Growing up I remember hearing a number of sayings that all pointed at the same lesson. Phrases like actions speak louder than words. A picture is worth a thousand words. You can hear the symphony in silence. Each of these sayings gets at the same point. One must not speak to make a powerful statement. One must not understand the language, to understand the meaning. When I was in seminary, Dr Gail Ricciutti showed a film in our Introduction to Preaching class of people preaching. Interestingly, the preacher that really captured my attention the most was a woman who did not preach in English. I could not understand a single word she said, yet I understood every word she said.
This morning I stumbled upon this image that I used for our thought for the day. It is just a picture. No quote, no author, yet it speaks volumes
Then I encountered this film Baraka. It is a full length documentary with no narrative. This film is like watching a pages of photographs which capture devotion as it happens around the world. You do not have to hear anything or have anybody tell you anything to be able to experience the devotion. The devotion to not only making a film where the actions do speak louder than words, where each picture is worth a thousand words, and in which you can hear the symphony in the silence is a lesson in itself. It reminds us that our life can also be viewed as a non-narrative documentary. What are others seeing by just viewing our lives?
So this week, rather than speak, I invite you to come share in this time of devotion and lessons from our global family.