Gordon Hempton is on a mission he calls “One Square Inch of Silence.” In 2005 he began a search for somewhere he could stand for fifteen minutes and not hear a human sound.
No truck. No camper generator. No jet high overhead.
By that definition, no quiet places are left in Europe. In America, there are none east of the Mississippi River. But Hempton followed leads and criss-crossed the country until he found what he was looking for. Deep in the Olympic National Forest in Washington State, he found a spot where no manmade noises intruded. Gordon marked the site with a small red stone and made a promise to himself to defend it.
He now wants Congress to designate a square inch of silence in ten other national parks as well. Park officials are charged with protecting its natural resources and the natural soundscape is a part of those resources. So, he wonders why no park has a plan to protect its stillness. Hempton is on a campaign to make them do so.
It’s hard to find a place in nature where human noise does not break in. It’s also hard to find a place in your soul where human noise does not break in.
Fears. Worries. Demands. Expectations. Unruly ambitions.
You need a place inside yourself where this noise can’t reach. Philippians 4:6-9 shows us how to launch our own campaign to defend one square inch of soul silence. Click here for last Sunday’s lesson from these verses.
(I first read about Hempton in a 2008 article Kathleen Dean Moore wrote for Orion magazine. He has been featured in more recent media, including On Being. You can find a list of his appearances here.)
Tom
Tom Goodman serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter. If someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, sign up here to receive Tom’s weekly devotional in your email inbox.