Experiments In Silence

It has been nearly a month since my last post. The fact that it has been that long should give you an idea of how those days have been - draining; full; intensive; not so much noisy but close to sensory overload. I have reached the second week in advent kind of punch drunk; dazed; needing some space. I have noticed again how visually and auditorily noisy our world is. Perhaps I notice it more in these shorter and darker days as shop windows try to entice us in to spend money in the lead up to Christmas, but also as more and more houses bejewel themselves with Christmas lights in these early days of Advent waiting. I have noticed again how that affects me. As a response, or perhaps an antidote to that, I am praying. I don't regularly say Prayer During the Day as Common Worship calls it, but a few times in recent days I have retreated to the safety and security of that liturgy and I have allowed the silence between the words to envelop me. Advent invites t...

So often I find myself craving silence over the course of a day. All too often I find myself frustrated that I cannot find that renewing at home. I remember when I first discovered how it is to be 'hangry', being hungry to the point that it affected my mood and I became cross and irritable. The same is true for me when I have achieved sensory overload. If I've had a particularly heavy day or few days of up front ministering, with little time for silence and renewal, I can become ' sp angry' - having given much of myself and finding I have few resources left, I may not be my usual cheery self - I'm sp ent and that affects my mood. One of the things I remembered today, apt being Armistice Day, is that as a parish we have beautiful buildings available to us and the wider community. During the week these buildings are are often oases of quiet. They are spaces to stop, to think, to reflect, to pray. I remembered this because I needed it.  So this is my cu...