In 1964 Paul Simon wrote the song “Sound of Silence”, in which he describes a world in which people are unable to communicate with or love each other—“People hearing without listening; People writing songs that voices never shared, and no one dared disturb the sound of silence.” It was a song without hope, but Simon captured the reality of foolishly ignoring what should be obvious and where “silence like a cancer grows.”
I recently read something (I can’t find the source) in which the writer asked this question: “How often do you hear a baby crying in a church service these days? The sound of silence is deafening, is it not?” Wow! That certainly hits at something we do not much want to talk about. We say we are the body of Christ, and yet, a sizeable portion of that body is missing in our worship gatherings. Is it possible that we, in the western world, have grown so comfortable with the silence that we don’t want to hear what’s really going on? We choose to ignore the obvious and instead maintain the silence so we don’t have to deal with all that messy family stuff.
The truth is that deafening silence may be hindering our ability to hear God’s bugler call to advance toward something vital to God’s plan for flourishing communities. Stop for a moment, and listen to that bugler’s call…
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching.
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
I will open my mouth in a parable.
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
Things that we have heard and known,
That our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children,
But tell the next generation the glorious deeds of the Lord,
And His might, and the wonders He has done. (Psalm 78:1-4)
Did you hear it? God has declared our responsibility is to “tell the next generation”? Tell them what? Tell them the glorious things God has done to save us through Christ, and how He has demonstrated His sovereign might in our midst. We ought to do that in our homes and in our worship gatherings. In both places, every day, we can proclaim His wondrous might and goodness. We dare not hide the things God has done or is doing among us from any part of the family of God. How can they hear our songs of praise when they are not even among us? How shall they hear the wondrous stories God has written in our stories if we do not tell them around the family table and the Communion Table?
These opportunities are missed perhaps because too many of us who are older adults are also dull of hearing, or perhaps, merely unwilling to surrender our comfort so we can respond to the bugler’s call. It’s less messy when we stay in our own silos.
As older believers, are we not the ones who have journeyed the long road of experience and faith in which God’s goodness and greatness have been displayed? Have we forgotten how other older believers poured into our lives when we were young so we could smell the sweet aroma of Christ in them. Now, we are called by God to speak of what we know to be true so another generation may embark on their own journey of faith alongside those of us who have traveled long.
This is an inclusive journey in which all generations do life together. It is a family calling in which every part does its part, and no part can say “I have no need of you.” It is vital that we all do our part lest we witness the same tragic consequence of Judges 2 where another generation grew up not knowing the Lord or the things He has done. That generation chose to forsake the God of their fathers and instead follow the gods of the peoples around them. Sound familiar?
The time is short and passing, oh, so quickly. The Spirit is bugling “charge”. Who will respond so that another generation will know the Lord and all that He has done that they too might know life and hope, and smell in us the fragrant aroma of Christ? There’s so much at stake. Or, will we instead settle for the sound of silence?
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