Bring on the NOISE--or not!

With apologies to Jeff Foxworthy—you might be on sabbatical if you miss noise. Or, you might be on sabbatical if you’re writing your first blog at 56 years, 11 months, and 13 days of age. Or here’s one more—you might be on sabbatical if you’re eating Little Debbie cakes for dinner.

I sat in my rental car outside Kraemer Hall at the Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, yesterday afternoon, waiting for a call from Lindsey. She would have the key to the apartment in married student housing that BTSR had so graciously made available to me during my stay at the seminary. It was raining outside, and I couldn’t help but notice how very quiet it was. I opened the car door to listen to nothing.

Lindsey and Rob are first year students from Charlotte. After visiting with them for a while, they showed me to the apartment, and I began to unload my stuff. And then I heard it again—nothing. I couldn’t create much noise, since there is no TV or radio in the apartment. I brought some electronic means of making noise, but for some reason, I didn’t want to. It was nice.

I later picked up my son and daughter-in-law, Logan and Christy (Logan is a full-time student at BTSR), and after going to dinner, I brought them by to check out the new digs. “How can you survive without a TV for 3 weeks?”, Christy asked, with a tinge of disbelief on her lips. “Oh I’ll be fine”, I replied, thinking to myself, ‘how will I survive?’

My life is full of noise, and I’m not talking about Kay. I’m talking about TVs and radios, and ipods and dvds, and yes, people, too. I’m talking about preachers and teachers, and lawn mowers and vacuum cleaners. (Now I’m not saying all noise is bad—had you rather hear anything more than the noise-canceling noise of a 22 inch Lawn Boy?) But I’m ready to give it a shot, using a silencer, of course, and see how it feels.


Tomorrow, I leave for the Wilderness Retreat, a class I’m taking that’s held at a conference center in the Virginia mountains about 2 ½ hours from Richmond. Quoting Professor Brachlow, "we will follow a leisurely pace during the retreat, framing the day with morning, noon, and evening prayer, which will include 'chanting' the Psalms in a basic Gregorian style that is rooted in the practice of 4th Century Egyptian Christianity. Preserving time for communal silence was also a key part of fourth century desert spirituality. So come prepared to observe large blocks of silence at set times, including at several of the meals.” Wow! By Thursday night when I return to the seminary campus, I may be in the apartment shaking the cereal box and playing musical spoons just to hear a little racket.

Care-full-y,
rick