Remember the TV Series Mission Impossible? The intro started out to the trill of the violins as a fuse was being ignited, showing scenes of action/suspense/skilled coordination, and culminating with Peter Graves receiving a message on a mini tape recorder. The recording always started with, “Your mission, should you choose to accept it …” and ended with the tape self-destructing.
Our mission at The Metropolitan Community Church of San Diego is, “To help bring people closer to God and one another.” Everything we do, every ministry, every program we offer, is done with this in mind. This is our mission every day, every season of the year, all year long.
How many of you know what Lent is? Lent is on the Christian calendar as the period of 40 days before Easter where people have traditionally been asked to “give something up” as identification with Christ’s sufferings that lead up to the crucifixion and resurrection. Some traditions practice Lent more than others. Growing up, my tradition didn’t – but I remember hearing my Catholic friends in school say things like they were giving up candy for Lent, or they couldn’t eat meat on Friday. That always made me think, “Wow, that’s a lot to give up!”
That’s why Mardi Gras is such a time of party and celebration. Mardi Gras literally means Fat Tuesday – the day before Ash Wednesday, which is the start of Lent.
I like to think of Lent not just as a time where we give up or deprive ourselves of something, but as an opportunity to add something to our life. This series, beginning with this issue, on seven practices for spiritual enlightenment is for the purpose of helping us deepen and grow in our spirituality.
My prayer is that this season of Lent will be a time of spiritual cultivation and blossoming for us – culminating on Easter, which really is all about resurrection and new life. And as we collectively grow, we can’t help but grow closer to God and one another.
So why silence and solitude? Because there are so many voices, noises and distractions that are a part of our normal routines that distract us from hearing God or paying attention to our spiritual life. Our first step in growing deeper in our spirituality is being open to it. Opening up our lives to God’s grace and love and identifying those things that may be blocking our lives to move in that path towards spiritual enlightenment.
Our culture is full of distractions and we live at such a frenetic pace that at times it seems we attempt to fill our lives with noise, people and being busy. It’s like we have a void in our hearts that we’re trying to fill.
We’re addicted to noise. We need noise. We’ve got to have noise!
Silence is strange, even foreign to some. Silence steals away the distractions of life which numb us from the feeling that our lives are still empty. Noise helps us live on the banks of denial. Noise keeps us concentrated on something else – anything else. Silence forces us to listen to our thoughts.
Do you know someone who cannot be in the house alone without the TV or music on? Do you know someone who has trouble “doing nothing?” Do you know someone who cannot ride in the car without music playing? Do you know someone who’s terrified of being alone? Is that person you?
Many of us are addicted to company. We fear being alone. We fear solitude. Our attempts to fill our lives with company will never satisfy the true hunger of the heart – community with God. Any relationship takes time to develop. Time is necessary if we want to develop a true friendship, including with God, and part of this time must be spent in solitude.
What is solitude? Solitude is the practice of being absent from other people and other things so that you can be present with God – and yourself. Discovering God within you. In solitude, we say to God, “Here I am to be changed into whatever you like.”
Solitude teaches us that we don’t need other people in the way we usually think we need them. Solitude teaches us to hear the voice of God since we’re cut off from the hundreds of other voices that continually call out to us.
Solitude forces us to face despair, yet it provides the only opportunity to discover the amazing power of God’s presence. Too often, we run from our loneliness. We get busy!
When we combine solitude and silence with an engaged mind – with intentionality – we open up our lives to the grace of God. To hearing God’s voice.
Solitude and silence, combined with a mind that is actively waiting on God will enable us to see life as God reveals it to us. We’ll be able to more clearly look at our actions and our reactions – and even our motives behind them.
Solitude and silence, when combined with such attention, destroy the power of loneliness as we recognize there is one who is eternally with us.
How does a person go about putting these practices into practice? Here are some ideas:
Find a place where you can be alone and quiet. Maybe the beach or a room in your house.
Create a time – a non-negotiable time in your schedule that is solely for the purpose of being alone and still. Start out slowly. Try turning off the music and radio in your car for one direction of your commute.
But you say, “Dan, I don’t know how to meditate!” If you know how to worry, then you also know how to meditate. It’s just a matter of what our minds dwell on.
Let silence and solitude be your friend. Let them bring you into the presence of God in a deep way – in a healing way – intimate, in an enlightening way. Rev. Dan Koeshall is the Senior Pastor at The Metropolitan Community Church (The Met) in San Diego, California, themetchurch.org
