The sound of silence

I found Laurel Masse's blog this past Christmas. She nails it again (in my opinion) in this post.

Her subject today: the sounds of the church. To be specific, she takes on Rick Warren's idea about music playing when a person enters the church.

Here's what Rick thinks:

Have taped music playing when people enter. In America almost every public building has music playing. Even in the elevator, music is playing. You go into the restroom and music is playing. You go into a restaurant and music is playing. Why? Because people expect to hear music. If you walked into a church right now and everyone was dead silent when you walked in, you'd probably be uncomfortable. On the other hand, if you heard fairly loud praise music playing, you'd feel much more comfortable.

Here's what Laurel had to say:

When people walk into my church, I hear them sigh. I see them sink into the great quiet space. Their shoulders relax. Some engage in silent prayer. Some crane their necks to look at the stained glass windows. Some chat in whispers to each other. The first big sound is the voices of organ and choir that open the service, to which is added those of the congregation. The first words spoken are usually these: "Blessed be God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit", to which we reply, "And blessed be God's kingdom, now and forever." With this we become one people, gathered to hear the stories of our history, and to worship our God with our hearts, minds, and bodies.

And then she really nailed it with this quote from scripture:

He [the Lord] said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by. Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him....

Great post, Laurel. Read the whole thing here.