After reminding the group of the past Sunday's Gospel account of Christ's 40 days in the desert, we watched the nooma video Noise. In the midst of the video was an extended period of silence, interrupted only by words and sentences slowly fading on and off the screen.
Once the short film was completed, we broke up into two groups and, led by some questions, discussed things like: the noise in our lives; the place of silence; how God might want to speak to us; how we might be blocking out God's voice; etc.
Next we broke out of the groups to explore four different prayer stations: a spot for lectio divina with a section of the 40 days story; a table to reflect on how noisy our lives are on a daily basis; an animated version of Si Smith's 40 illustrations; and a place to challenge ourselves to a bit of silence using either earplugs, closed eyes, or both.
Finally, we gathered back into the two groups to share with one another a challenge for the week: finding some way to incorporate about 30 minutes of silence into each day. It could be reading, or walking, or writing, or drawing; part of the challenge was to make at least 10 of the minutes an experience of not doing anything but being presence in a state of undisturbed silence.
I have invited people to come on the blog and leave some reflections during the week as they engage the challenge. Hopefully they do so by clicking on the comments link below.
