QUIET ON THURSDAY, MARCH 16

I’m writing the rough version of this on Sunday, March 12 in the late afternoon, and I’ll post it on Tuesday morning.   Yes, my mood is “quiet”.  I guess the theme song of this would be a very old-time Pentecostal hymn entitled, “Blessed Quietness”.  First Thessalonians 4:11 begins, “And that ye study to be quiet...”.

Each Sunday afternoon I try to “do a prayer walk” to the downtown Framingham Public Library.  I go into the library and spend time reading my Bible.  Then I walk back.  It used to be that libraries were quiet places.  They aren’t any more.  Sitting and reading the Bible at the Framingham Public Library is like sitting and reading the Bible at the Natick Mall food court.  Well, actually, the Natick Mall food court MAY be quieter!  At the library, people noisily chat on their cell phones, even though signs forbid that.  People bother the library workers with their loud “outside voices”:

“Let me AKS you a question!  Where do I sign up to use duh COMPUTAH?!”

And the computer KEYBOARDS?  They aren’t quiet, with people on the typing furiously!  The WORST of all is people rifling through the C.D. cases- “loud CLICK, loud CLICK, loud CLICK ...”.

In Bible College, some of the guys from inner-city New York and from the rural deep South were known for one kind of prayer:  LOUD!  

“JeeSUS!  Praise GAWD!”  
I guess some would consider that “using the Lord’s name in vain”, but not these guys.  Ironically, in evangelical circles it was common twenty-five or more years ago to refer to your personal devotional time as your “quiet time”!   I remember one student commenting (about the loud young male prayer warriors) “I thought they were supposed to be having their QUIET TIME!”.

I love the 1990s CBS series “Northern Exposure”!  Some of the shows are now on D.V.D.  A favorite episode is when Chris Stevens, the minister/philosopher/D.J./ex-con enters a monastery for a week just to experience monastic life.  He is fascinated by Brother Simon who has taken a vow of silence.  Chris tries and tries to get Brother Simon to talk.  Finally, the truth is revealed to Chris:  “Brother Simon” is actually a woman!  We evangelicals tend to be very critical of the monastic life as being, “not really what Jesus has called us to be like,” and “hiding the gospel behind cloistered walls”.  I don’t think it would be good to be cloistered ALL the time, but from time-to-time, I think such a practice could be quite healthy.

This Wednesday and Thursday, I’ll be attending a (mostly Protestant) retreat at a Catholic retreat center in Shrewsbury, MA.  No it’s NOT a time of enforced silence.  There will be some praise and worship music, some teaching, and some small group sharing times.  But we probably WILL get some time just to be quiet and reflect, and I’m really looking forward to that.
I will NOT be posting a blog on Thursday.   Hey, this Thursday, instead of logging on to my blog (boy-that RHYMES!) maybe you should get your Bible out and have a special “quiet time”!  I know I’ll be doing that!