The value of retreat

This Sunday at St. Paul’s Church, Nobleton, I will be talking about the value of retreat as part of the message (something one might find surprising to pull from Revelation 12!).  I thought I’d take a minute to say a bit more about its importance.

Followers of Jesus, like everybody else in this world, are bombarded by noise.  Often, we think of ‘noise’ as an unpleasant sound, like fingernails on a chalkboard, or that sound that grabs our attention when an amber alert shows up on the television.  But in this case, I’m referring to ‘noise’ as any sound – even a pleasant sound – that keeps us from hearing from God.

We love the sound of our preferred music.  We love the sounds of the voices of people we love.  We might even love the sound of the hustle and bustle of the city.  And it all has its place – but it can all serve like earplugs, keeping us from hearing God’s voice.

That’s why retreat is such an important part of the Christian life.

Lots of churches go away on retreat, taking time away from the normal environment for fellowship and teaching.  But not very often do those times include silence and solitude.

Those retreats end up just changing up the noise.  Don’t get me wrong:  it’s probably good noise!  But I maintain that time apart, in quiet, is important for balancing our relationship with the Lord.

Many times, in the Bible, we see stories of people who set themselves apart from the crowd, and the noise, to be with the Lord:  think of Moses, Elijah, even Jesus (who was, after all, already God!).  Yet, in our high-demand, high-energy world, we don’t usually make time to be apart from the crowd.  And when we do, we usually fill that time alone with sound – even good sound, like edifying music or podcasts or TV shows.

Here’s a challenge for you:  block out some time in your schedule to go away somewhere, with no agenda but to be with God.  Turn off your phone, and be somewhere as quiet as you can find.  It needn’t be far from home; I recommend that it not be at home, simply because the environment is so familiar, and the temptation exists to do something.

If that sounds daunting, start with 5 minutes.  Go into your bedroom, perhaps read a verse from Scripture that you love, and just sit with the Lord.  Some will find this difficult.  Others will find it exhilarating.  But try it.  And when you have success with 5 minutes, start ramping it up, until you are ready to go away for a weekend or a week with a goal of simply being with the Lord.

I call it “strategic withdrawal”.  And you might be amazed at the difference it makes in your life.

“Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave” (1 Kings 19.11-13, NLT).

The sound of silence

My wife and I made our last shopping trip of the year to Costco on Monday.  (Why the last one of the year?  Well, let’s put it this way:  we find we are better able to bear the fruit of the Spirit when we avoid places like that in December!)

While there, I made a purchase I had been pondering for a while:  a pair of noise-cancelling ear buds.

They’re handy for tuning out the drone of an aircraft when flying, or when listening to music without background racket.

The reality of contemporary life is that “background racket” is pretty hard to avoid.  

If you sit in your home, there’s the sound of your heating system, or the refrigerator, making noise, albeit subtle, from time to time.

If you sit outside, you might have a neighbour assaulting your ears with a leaf blower.  (Don’t get me started.)

Unless you’re out in the woods, alone, it can be hard to have no sound but nature.  I’m sure that’s why noise-cancelling earphones were invented in the first place.

One of the challenges of modern life is that we often do not really want quiet.

Most people who use noise-cancelling earphones use that feature to keep out the sounds of the world around them so they can listen to the music or podcast or whatever they want, without distraction.

Rarely will people put on noise-cancelling earphones and not play something.

When we are so used to some sort of sound, whether the din of the city or the music of our choosing, sitting in silence can feel awkward, if not unnerving.

But for followers of Jesus, it can also be immensely rewarding.  It’s most often the way in which the Lord has room to speak to us.

I encourage you to try it: sit in silence for an hour, even half an hour.  If you can’t find a place where you can have silence, and you have noise-cancelling earphones, use them, but don’t play anything.

You might feel uncomfortable, because the first time you do it, it will be like a detoxification process.  But the second time, as you listen for God to speak, you might actually hear something in your heart.

Read the Scriptures while you sit in silence.  Choose a short passage, or even one verse, and sit with it.  You may be tempted to do all the talking with the Lord, but try sitting in silence.  It might be challenging, but perseverance will pay off.

Enjoy the sound of silence.

“I wait quietly before God,
    for my victory comes from him.
 He alone is my rock and my salvation,
    my fortress where I will never be shaken” (Psalm 62.1-2, NLT).