Background on Silence (spiritual Discipline)

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Hearing Jesus in Silence

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Mark 1:35, Psalm 46:10, 1 Kings 19:12, Zephaniah 1:7, Psalm 4:4

One of the early saints who emphasized the place of silence in spiritual life was Saint Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, who died a martyr late in the first century. In a letter written shortly before his...

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A National Day of Quiet

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

The fascination with silence took root early in the life of composer John Cage. In 1928, during a speech contest at Los Angeles High School, he argued for the establishment of a national day of quiet....

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Solitude has a Learning Curve

Author

Mike Cosper

Keywords

In his excellent book, Recapturing the Wonder: Transcendent Faith in a Disenchanted World , Mike Cosper explains the value in persevering through the difficult realities of practicing solitude. ...

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Prayer: When Words Become Superfluous

Author

Carlo Carretto

Keywords

Prayer is like love. Words pour at first. Then we are more silent and can communicate in monosyllables. In difficulties a gesture is enough, a word, or nothing at all—love is enough. Thus the time com...

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Your Cell Will Teach You Everything

Author

Thomas Merton

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 46:10, 1 Kings 19:9-18, Matthew 5:5-15, Daniel 3:19-27, Exodus 13:21-22, Mark 1:35-39, Luke 5:16, Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, Genesis 32:24-30, Psalm 62:1, Hosea 2:14, Habakkuk 2:1, 1 Samuel 3:1-10, Isaiah 26:3

A certain brother went to Abbot Moses in Scete, and asked him for a good word. And the Elder said to him: Go, sit in your cell and your cell will teach you everything. An elder said: The monk’s ce...

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A Social Media Fast

Author

Marlena Graves

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 30:15

So in the last three years, in order to reorient myself and head back onto the narrow way, I’ve given up social media and/or the internet for Lent. At first it’s agonizing. I’m like a caffeine or nico...

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Our Bodies Need Silence

Author

Rick Hamlin

Keywords

Your body knows about schedules. It gets used to those times of day when it says, Feed me right now. I’m hungry, and those times of night when it says, Get me to bed. I’m exhausted. Your body will spe...

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The Power of Silence in a Prayerful Life

Author

John Climacus

Keywords

Scripture

Habakkuk 2:20, Lamentations 3:26, Psalm 46:10, Zephaniah 1:7, 1 Thessalonians 4:11

The Desert Saint John Climacus placed a strong emphasis on the role of silence in the life of prayer. In his guidebook to the spiritual life, he had this to say: Intelligent silence is the mother of...

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An Invitation To Find our Hearts

Author

Anne Lamott

Keywords

Silence

Holy silence is spacious and inviting. You can drink it down…During congregational silences, in meditation rooms or halls, in prison cells and meeting rooms, in silent confession at church, all these ...

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Silence in Scripture

Author

Frederick Buechner

Keywords

Silence

Scripture

John 18:38

Somebody should write a book someday about the silences in Scripture. Maybe somebody already has. “For God alone my soul waits in silence,” the psalmist says (62:1), which is the silence of waiting. O...

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Sitting in Silence

Author

Tish Harrison Warren

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 46:10, 1 Kings 19:12, Zephaniah 1:7, Romans 8:26

I know a spiritual director who begins each of her sessions with five to ten minutes of silence. Sitting in silence is a new experience for many, and she told me that during these few minutes nearly e...

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How God Speaks

Author

Dan Gilliam

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 46:10

While there is a common assumption in church circles that God speaks most frequently and the clearest through singing worship and heart-enlivened sermons, I find the context of speechless tranquility ...

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Being Silent Makes Us Feel Helpless

Author

Richard J. Foster

Keywords

One reason we can hardly bear to remain silent is that it makes us feel so helpless. We are so accustomed to relying upon words to manage and control others. If we are silent, who will take control? G...

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The Most Radical Discipline

Author

Dallas Willard

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 26:38-42

Solitude is the most radical of the disciplines for life in the spirit. In penal institutions, solitary confinement is used to break the strongest of wills. It is capable of this because it excludes i...

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The Church of Silence

Author

Ryan Holiday

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 46:10, 1 Kings 19:11-12, Isaiah 30:15, Habakkuk 2:20, Mark 1:35, Matthew 6:6, Luke 5:15-16, Matthew 14:23, Matthew 6:1-34, Mark 1:35

In downtown Helsinki, there is a small building called the Kamppi Chapel. It’s not a place of worship, strictly speaking, but it’s as quiet as any cathedral. Quieter, in fact, because there are no ech...

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Reflecting on Shusaku Endo’s Novel and Film, Silence

Author

Nikki Toyama-Szeto

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 2:12, Galatians 3:26-28, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, John 13:34-35, Acts 2:42-47, Matthew 28:19-20, James 2:17-18

In Silence, Shusaku Endo writes of the journey of Portuguese Jesuits journeying to Japan. It is a conversation about those who intend to take the path of Jesus, only to find they are on the path of Ju...

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He Who Was All Stillness, All Peace, All Poise

Author

Richard J. Foster

Keywords

Anthony Bloom tells the story of an elderly woman who had been working at prayer with all her might but without ever sensing God’s presence. Wisely, the archbishop encouraged the old woman to go to he...

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Sitting in the Light

Author

Charles Swindoll

Keywords

A piano sits in a room, gathering dust. It is full of the music of the masters, but in order for such strains to flow from it, fingers must strike the keys… trained fingers, representing endless hours...

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The Power of Silence & the Pregnant Pause

Author

Richard John Neuhaus

Keywords

For many of us, silence is something we try to avoid, both in conversations and in preaching. But as Richard John Neuhaus aptly describes in his time watching Martin Luther King, Jr. deliver his sermo...

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Being Merciful with Ourselves

Author

Henri J. M. Nouwen

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 9:13, Psalm 46:10, James 1:19-20, Colossians 3:12-13, Psalm 62:1-2, Proverbs 16:32, Ephesians 4:26-27

We need silence in our lives. We even desire it. But when we enter into silence we encounter a lot of inner noises, often so disturbing that a busy and distracting life seems preferable to a time of s...

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The Silence of God

Author

Shusaku Endo

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 22:1, Psalm 42:3, Habakkuk 1:2, Isaiah 45:15, Job 30:20, Lamentations 3:28-30

In the deeply moving novel Silence by Shusaku Endo, the protagonist, a young Jesuit priest named Sebastião Rodrigues describes in horror what it is like to watch two of his disciples, Japanese nationa...

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A Visitor In A Household Of Tranquil Prayer

Author

Jim Forest

Keywords

Archbishop Theophilus of Alexandria, one of the principal cities of the ancient world, once traveled to the monastic colony at Skete in the Egyptian desert. The younger monks were distressed that thei...

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The Wisdom of Dormancy

Author

Wayne Muller

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:2-3, Exodus 20:8-11, Leviticus 25:4-5, Mark 2:27, Isaiah 40:30-31

Sabbath honors the necessary wisdom of dormancy. If certain plant species, for example, do not lie dormant for winter, they will not bear fruit in the spring. If this continues for more than a season,...

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Withdrawing to a Lonely Place Apart

Author

Richard J. Foster

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 14:13, Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 6:12, Matthew 14:23, Mark 1:35, Mark 6:31, Luke 5:16, Matthew 17:1-9, Matthew 26:36-46

In the midst of an exceedingly busy ministry Jesus made a habit of withdrawing to “a lonely place apart” (Matt. 14:13; see also Matt. 4:1-11, Luke 6:12, Matt. 14:23, Mark 1:35, Mark 6:31, Luke 5:16, M...

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Disciplining Daily Deeds

Author

Kyle David Bennett

Keywords

Scripture

James 3:13, Hebrews 12:11, Proverbs 4:23, Philippians 4:8-9, Colossians 3:17, Romans 12:1-2, 1 Timothy 4:7-8

We can learn a thing or two about discipleship and the discipline required of a disciple from our fourth-century monastic brothers and sisters. Like them, we do basic, ordinary activities every day. W...

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God’s Voice Speaking through the Frustration

Author

Richard J. Foster

Keywords

Silence

My first conscious experience of hearing the voice of Jesus occurred when I was a college student. It grew out of a period of genuine frustration. Because of my poor academic training and a less-than-...

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Keeping Faith in the Silence

Author

Gillian Marchenko

Keywords

Scripture

John 20:27, Lamentations 3:8, Job 23:8-9, Romans 8:26, Isaiah 45:15, Matthew 27:46, Psalm 13:1-2

In her compelling memoir Still Life , author Gillian Marchenko recounts her struggles with depression: Yes, but what about Jesus?” friends ask later on. It is a valid question. If others look at ...

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Without Testimony

Author

Source Unknown

Keywords

There was once a court case that was lost because of the silence of an attorney. The distinguished lawyer Samuel Hoar (1778-1856) was representing the defendant. When it was time to present his case, ...

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The Topography of Discipline

Author

David Brooks

Keywords

Wilderness

In the wilderness, life is stripped of distractions. It is quiet. The topography demands discipline, simplicity, and fierce attention. Solitude in the wilderness makes irrelevant all the people-pleasi...

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A Repeated Bodily Practice

Author

J. P. Moreland

Keywords

Christian spiritual discipline is a repeated bodily practice, done over and over again in dependence on the Holy Spirit and under the direction of Jesus and other wise teachers in his Way, to enable o...

background on silence (spiritual discipline)

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Genesis

Exodus

Leviticus

Numbers

Deuteronomy

Joshua

Judges

Ruth

1 Samuel

2 Samuel

1 Kings

2 Kings

1 Chronicles

2 Chronicles

Ezra

Nehemiah

Esther

Job

Psalm

Proverbs

Ecclesiastes

Song of Solomon

Isaiah

Jeremiah

Lamentations

Ezekiel