Editorial March 23, 1987 Issue

A quietness of the heart—hearing God's Word in an "age of distraction"

William E. Moody

In a review of the recent book by historian Harry S. Stout entitled The New England Soul, a rather amazing statistic is noted. During the lifetime of the average Puritan in seventeenth-century colonial New England, each man and woman listened to "more than 7,000 sermons requiring some 15,000 hours of concentrated attention." See Kenneth L. Woodward, "When God Had No Competition," Newsweek, October 20, 1986, p. 73 .

The people were hungry to be assured of God's will and purpose. They were struggling to survive, and they knew God would have to be at the center of whatever life they might hope to carve out of the wilderness. Frivolous distractions to the mind and spirit were few.

Today, of course, it's a different story. Ours seems to be an age of a constant seeking after entertainment, amusement, recreation—an age of distraction. For many people, Godly worship and the things of Spirit are relegated to only a grudging nod now and then, as long as there's no interference with amusement. For many, their daily lives have little or no connection with God. There is so much "noise" bombarding the senses that the world hardly ever seems quiet enough to listen for God's message. Society today appears to be light-years away from what, in the review of Mr. Stout's book, is described as an era that represented "the sort of cultural stillness without which the Word cannot be heard."

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Editorial
Once in a lifetime
March 23, 1987
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