordan, Scott Sauls, Melanie Penn, David Kim, and more!
