Keeping silent...Speaking up

So I find myself striving to find balance today. That's probably true most of the time, but this is my current dilemma. As I've written before in this space, I place a high value on the spiritual discipline of silence: being silent before God in prayer and meditation, being silent in times of reflection and journaling, being silent at times in a group so that I make time to truly listen to what others are saying and what, perhaps, is behind what they're saying.

Yet I also know the importance of words. There are times when situations call for words to be used, for a voice to be heard, for some Word from God to be proclaimed. In those times, silence can not only be inappropriate, but it also can be complicit. I've been wondering if there wasn't a time in the 1930's in Germany when one voice, or a chorus of voices, could have been raised in a way and a time that might literally have changed history. When fear-mongering and nationalism gone amuck were being touted by Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers' Party, what might have happened if the churches had united and spoken with one voice against what was developing? And might that voice have stopped Hitler before his movement got traction?

I've read of those who equate some of the current political rhetoric in our nation with the kinds of things spouted by Hitler. I don't go that far... at least not yet. However, don't we have a responsibility as people of faith to speak a word to our society in response to those who advocate violence, or hate, or xenophobia, or racial, ethnic, and gender discrimination? For me, the answer is "yes." I believe that we DO have a responsibility to proclaim the values of our faith and our tradition as a necessary alternative to too many things being spoken today. The question for me then becomes "how." How do we raise our voice? What venue might we best use? How can we speak from a place of love and compassion rather than just adding to the angry discourses of a fractured society?

• Psalm 46:10 - "Be still, and know that I am God."
• Luke 12:12 - "...the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say."

The ancient Desert Saints perhaps found the balance which I seek at this moment. They strongly advocated for the importance of silence, and they practiced that discipline daily. However, they knew that the strongest, most loving, most wise, most powerful words one might utter in any situation are words that come out of those times of silence, those times of reflection, those times of prayer, those times with God. Perhaps, then, as we learn more and more to practice the disciplines of prayer and silence, we also might, paradoxically, find the strength and wisdom we need to speak out.