The Holy Discipline of Silence

A good treatment on silence by Mark Driscoll. He is rediscovering a wise tradition which has run through the church for hundreds of years, particularly in the Catholic/Orthodox stream. I like the way he expresses his goals and practices:

Since God convicted me of my addiction to noise, I have sought to conform my life more to the pattern of Jesus’, which has proven quite helpful. I try to spend at least five minutes an hour in silence, at least thirty minutes in uninterrupted silence each day, and a full day in silence once a month. During those times I find myself going for silent prayer walks to listen to God, writing in my journal, and sometimes doing nothing at all, which for me has become an act of faith that God is at work even when I am not.

This is a guy with a wife, five kids and a huge church who writes and travels extensively. Something to which it is worth aspiring methinks; the silence, I mean. Especially for those of us in full time parish ministry.

The rest (no pun intended) is over at Resurgence here.

Reading and Listening: Goodies from Stephen Carter, Dallas Willard and Wayne Grudem

I have discovered a new writer! Stephen L Carter, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law at Yale, no less. I'm reading The Emperor of Ocean Park. His first novel, a "complex and smart mystery," they say, and a first-class read. One of his characters makes this observation in passing about the Episcopal Church:

You know us Episcopalians, ... We love to feel compassion for people. We're never happy unless we're ignoring somebody's sins to show how tolerant we are. (p135)

This is not what the book is about. I just noticed it because of all the hoo-ha we Anglicans are experiencing these days and because some Canadian Anglicans, especially of the Member-of-General-Synod variety, seem to have caught the same bug.

Thank God for MP3. I listened to Dallas Willard speaking at a Church Staff Retreat as I treadmilled recently. Some things he said which I had to write down as I trod:

When anger comes up in our standing for truth, then it's about winning not truth.

Disciplines are about cultivating grace.

God never gives anyone too much to do.

Paradise is already in session. We're already in eternity.

Work a modest day, step back and rest and you will be close to God.

He also spoke of life being a proper balance of family, rest, prayer, meditation and flower-sniffing. He said the disciplines to which he feels particularly called are fasting and memorizing Scripture. Also, on enough stuff:

We will trust Jesus for forgiveness of sins but not for the next sandwich.

Last but not least, from his Scottsdale Bible Church teachings, Wayne Grudem on inerrancy:

What the Bible says about any subject is true.

Inerrancy is to do with truthfulness not precision concerning events and when they happened.

He says each of us need to be reading the Bible, praying and walking with the LORD, otherwise we're starving ourselves spiritually.