Posted by Jennifer Tufts
Last month a few hundred people gathered in the KC suburbs for the Sentralized Conference to talk about mission and incarnation in the local church. As we all gathered the last morning of the conference, Mindy Caliguire, founder of Soul Care – a ministry committed to providing practical ways for people to connect with God – called us to collectively practice five minutes of silent prayer.
Great idea except that asking me for five minutes of silence – external and internal – is like asking me to stop breathing for five minutes. Maybe you’re thinking that’s a little extreme, but seriously folks I’ve scored off the charts “extrovert” on every personality test of my life. I love language and music and noise. They help me make sense of the world both in and around me. Without words I feel vulnerable and powerless, which is (wouldn’t you know!) the point.
Mindy explained the “why” behind silent prayer with the picture David gives in Psalm 131:2:
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
A weaned child is with his mother out of a desire for relationship. He is not demanding, but calm. He is not appealing, but quiet. It’s a powerful image. In silent prayer, we approach God in the same way. We give him permission to reach deep into our soul below our capacity for language. And there, without our words, we submit ourselves to God for a soul transformation.
And here’s the crisis of belief.
Will I believe that “with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption” (Psa. 130:7), dive head first into the silence, and invite God to transform the core of my being, so that I am more like Jesus? Or will I succumb to my fear and rot from my core, leaving the smell of death everywhere I go?
What will you do?
You can watch a short (but complete) presentation from Mindy on practicing silent prayer here:
MCC STORYBOARD 