Silence and Sabbath

 My conservative evangelical tribe has arguably neglected these practices. 

We rightly observe that in the Bible prayer is talking to God. And that Jesus is the Word and the Bible is words and God seems to be all for words and is, at times, talkative. We react against some lauding of silence and yet we would do well to slow down, to be quiet, to think and to pray and to consciously enjoy the presence of God. Yes, read the Bible and pray, but why not just also be with Jesus maybe for 10 minutes a day? Why would we find that so hard? Try it. Ten minutes is a long time! 

We have argued about the Sabbath and the Lord's Day. We have normally said it is good to have a day off. But we have tended to downplay and normalise special gathered covenant renewal worship. And we have treated Sunday like any other day. 

And, you know, many evangelicals are doers, achievers, as well as talkers. Activism is one of our hallmarks. We love projects and a busy diary. We are all for success and good works and small groups and one to one ministries and maybe even soup kitchens. Certainly there is a perishing world and an urgent word to be shared. 

I wonder what we've been missing and what some of the fruit of it all is.