v 9 O God, we meditate on your unfailing love as we worship in your Temple.
For so many of us, worshipping together is either listening to a leader or participating in singing. There are other Christian traditions that provide a different experience however. Our own tradition often finds silence slightly embarrassing. ‘Has somebody forgotten what to do next?’ or ‘Who is responsible for the next bit of music?’ So we sit and wait, or fidget, until something happens and we can all breathe again. Silence comes as unexpected, especially if it goes on for more than a minute or so – even if we are warned in advance. We are not generally programmed to handle longer periods of silence in Church. We may perhaps feel too that some personal silence, when we turn off from what is going on around us, might be considered as daydreaming and not proper behaviour in a time of worship. Is it appropriate to stay sitting down to meditate when everybody else is standing to sing? In fact – is personal meditation an acceptable part of public worship? It would seem that the Psalmist had no problems with that at all; he could give himself to meditating on the unfailing love of God as the worship continued. Perhaps it is a matter of what we do with our thoughts; are they really in a God-honouring direction, or simply about the day’s lunch?
—