We live in a culture where those who shout the loudest think they have the best chance of being heard - where music needs to be ear-shattering if it is to be thought to carry conviction - where clothes need to be flamboyant if they are to be noticed - and where gestures must be exaggerated if they are to be seen as carrying weight.
In society too, leaders have been more noted for their speaking than for their listening skills and for projecting their single-minded vision than for their seeking to establish a consensus.
And it often seems the same in the matter of faith. In worship we shout our praises to the God whom we would like to serve. In prayer we pour out all that we think he needs to hear and to know.
But there is another way. In the Bible, Elijah found God not in the great wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the all-consuming fire, but in a ‘still small voice’ - in a ‘sound of sheer silence.’
We too have to be very still and quiet and listen hard if we are to be able to encounter this God. There needs to be a two-way traffic in prayer. Likewise we need to be very still and quiet and listen hard if we are to be able truly to answer the needs of our neighbours.
In church we’re not always very good at being quiet and still but we do try a little harder to follow this path to God in our ‘Sunday Sanctuary’ service each month on the evening of the third Sunday. If you would like to explore this way of pilgrimage, do come and join us in St Andrew’s, Swavesey, at 6.30pm on the third Sunday of a month.
John-David Yule