Building on the Power of Silence

Silence and sanctuary - two quite powerful words. What do we think of when the word sanctuary is mentioned? Do we really know what to do when we encounter silence?

In order to build a place of sanctuary there must be a time and space for quiet, for reflection. There must be time for the building of the sanctuary and the nurture of it and then there must be encounter with the world. John Wesley said that transformation – sanctification must have an impact on the surrounding community. The result is that as communities are changed, so are whole counties and nations. Wesley said that there can be no inner transformation without a resulting social transformation and vice versa.

The process of sanctification is about living a daily Christian pilgrimage and begins at the moment we make a commitment to the way of Christ. We are renewed inwardly by the power of God and it is an instant as well as a lifelong process. We are changed and look to the things of God and towards serving others. This doesn’t mean that Christian pilgrimage doesn’t involve struggle and doubt at times but the difference is that we have Christ as our focus and help.

After the initial positive feelings of conversion, we all get to that point where we come face to face with the reality that we have to live our faith in the real world full of noise, distractions and demands but it is important to remember that we are empowered by the Spirit of God to begin to live a new life in Christ. As we become passionate about the work of God and we seek to live according to His commandments and we worship God regularly, completely and with humility, so in a way we are partnership with God in the process of our transformation. We are not passively expecting God to change us with no effort on our part but neither does it depend entirely on our own efforts. It is a daily taking up of our cross in Christian pilgrimage.

And central to all of this, is that if we are going to build a place of healing and transformation it must be grounded in prayer. Prayer must be the centre of everything. Perhaps that is something of what Jesus means when he tells the parable of the house that was built on the rock, is that it is no use building anything without being completely centred on Him, in that way the Christian pilgrimmage can lived out in the midst of the joys and the chaos of daily life..

Passages for Study

Luke 6: 46-49

Ecclesiastes 9:17

Mark 4:35-41

1 Thessalonians 4:9-12

1 Kings 6:1-38

Psalm 20

Psalm 63