Two weeks ago, I encouraged readers to use the season of Advent as a time of “holy waiting,” a spiritual discipline of slowing down enough to notice God’s quiet movements in our lives. Since then, Columbus has been wrapped in a stretch of cold, overcast days. The sky hangs low, the air is still and even the usual sounds outside seem softened. It is as if creation itself has settled into a collective pause, inviting us to join it.
Silence can feel strange at first. Many of us fill our days with noise without realizing it – podcasts on the drive to work, background music in the kitchen, the constant hum or ding of notifications. Noise gives us a sense of momentum and sometimes even a sense of control. But the spiritual life invites us into something different. In Scripture, God so often speaks not through spectacle but through subtlety. Elijah expected God in the wind, in the earthquake, in the fire, but the Lord came instead in a “still, small voice.”
Silence helps us hear that voice – not because God is quiet, but because our lives are loud. Advent is a perfect time to rediscover the discipline of stillness. When we step into silence, even for a moment, we create room for God to meet us, steady us and shape us.
So how do we carve out pockets of silence in a noisy world? It doesn’t require a monastery or a retreat center. It simply requires intention. Try turning off the radio during part of your commute and letting the quiet settle around you. Try sitting with your morning cup of coffee without reaching for your phone. Step outside for five minutes at night, breathe the cool air and just be. These small practices help open the soul’s windows so the light of God can filter in.
Silence is not empty. It is spacious. It is a clearing where prayer becomes less about words and more about presence. In the stillness, we notice our own hearts more honestly. We remember that God is near. And we begin to sense that even in a season of waiting, God is already moving.
In these quiet moments, we learn that silence is not the absence of God but the doorway to deeper communion. As Christmas draws near, may we accept the invitation of these days. May silence make us attentive, and may attentiveness make us ready to receive Christ with open hearts.
The Rev. Andrew McLarty is Rector at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Columbus.
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