Silence as a Form of Ministry
Continuing with Paul S. Rees's sermon on silence, let's hear today what he had to say about silence as a form of ministry.
He says, firstly, that times of silence can minister to us. He says this: "Our own souls can become strident and harsh, hectic and strained. Hence the need of stillness, and of those luminous insights that come with quietness before God."
How Silence Heals Our Own Hearts
In fact in Psalm 4:3, David says "know that the Lord has set apart His faithful servant for Himself." In times of quiet and stillness, we are enabled to recognise and rejoice in the fact that we are loved and set apart by God. In the busy and noisy and loud moments of the day, we can hardly comprehend such wonders.
Rees then quotes Harry Overstreet, who wrote this: "Times of silence are times when we have a chance to be loosed into affection. Too much noise, too many voices, too many suggestions and counter-suggestions, too many calls to do this and that—all tend to put edginess into life. To be still is to give ourselves the chance to recover kinship and friendliness."
So friends, be still. Take time to be quiet. You minister to your own soul in a way that you can't in the busy moments of life.
The Ministry of Silent Presence
But Rees also points out that silence is an effective way to minister to others too. He tells the story of a little girl whose favourite doll was broken by a visitor to their home. Realising his mistake, the man said to her "I'll buy you another one." Of course, such an offer is not helpful when the original doll seemed irreplaceable to the little girl, and so her mother chipped in to try and comfort and help her daughter. But the little girl just looked up at her mother with eyes full of tears and said "Don't talk about it please, Mommy." Rees says "because the hurt was too deep for words, words could not reach it."
Often, when people in our lives are hurting, we feel the need to speak some words that might help them, but often our attempts are futile. For wounds that are too deep for words, words cannot heal. And in such cases, silence can be a great healer. Being present silently with somebody in a time of grief, perhaps offering a hand on a shoulder or an understanding look, may do more than a thousand well-intentioned words.
Words are powerful and helpful in most cases, but don't underestimate the power of silence to minister to your own soul and to the soul of somebody else.
