The Reverend Susan D. Wilson I was listening to CBC radio recently as I drove to a parish visit and I heard the interviewer say to his guest, "Silence is obsolete."

I suppose the fact that I was driving alone in my car listening to the radio proves his point. The discussion was not about how noisy our world is, although they acknowledged that it was due to radios and televisions, car horns and brakes, and the general buzz of life. They were discussing how we can choose to listen to what we want when we want, and that by doing so, we can control just how silence we have to endure in a day.

With the proliferation of listening devices - iPods, MP3s and similar technologies - we can plug ourselves in or tune ourselves out literally whenever we want.

Hence, "Silence is obsolete." There were several things that bothered me about this statement.

One was that it almost sounded like an accomplishment. That making silence obsolete was an achievement we no longer need to strive for. It was as if they were saying that silence is outmoded, outdated and even passé. To have to endure silence is anachronistic.

Can this be true? Indeed, looking at our culture today, silence does seem to be hard to come by and it certainly appears to be avoided as much as possible.

Elevator music, hold music, shopping music and continuous advertising jingles bombard our ears no matter where we go. There are cell phones and Blackberries, pagers and Bluetooth ringing and beeping and chiming at any time and in any place. And our response to all this noise, is to plug minispeakers into our ears and turn up the volume on our own tunes so that at least the sounds we hear are something of our own choice. Is this really an accomplishment? While I agree that silence is elusive and cloaked by our noisy world, I disagree that it is obsolete.

Silence is, I believe, essential and vital to our well-being. For it is in the absence of noise from our world that we can listen to the quiet beating of our hearts and find rest for our weary souls. Achieving silence is difficult to do because it means more than just shutting out sound and noise, it sees us seeking stillness amid a world the whirls on at an amazing pace; and it sees us searching for peace amid a world that seems filled by chaos, clutter and consumerism. Silence protects us from frantic living and frees us to rest and breathe again. How can we find silence in a world filled with sound and noise?

It is a challenge to be sure, but we can make room for silence in our lives by beginning to take note of how much noise there is. We can notice the television blaring in the front room with no one there to watch it. We can choose to wait a few minutes before turning on the radio in the car. We can go for a walk without attaching a listening device to our ears. We can silence our phones and choose not the answer them for a few short minutes each day. We can choose not to answer the phone during mealtimes. We can make room for silence by being attentive to where it already is. We are blessed by where we live, here in the hills of Dufferin County, away from the hustle and bustle of the big city. We can easily stride out on the Bruce Trail or go out to Mono Cliffs, not only to enjoy the silence but to take in the beauty of nature.

Spiritual traditions throughout the world uphold silence and centering as a way to restore balance and to bring healing into our hearts. Achieving silence, however, is done through the exercise of spiritual practises. That means that it takes time and effort. Practising the art of silence means setting aside time and space to do so.

One place to do that is at a place of worship, a temple, synagogue or church where there might be meditation groups, prayer groups or other kinds of gatherings that seek a time of peace, silence and rest. In the Christian tradition, times of silence are encouraged in our daily lives that we may set aside time to rest and prayer. Times of silence are incorporated into our weekly worship. We also have whole communities who are devoted to silence. In some places there are patterns of worship where quiet singing, prayer and ample silence allow for a time of rest and healing.

One such style is from the community of Taizé in France. This community offers us a form of prayer that is elegant in its simplicity and soothing to experience.

A candlelight service of Taizé is being offered jointly by St. Paul's Anglican and Trinity United Churches on Sunday November 2, 2008 beginning at 7:30pm. Everyone, from any denomination, faith group or of no faith, is welcome to attend.

Silence is not obsolete but it can be elusive and obscured. Silence is not passé, it is imperative to our wholeness. Seeking silence in our noisy world is brings us back to ourselves and restores our souls.

May silence be found in your life today.