field work: wordiness & the word, part 1
Our lives have become verbose. All around us are words. Mostly we are covered over on every side with words of solicitation, complaint, anger, weariness, gossip, obsessiveness, abuse, vulgarity, and other epithets of consumerist and oppositional culture. Our own words are often inauthentic, shallow, plentiful, superfluous and rarely enriching.
No silence.
No silence long enough or deep enough to hear meaningful words. Or to be able to utter meaningful words out of that silence.
Rare is the person or entity who speaks a word out of inner peace, security, wisdom and grace. Rare is the word that is ever spoken out of a listening posture, thoughtfully, carefully, embodied, curiously and reflectively.
Yet God speaks this way daily, and generously (read Psalm 19). “The heavens are telling of the glory of God... day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.” He speaks through creation (vs.1-6) and the written God-breathed Word (vs.7-13). And we know also that Jesus left us with his Spirit to take up residence in the welcoming human heart and thus reminds us of words of truth resonating and ruminating moment to moment in our ‘gut’ if we humbly attend.
By meditating on these sources of words, the psalmist obtains words of caution, discernment about personal faults and presumptions, reminders of truth, clarity of purpose and great delight. Only then does the psalmist end with something of value coming out of his own mouth: “may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and redeemer.”
We reverse this. We use valueless words and listen to and ingest shoot-from-the-hip gossip. Only when we’re desperate are we still, quieted and seek God. Sometimes not even then. We cannot hear because of our restless souls and frenetic pace of life.
Wallace Stegner has said “thought is neither instant nor noisy... it thrives best in solitude, in quiet...”.
The Word speaks in silence but we are busy.
The Word speaks in silence but we are compulsive.
The Word speaks in silence but we are anxious.
The Word speaks in silence but we are fearful.
The Word speaks in silence but we are angry.
The Word speaks in silence but we are preoccupied.
The Word speaks in silence but we are.......................
The Word speaks….
first written as a ‘Godsightings’ , March 6th, 2008; by Patrick Harrison
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