Summer 2007

The Reverend Philip Banks writes

Paying attention

“The secret is this: to grow quiet and listen”. “The fear is this: what will we hear if we grow quiet and listen?”¹

I think for many of us, ‘knowledge of self’ can be a very hard thing, and time for silence and space with God can be difficult to achieve in a busy world. And - we don’t want to be exposed too much! So, for much of our lives we can hide behind many things – a job, people we are with, escapism into TV, novels – anything, in fact, to avoid the stark reality of how and who we really are. “We package ourselves to others – and even ourselves – so that we will feel acceptable”.²

But paying attention – to God’s voice in us and to ourselves – is hugely important if our life’s journey is to be fulfilled and real. Iris Murdoch, in one of her novels, wrote that “Prayer is properly not petition, but an attention to God which is a form of love.” Giving our attention to God should be easy, but in practice so often defeats us. Judy Hirst, in Struggling to be Holy, writes that an old Taizé priest she knew once said that, very often, all he could offer was his willingness to take himself into church, sit down and just be there – he was capable of nothing more.

Perhaps that is the key – we should just have a willingness to put ourselves into a place where at least we can attempt to give God attention. For it seems to me that, in order to pay attention to God, we first need to ‘stop’. Unless we do, we will never hear God or grow in holiness. Neither do we really stand a chance of living lives that honour the God who we trust: surely, as people trying to be Godly, giving God attention is central to our call.

Children seem to have a very special and uncluttered way of doing this: in many ways, they are the ‘natural contemplatives’ – perhaps this is why Jesus tells us to be child-like, and never to be a stumbling block between him and children. Sadly, as we grow up, we do not easily retain the ability to give undivided attention to the present – to see what delight and intricacy there is in ordinary things. “We gradually lose the eye for these riches, while children quickly notice and love with their whole heart. I never feel closer to the heart of God than when I am amongst young children, the most free dispensers of love and joy”.³

There are lots of opportunities at St Peter’s to find that space to ‘put ourselves into a place where at least we can attempt to give God attention’. The quiet Communion services on Tuesdays and Thursdays; Christ in Quiet once a month on a Sunday evening; the Wednesday home group. Think about coming to Ditchingham Convent in November, for our Parish Weekend Away, which will provide time for fun, laughter and getting to know each other better, as well as opportunities for space apart and quiet.

My prayer this month is that we may each be child-like in our attentiveness, and disciplined in making time to stop for God.

With prayers and best wishes,

¹Alan McGlashen, “Invitations” 

²Judy Hirst, “Struggling to be Holy”

³Rainer Maria Rilke, quoted by Michael Mayne in “The Sunriseof Wonder”

Picture © Quidenham Carmelites