The prayer bells of heaven lay hidden in the silence

Today I helped facilitate a session on Quaker silence as one part of a board retreat for a local organization. It took a lot of planning with my fellow presenters, and a lot of logistical support (thank you, George and Katherine and Daniel, Peter, Greg, and Rosemary, Marisa and Kevin and Levi, and of course Robin, Nine Year Old and Six Year Old!).

It was really pretty extraordinary. One helpful tool in preparing my part was Brent Bill's book Holy Silence. Chapter three starts with this quote from William Penn, which I read to the group: "True silence is the rest of the mind; and is to the spirit, what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment."

Another aspect was an experiment in group centering that you might like to try with a group unused to silence. I suggested we create a lot of noise and hub-bub in the room, then decrescendo into silence. It worked! It helped to have the external experience of going from the noise to the quiet.

We only had 15 minutes scheduled for the actual silence, and most of the group were not Quakers, so we called it "silent reflection/worship time."

Worship actually went almost 30 minutes. Not long into it, one person spoke, and that opened up the opportunity for several more people. Each one felt deeper than the previous one. Several of us had tears in our eyes, as the expressions of gratitude came. It ended just after a friend talked about how the board always had the next hurdle in front of it, yet he noticed that he was happier the more time he spent around this institution; he asked us to take time to notice what we had already built as a community, even as we were looking ahead at the next step.

What was in my mind as we closed worship was Brent Bill again, this time quoting Carrie Newcomer's "Holy as a Day is Spent" (link is to a PDF of the lyrics):

"Holy is the familiar room
And the quiet moments in the afternoon
And folding sheets like folding hands
To pray as only laundry can"

I wouldn't have been able to read it without sobbing at that point, though, so it's just as well worship ended. (Like AJ and Allison, I have recognized tears as a sign of the Spirit's presence.

- - - - - - -

It's seeming like I have an ever-growing prayer list for both my own life and personal connections and the world at large. So I'll just offer up these lyrics as a parting prayer, instead. (I found two versions of this on YouTube and chose not to link to them. There's just not as much bluegrass gospel video as there is the blues videos like those that Johan Maurer links to!)

Prayer Bells of Heaven

While we are living in this world of care
Many the burdens that we have to bear
But there's a prayer bell at the Lord's right hand
Give it a ring and He will understand.

Chorus:
Prayer bells of Heaven, oh how sweetly they ring (they keep ringing)
Bearing the message unto Jesus the King (of glory)
When you are burdened with troubles and care (my brother)
Ring on and on for God will answer your prayer.

Three Hebrew children to the flames were thrown
Because the mortal king they would not own Jesus delivered and the king then saw
Prayer bells of Heaven beats a man made law.

Chorus

When Paul and Silas were both thrown in jail
They did not worry about who would go their bail
But on the prayer bell they began to ring
Off fell the stocks and they began to sing.