The Sounds of Silence
Monday Ministerial Musings
By Rev. Mark William Ennis
2026 Blog #20
June 15, 2026
The Sounds of Silence
Who doesn’t like quiet? We all talk about getting “peace and quiet” after difficult days. Growing up in the city, I used to relish times when we went on vacation or made trips to my Uncle Roy’s farm. It was quiet in these places compared to the noise of the city. I loved these quiet times, although they really were not “quiet.” On the farm and on vacation, there were noises, but different noises and these noises were quieter than those of the city. “Quieter noises” almost sounds like an oxymoron but anyone who has grown up in an urban area knows what I mean. I’m talking about lower volume noises.
I know some people who get peace and quiet in ways that I cannot comprehend. These people sit alone and listen to music. Sometimes the music being heard was played so loudly that it didn’t seem like “quiet time” to me. I guess that we each have our own definitions of what “peace and quiet” is.
One of the times that I do not enjoy quiet is when I am walking from the parsonage granted to me by to congregation I serve and toward my office, both of which are housed on the campus of the Community Church of Glen Rock. Also on our campus is the Glen Rock Cooperative Nursery School. As part of this school is a playground. Each morning, when I walk to the office, I hear the voices of children playing in the playground. Yes, they are noisy, but it is good noise.
In my office, which is very close to where the co-op classrooms are, I leave my door open. I like to hear the voices of the children. I think that I have learned every one of the songs coming from the mouths of the children. My favorite is the one they sing as they travel between rooms for various activities. It goes something like this:
“Put your finger on the wall, on the wall.
Put your finger on the wall, on the wall.
Put your finger on the wall and do not let it fall.
Put your finger on the wall, on the wall.”
At other times during the day, the children are led in group singing. Usually, an adult who is musically gifted, and who sometimes plays instruments, lead the children in songs. Although this takes place a few rooms from my office, I can hear this singing rather well and it does my heart good to hear children singing. Noisy children are happy and healthy children.
This week the playground and my hallway is very quiet. The co-op is on vacation. In a few weeks the co-op will be starting their summer camp program, and the joyful noise will again begin. Until then, the hallways of the school are dark, and no children are singing there. It almost feels depressing to hear the silence.
This silence reminds me of the volunteer chaplaincy work that I did more than two decades ago, at a major trauma center. When I did rounds, I would walk through PICU (pediatric intensive care unit) and NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). Those children were ill and many were dying. Such children are very quiet and make no noise at all. This taught me that sick children make no noise and healthy children do.
There are churches who don’t like the noise of children. In such places, if a child is making noise, the parents are greeted by dirty looks at best, or at worst, being asked to leave. In most cases, when these things happen, the child and family, never return.
We make choices in the lives of our congregations. Do we want to nurture the next generation or consider them annoying and won’t tolerate their noise? The choice is ours. Those who will not tolerate children’s noises have begun the walk to their own demise. Let us choose wisely.
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