Meditation Monday – The Sounds of Silence

Time to reflect:

Make yourself comfortable. If you are at home, sit in your favourite armchair. If you are at your office, close the door. Cut out as many distractions as possible. Focus on your breathing. Take a deep slow breath in from the depths of your abdomen and hold it for a moment. Then breathe out slowly. Relax your body and your mind.

It has been a busy week with much noise and activity. Even as I sit in my office the road and air traffic fills my world with noise that easily distracts me. Physical silence is elusive, but in the depths of my soul I know I can find a place of calm and silence at any time.

Let us start this morning by listening to Simon and Garfunkel sing their classic Sounds of Silence

Finding the silence that comes from a soul at rest and at peace is a remarkable thing, a gift from God, but a gift that must be received from the hands of God and then opened in the presence of God in order to be fully appreciated. A pause, a few deep breaths to centre myself on God, a deliberate relaxing of my muscles and suddenly I feel the embrace of God’s enduring love.

Read the prayer above slowly, focusing on the words and their message. Listen to the Simon and Garfunkel song. Sit quietly in the presence of God; breathing in and out slowly again.

What is your response: As you try to sit quietly in the presence of God what distracts you? What pulls you out of that inner silence and fills you with anxiety, fear or despair? As you focus on breathing in and out the essence of God how does it make you feel?

Now say YHWH slowly in synch with your breathing, (YH breath in; WH breathe out) savouring each syllable and the breath it draws into and out of your body. Breath holds the essence of God. Imagine it flowing into your lungs. oxygenating each blood cell and spreading out through your body. Imagine as you breathe it is the love of God; the peace of God and the stillness of God in which you can hear the quiet whispers through which God so delights to speak.  Read the prayer again and listen to the music. Relax your body as you breathe out, and imagine the music flowing with your breath down through your body into the ground.

What is your response: Sit in that inner place of silence and rest for a few moments. What is God saying to you in the silence? What are the faithful promises God has reminded you of? What are the new places of trust God is making you aware of? Write these down. Consider leaving a comment below that might enable others to enter into this silent place of God’s embrace.