How I learned to shut up and be quiet
https://youtu.be/PRylzZhqCWg
It’s been nearly two months since I retired (and longer than that since I posted anything here).
At first I traveled a bit - to Morocco and Iceland, two countries which could not be more different from each other and which, believe me, required some careful packing. But mostly, since arriving back in the U.S., I have tried to shut up and be quiet.
After 40 years of talking - blah, blah, blah - I was weary with the sound of my own voice. But turning off the noise and easing into a world with little talk has been surprisingly difficult.
Toward the end of my useful life as a preacher I was genuinely puzzled that anyone would get up early on Sunday morning and come out to hear me preach. I would look out from the pulpit, and I was pretty sure I knew what my congregation was thinking: “I wish that guy up front would just shut up and be quiet, and maybe let God speak for a change.”
So, that’s what I’ve done. I shut up so that maybe God would speak. And I’ve turned down the volume on a lot of other voices too, not just my own.
I get up early, as I always have (some things never change). I go to an exercise class nearly every day and sweat my brains out. I go to church (and sit in the back). I read (a lot). I take the dog on such long walks that she doesn’t hurry to the door anymore when she sees me get up. And I live in a remote area, at least 20 minutes (by car) from anything. The summer will bring a beach crowd, of course, but for now things are … well, quiet. I can hear the wind in the trees and the waves on Lake Michigan, and not much else.
The most basic spiritual practice, the starting point for a spiritual life, is to be quiet. I didn’t learn this earlier in my life because the Christian people I grew up with didn’t mess around with spiritual practices. For them memorizing (and sometimes reciting) the Heidelberg Catechism was just about the best spiritual formation a person could have. Mostly that turned out to be a good spiritual formation for me.
But later in life I have come to see the value in having something more, something involving fewer words.
Better Christians than I discovered long ago that being quiet is, in fact, a prerequisite for coming to know God. Being quiet is an act of faith precisely because when you do it you aren’t quite sure that anything will come of it.
It was Ignatius of Loyola, the 16th century theologian and founder of the Jesuit order, who developed a way of praying that’s called the Daily Examen. This simple spiritual exercise has become my daily routine. It has brought me all the way back to the beginning, and this is where I need to be for right now:
Becoming aware of God’s presence
Reviewing the day with gratitude
Paying attention to my feelings
Asking God for forgiveness (the most time-consuming part of the exercise)
Looking forward to tomorrow
So, please accept my apologies if I have not answered your emails promptly. I need to leave now for a walk.
Sadly, the dog may die from exhaustion.
(Note: If you’re wondering why I had a haircut in the Medina of Marrakech, google “unusual things to do in Marrakech.” Haircut, shave, lotions, scalp and facial massage, warm towel, all administered with a lot of showmanship - only 60 Moroccan dirhams, or less than seven U.S. dollars. A bargain.)