Getting the Message

...in my e-mailbox:

It is always easier to add to the noise of the world than to be silent.

Silence is a very precious thing--"There was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour" (Rv 8:1 AV), when the seventh seal was opened in the Book of the Revelation. Thunder and horses and martyrs and earthquakes had preceded the opening of this seal. Hail, fire, blood, and fearful judgment followed it--but in between, angels stood in the presence of God and there was utter silence.

Have we learned to stand in God's presence, mouths shut, hearts open? "Lord, what do you want me to do?" We must be quiet in order to know Him and to hear Him and to hear Him answer us.

"Be still"--that is, shut up--"and know that He is God" (Ps 46:10 AV).
Elizabeth Elliott, A Lamp For My Feet

...on my kids' boomboxes:

What's it gonna take
to slow us down
To let the silence spin us around?
What's it gonna take
to drop this town?
We've been spinning at the speed of sound.

Stepping out of those convenience stores,
what could we want but more more more?
From the third world
to the corporate core
we are the symphony of modern humanity.

If we're adding to the noise
turn off this song.
If we're adding to the noise
turn off your stereo, radio, video...
Switchfoot ("Adding to the Noise")

...from the pulpit:

The Transfiguration August 6

O God, who on the holy mount revealed to chosen witnesses
your well-beloved Son, wonderfully transfigured, in raiment
white and glistening: Mercifully grant that we, being
delivered from the disquietude of this world, may by faith
behold the King in his beauty; who with you, O Father, and
you, O Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and
ever. Amen.

(Added later)
...and reading blogs!