I recently heard Frank Sargeant, former Bishop of Stockport, talk about his experience on a holiday. They went to Church at Villa Joyosa. It was first Communions and the Church was full to capacity with families and friends. Three small boys appeared in the pulpit for a better view and the din was deafening. By him, on a pillar, was a poster, which was all the more appropriate because of the occasion. It read:
This is the House of the Lord
The house of worship and recollection:-
The fruit of silence is worship,
The fruit of worship is faith,
The fruit of faith is love,
The fruit of love is service,
The fruit of service is peace.
Please keep silence.
He pointed out that the advice was wasted on the congregation that morning for good reason, but is it wasted on us?
August is a holiday month. Not all of us go away, but it can still be a holiday. The word ‘holiday’ comes from holy day. Every day is holy so any day can be a holiday! For that to be so, we need to hear the message of that poster.
“The fruit of silence is worship.” That, of course, is not true of all silence. Silence can be destructive; a symptom of isolation and loneliness; of bitterness or resentment. But silence can provide an opportunity to receive – to take in. The Psalmist pleads: “Be still and know that I am God.” God needs an empty space in us into which he can move. If we use the silent space to become aware of the presence of the living God at the heart of our life, our natural and spontaneous response will be one of worship.
And the fruit of worship is faith. Faith is a gift – it is not something we can create. We should neither feel guilt if we lack it nor conceit if we have it. It is only when we are aware and conscious of the presence of God, which evokes a response of worship, that that experience gives us the eyes of faith – to see that all is possible with God.
So the fruit of faith is love. God is love, and to come into his presence is to be filled with his love, which, by faith, overflows to those around us. This is the secret that the saints are not saints because of what they did. What they did is the result of being a saint – of being filled with the love of God which, by definition, shows itself in Christlike ways.
And the fruit of love is service. The hymn exclaims: “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life , my all.” ‘Demands’ not in the sense of ‘commands’, which would negate the meaning of love, but in the sense of ‘impels’. A Bishop was heard to observe at the Lambeth Conference that he had noticed in Church ceremonial that the longer the procession, the further he found himself from the cross! Put the other way round, the closer we are to the love of God on the cross, the more that will result in a life of service.
Finally, the fruit of service is peace. I was watching a news report of the parade at Buckingham Palace of the Queen’s bodyguards, for the Golden Jubilee. They were all old soldiers who had devoted their lives to the service of the crown. It was to be the last parade for the soldier who was leading it and, brimming with pride, he declared there could be no greater honour, than for it to be in the presence of the living sovereign. We are called to be soldiers of Christ, and there can be no greater honour than to dedicate our lives to the service of our living sovereign. It is in his service that we shall find our peace, for he has made us for himself and “our hearts are restless till they rest in him.”
The advice on the pillar in that Church did indeed make it ‘a pillar of wisdom’ and its dynamic depends on its correct order. There can be no short-cut. Perhaps we can start this month by making a silent space in our lives so each day becomes a holy day.
Yours sincerely
Peter Lee
