Community in Silence

Yesterday was Good Friday and my church participated in the cluster service with other United Methodist churches. It was good to gather with brothers and sisters of faith from several congregations, to come together for the common purpose of observing Good Friday. For me, one of the most moving parts of the service was the silent ending.
Now, in an average week, much, maybe even most of my life is spent in silence. In my home, it is rare for me to have the radio on or music playing and I gave up television 3 years ago. So, my home space is fairly quiet. Yet when I am with people, there is almost always conversation and dialogue and singing and talking and chatting -- particularly where there are large numbers of people.
Last night, the preacher asked that the congregation would leave in silence -- not unusual for a Holy Week service. However, last night, the silence held. The preacher led the recessional out of the sanctuary and once outside, he stopped on the parking lot and turned to watch everyone else exit. We all followed his example -- we gathered on the parking lot and stood in silence as pew after pew of worshipers came forth and joined us, as the last faint strains of the keyboard faded, and the silence held. With reverence and without restlessness, the silence held. Other times when services have ended in silence, people can hardly contain their voices and hitting the parking lot has signaled a release from the quiet. Not last night; last night quiet reigned gently and in the that stillness the Spirit stirred reminding me of the treasure which is the gathered community of faith and for a moment that mundane parking lot was sacred. I believe that it was in our collective silence that we were able to feel the brush of the ever-present Spirit which is so often missed in our busy-ness and daily lives. The silence held and the Spirit was felt. Thanks be.