This Lent, I am revisiting Martin Laird's remarkable little book, Into the Silent Land, as an aid to my contemplative prayer practice. For me—and I imagine I speak for many who have gone through St. Matthew's Pastoral Ministry class—Into the Silent Land was my first introduction to the Christian tradition of contemplative prayer.
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We are free.
The season of Eastertide begins on the night of the Easter Vigil, with a liturgy that poetically links the story of the Exodus with the story of salvation. Just as God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt through the waters of the Red Sea, He delivers us from slavery to sin through the water of baptism. This parallel is brought out beautifully by the hymn we sing as we pass out of the sadness of Lent and into the joy of Easter:
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As a teacher and writer, words are the primary tools with which I try to exert power over reality. I use words to impress people so that they will love me, to create an image of myself that is eloquent and thoughtful and thus worthy of appreciation and respect. I use words to curate an orderly understanding of the universe, to narrate my experiences in ways that make sense to me. Both internally and externally, then, I use words to create a sense of security for myself. It is not difficult to see the fragility of this security. Because my worth is so bound up in words, I feel great pressure to generate them. The idea of being reduced to silence – of not being able to find the right words – is terrifying.
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