Listen to the silence; what have we been missing?
Are we now its truth dismissing?
Leave the world's distraction, words that preen and flatter,
Idle noise and empty chatter.
Focus on God alone and on holy wonder,
Not what draws us under.
Mighty wind was roaring, earthquake and then fire,
Sounds that fear and awe inspire.
Then the silent stillness, God's own Self revealing,
Broke through noise and fire concealing.
So might we learn to see in the peaceful, mute calm,
God's own healing and balm.
Refuge in the quiet from the noise assailing,
Holy Spirit now unveiling;
Even from our singing praise and exaltation,
Make a space for sound's cessation.
Strive to hear, loud and clear, God's own holy being
In the silence freeing.
TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, July 2022 (with
MUSIC; Tune ARNSBERG, Joachim Neander, 1680.
This text started coming at around the midpoint of the trip home after an amazing week at the centennial anniversary conference of the Hymn Society of the United States and Canada. It was one of the best things I've done in a very long time, but even after the best kinds of such gatherings, I need quiet. If that is how you are too, enjoy this hymn. (Quirky note: for me that first line comes from a Bruce Cockburn song.)