Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

The Contemplative Strangler: 2 Poems

'There is a contemplative in all of us,
    almost strangled
    but still alive,
    who craves quiet
    enjoyment of the now,
    and longs to touch
    the seamless
    garment of silence
    which
    makes whole'

    Alan P. Tory

The Word of God by Brad Jersak

Over the past few weeks, I’ve given some renewed attention to the phrase, “the Word of God.” While growing up in a conservative Baptist church on the Canadian prairies, I learned to equate the Word of God with the Christian scriptures, i.e. the Bible. One of the first songs I ever learned was: 

The B-I-B-L-E,
Yes, that’s the book for me.
I stand alone on the Word of God,
The B-I-B-L-E!

I suppose this was my introduction to sola scriptura—the belief that Scripture stands as our soul authority [contra either the Catholics with their Pope or the Charismatics with their prophecies] and that the Bible = the Word of God. By the way, did we mean “stand alone” or the “Bible alone”… either seems stinted in retrospect.

The Sound of God's Silence by Erin Buczkowski

Society is geared to respond to sound. To pick up cues for their entry into conversation, often layering personal comments over those of a companion. Interrupting one another and oneself. Call waiting, the modern brother of a kid tugging at his mom’s sleeve while she chats with a neighbour on the phone.

CD’s can be purchased not just of music but of background noise. Traffic, nature, the general bustle of life provides a sound track for our existence.

In this busy atmosphere silence gets little respect. It is labelled awkward, icy or dead. The song “Sound of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel highlights themes of isolation, lack of communication and lack of intimacy. Likewise when we approach God and hear silence it is often misconstrued as getting a celestial cold shoulder.