Silence in a Noisy Season: Silence Is Not A Waste of Time

“Value the opportunity to think unguided by the world. Learn what you feel you need to know, let other information pass. No moment of silence is a waste of time.”

Rachel Needham, quoted in Quaker Faith and Practice: Second Edition, #2:17.

From Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality, 2nd edition

Silence in a Noisy Season: Taking Time Silence -- and God

Do you want to live in such an amazing divine Presence that life is transformed and transfigured and transmuted into peace and power and glory and miracle?” If we can honestly answer, “Yes,” then Kelly’s response is, “If you do, you can. But if you say you haven’t the time to go down into the recreating silences, I can only say to you, 'Then you don’t really want to. . . . For . . . we find time for what we really want to do.'”

quotation by Thomas R. Kelly, A Testament of Devotion, 120.

From Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality, 2nd edition

Silence in a Noisy Season: Silence -- Heard in the Heart

“So, be still and quiet, and silent before the Lord, not putting up any request to the Father, nor cherishing any desire in thee, but in the Seed’s lowly nature and purely springing life; and the Lord give thee the clear discerning, in the lowly Seed, of all that springs and arises in thy heart.”

Isaac Pennington, quoted by Roger J. Vanden Busch in “The Value of Silence in Quaker Spirituality,” Spirituality Today, Winter 1985, Vol. 37, 326–335.

From Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality, 2nd edition

Silence in a Noisy Season: Silence Kindles Our Souls

"In silence which is active, the Inner Light begins to glow—a tiny spark. For the flame to be kindled and to grow, subtle argument and the clamor of our emotions must be stilled. It is by an attention full of love that we enable the Inner Light to blaze and illuminate our dwelling and to make of our whole being a source from which this Light may shine out. Words must be purified in a redemptive silence if they are to bear the message of peace. The right to speak is a call to the duty of listening. Speech has no meaning unless there are attentive minds and silent hearts. Silence is the welcoming acceptance of the other. The word born of silence must be received in silence."

Pierre Lacout, quoted in Quaker Faith and Practice: Second Edition, #2:12.

From Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality, 2nd edition

Silence in a Noisy Season: Silence Is A Holy Whisper

“There is a divine Abyss within us all, a holy Infinite Center, a Heart, a Life who speaks in us and through us to the world. We have all heard this holy Whisper at times.”

Thomas R. Kelly, A Testament of Devotion, 116.

From Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality, 2nd edition

Silence in a Noisy Season: Silence and Service

"Quakers find in silence a deepening process bringing us into our hearts where we meet God, are empowered, and finally led to the service of others.”

Roger J. Vanden Busch “The Value of Silence in Quaker Spirituality,” Spirituality Today, Winter 1985, Vol. 37, 326–335.

From Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality, 2nd edition

Silence in a Noisy Season: Silence = SoulSpeak

“Quakers do have something very special to offer the dying and the bereaved . . .namely that we are at home in silence. Not only are we thoroughly used to it and unembarrassed by it, but we know something about sharing it, encountering others in its depths and, above all, letting ourselves be used in it.” Sharing spiritual silence with another person who dwells in that soulful space where words don’t matter, sustains the invisible, eternal bond of love and God. It moves us into the eternal mystery beyond verbal expression. Only the soul, not the mind, can express our deepest feelings."

Diana Lampen, Facing Death (London: Quaker Home Service, 1979), 22, 27.

From Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality, 2nd edition

Silence in a Noisy Season: Silence and Pain

“Hush, hush, lest you cause pain to your friend. Even in loving words there is the power to hurt and to wound. Silence is best when the ways of the Lord are hidden from our eyes.”

Shlomo Du Nour, Adiel (New Milford, CT: The Toby Press, 2002), p. 93.

From Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality, 2nd edition

Silence in a Noisy Season: God Speaks in the Silence

". . . God was waiting in the depths of my being to talk to me if I would only get still enough to hear His voice.

"I thought this would be a very easy matter, and so I began to get still. But I had no sooner commenced than a perfect pandemonium of voices reached my ears, a thousand clamoring notes from without and within, until I could hear nothing but their noise and din. Some of them were my own voice, some of them were my own questions, some of them were my own cares, some of them were my very prayers. Others were the suggestions of the tempter and the voices of the world’s turmoil. Never before did there seem so many things to be done, to be said, to be thought; and in every direction I was pushed and pulled, and greeted with noisy acclamations of unspeakable unrest. It seemed necessary for me to listen to some of them, and to answer some of them; but God said, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Then came the conflict of thoughts for the morrow, and its duties and cares; but God said, “Be still.” And as I listened and slowly learned to obey, and shut my ears to every sound, I found after awhile that when the other voices ceased, or I ceased to hear them, there was a still, small voice in the depths of my being that began to speak with an inexpressible tenderness, power, and comfort. As I listened, it became to me the voice of prayer, and the voice of wisdom, and the voice of duty, and I did not need to think so hard, or pray so hard, or trust so hard, but that “still, small voice” of the Holy Spirit in my heart was God’s prayer in my secret soul, was God’s answer to all my questions, was God’s life and strength for soul and body, and became the substance of all knowledge, and all prayer, and all blessing; for it was the living God Himself as my life and my all."

Martin Hope Sutton, “Silence: # 553.” Used by permission of the Tract Association of Friends, www.tractassociation.org/hitec.htm.

From Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality, 2nd edition

Silence in a Noisy Season: A Silence that Strengthens

"Carry some quiet around inside thee. Be still and cool in thy own mind and spirit, from thy own thoughts, and then thou wilt feel the principle of God to turn thy mind to the Lord from whence cometh life; whereby thou mayest receive the strength and power to allay all storms and tempests."

George Fox, quoted at www.bible.org/illus/r/r-50.htm.

From Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality, 2nd edition

Silence in a Noisy Season: A Restoring Silence

"As I silence myself I become more sensitive to the sounds around me, and I do not block them out. The songs of the birds, the rustle of the wind, children in the playground, the roar of an airplane overhead are all taken into my worship. . . . I think of myself like the tree planted by the 'rivers of water' in Psalm 1, sucking up God’s gift of life and being restored."

Tayeko Yamanouchi, quoted in Quaker Faith and Practice: Second Edition (London: The Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends ((Quakers)) in Britain), #2:54.

From Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality, 2nd edition

Silence in a Noisy Season: Silence Refreshes and Renews

“True silence is the rest of the mind; and is to the spirit, what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment.”

William Penn, quoted in Quaker Faith and Practice: Second Edition (London: The Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends ((Quakers)) in Britain), #20:11.

From Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality, 2nd edition

"In silence ... we meet the Great Lover of Our Souls"

From "The Soul-Directed Life"  To listen, vist http://www.unity.fm/episode/TheSoulDirectedLife_012215

Brent's Books On Kindle

I'm happy to announce that Mind the Light is now available on Kindle.  Mind the Light was first released in paperback in 2006. 

When it was released, Publishers Weekly said, "Those seeking a series of clever tips for cultivating spiritual growth overnight will not want to delve into this deceptively simple meditation on the Quaker custom of mindful seeing. A Friends minister and author of Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality, Bill describes his book as "a way of seeing our inner and outer lives with spiritual eyes and discovering the connectedness between inner and outer sight." Like a neighborly conversation across a kitchen table, this slender volume emphasizes the mundane details of daily life as they are enlightened by being attentive to the Spirit of God that Quakers believe dwells within each person."


While it's still available in limited quantities on-line and in bookstore, it has been declared out of print by the publisher.  So I've been able to make Mind the Light available, as originally printed, as a Kindle book -- for the low price of $2.99.

For those of you who like Kindle, a few other of my titles are also available there.

Sacred Compass: The Way of Spiritual Discernment was called by Richard J. Foster  "one of the finest books on discernment and divine guidance that I have seen in a very long time."

Also available is Awaken Your Senses: Exercises for Exploring the Wonder of God (with co-author Beth Booram).  Parker J. Palmer says, "With Awaken Your Senses, Brent Bill and Beth Booram have given us a superb resource for seeking the God of life through sensuous experience, a way of knowing that has been sadly neglected--and too often held suspect--by the church. How did a faith based on the claim that 'the Word became flesh' become so divorced from bodily, incarnate knowledge? Here is a beautiful book that will help us reclaim our bodies, our senses and our relationship with God."




Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality has also recently been released on Kindle.  Publishers Weekly said, "In this brief primer on Quakerism in general and silence in particular, the author uses a practical tone to anchor reflections on what is essentially a matter of mystery: how God speaks in and through individual and communal silence. A self-confessed "type A personality," Bill brings a buoyant but realistic tone to his subject. Interspersed with quotations from various Christian writers and pauses for "quietude queries," or reflective moments for relaxation and contemplation, the slim volume is a useful tool for readers seeking a guide to devotional practice."

Coming soon is a new edition of David B. Updegraff: Quaker Holiness Preacher.  So far this is the only modern biography of this radical Quaker preacher of the 19th century.  2013 will mark the 30th anniversary of the publication of this landmark work.  The new Kindle version will be an expansion of the 1983 edition and will include research I have done since that edition was originally published.

Enjoy -- happy reading!

-- Brent

Soul Silence and Pounding Nails: A Good Friday Meditation

Silence, especially in life’s busyness, leads us through the whitewater of life to gentle pools of stillness and calm. 400 years of Quaker silence have pointed us back to the center within. Silence moves us from difficult self-examination to healing to relaxing in God’s presence. Interior silence takes us to a place where we are living St. Paul’s injunction to pray without ceasing, even when we are not consciously aware that we are doing so.

That happened to me on a recent Good Friday. I spent the day hammering the nails out of pieces of wood that made up the pallets that the outside walls of our new house had come on. Our home is made of timbers recycled from old factories and exterior walls constructed on jigs on the factory floor. These were then put on pallets and shipped on semis from New Hampshire to our Indiana home site. “The wood we use in the pallets is better than most builders use in their homes,” said one of the people building our house. “You’ll want to salvage as much of it as you can. Don’t let the framers burn it up.”

Quakers are strong on grace and redemption. If something can be saved and used again, it is. I hoped to see these used 2x4’s born-again as a woodshed or workshop. So, the sun blazed and I pounded nails out instead of in. A few yards away, four framers worked at pounding nails in, hanging the walls and roof panels. While I drove 16 commons out of 2x4s, they drove 10 and 12-inch spikes through 2x6 walls into 6” posts and beams with 3 pound sledges. The sound of hammers on nails rang through the Good Friday afternoon. That ringing was accompanied by the church bells from St. Thomas More Catholic Church just a couple of miles away, drifting on the spring breeze.

This symmetry with the holy day was not lost on me, even though Friends, being non-liturgical, don’t celebrate holy days or seasons. Still it was easy to recall other nails driven long ago – not through walls into posts, but through outstretched hands into rough wood. Even while carpenters yelled to each other, rough voices calling out measurements and grunting and cursing to set panels in place, I found silence in my soul. I was not sitting in a congregation listening to the last words of Jesus. Nor was I following the Stations of the Cross. But I was, in my soul, remembering, alongside those congregants. My arms grew weary of pounding and pulling nails. In, but at the same time apart from, the noise I pondered Jesus’ tiring journey that day. In spite of the noise, silence swathed my soul. Here I am, I thought, spending Good Friday in the company of carpenters. How fitting. I prayed for them. I prayed for me. I prayed for the world.

I heard a car pull up our long lane. It was my friend Aaron. A rabbi. My soul laughed – how right, how good. Carpenters and a rabbi on Good Friday. I thanked God for the silence of my soul that helped me see that day that was holy because God breathed life into it.

I was led into the holy that day, while hammering out nails and visiting with rabbis and framers. Arms weary, back bent from stacking reclaimed wood, it was a Good Friday.

adapted from Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality