Rev’d Caroline - [email protected], 01285 712467

Rev’d Vicky - 07356 234248 – [email protected]

Readings for Sunday: 1 Kings 19.9-18; Romans 10.5-15; Matthew 14.22-33

Silence is an interesting thing. ‘Silence is golden’ the old saying goes, although I do think that that saying is often more about telling children to stop making an annoying racket than anything else. Nevertheless, for some of us, silence is something we enjoy and look for. For others, it’s the exact opposite. When I was training at Ripon College Cuddesdon it was always interesting seeing how people responded to the regular Quiet Days – where true silence was demanded throughout the college. Some loved it, others genuinely struggled.

Difficulty with silence seems to be very common in our modern world. Noise and distractions are everywhere by design. Music or voices are continually in our ears, filling up our senses. And that’s even before we get into the growing occurrence of people inflicting their sound of choice upon the general public – phones on speaker on the bus spring to mind! Even in places where you would have thought that quiet would be embraced by everyone simply by the nature of that place – the theatre, the cinema – we find that people can’t bring themselves to put aside their phones, their conversations. Now I don’t bring this up because it’s rude, although of course it is, but because it highlights something about our modern culture. People find it incredibly hard to reduce the sensory input around them. Their senses must be filled, at all times, multiple screens on the go, because what is the alternative? Silence. Thought. Being alone with your thoughts, or even in a place where thoughts are reduced, can be incredibly strange and scary.

When Elijah encountered the Lord on the mountain, it wasn’t in noise and fanfare and ostentatious force – fire, earthquake, storm – it was in silence. A terrifying silence, full of poised power. Silence is when the Lord speaks. And hearing the Lord speak can be one of the scariest things we can imagine. What might he say? What might he force us to confront about ourselves?

But this is how the Lord works, laying hold on the maelstrom and pulling us into his quiet, where the real work is done. Yes, this is scary. Truly. Thinking is always scary, especially if we are reflecting deeply and honestly on ourselves and our journey. Yet if it is scary, we must also realise that this where real, powerful, positive change can come. Because Jesus doesn’t just pull us into his calm, he pulls us into his embrace. Peter’s failure, which could have been so terrible, instead shows us once again Jesus’ power and his heart. Peter doesn’t sink – he is caught up into Jesus’ arms in the calm in the midst of that storm.

We need not be alone with our thoughts in the silence, when noise and distractions are put aside. Because in that space, we can realise the truth – we are not alone, because Christ is with us.

This week, let’s do our best to find moments of silence, when we deliberately lay aside the things we usually use to fill our eyes and ears, and seek instead the presence of our Lord.

Rev’d Caroline Symcox

Please note: there will be no Morning Prayer broadcasts in the week commencing 10th August, as Rev’d Caroline will be away on holiday across that week. Usual service resumes in the w/c 17th August.