Still Services
Holding your own Still service
Holding a Still service is the best way to experience the prayers, readings and music of Still. The service can be molded to fit your needs, but several elements of the service give it a unique quality. We’ll discuss those below.
You may want to start at home simply by setting aside an hour in the evening after dark to listen to the music and read the prayers and scriptures from the Still script. Turn off anything that produces light or noise and light one or more candles. Find a comfortable position on the floor or on a chair where you can be still for an hour. Have a script printed out and a candle near to read by. Use a remote or be near enough to the CD player to start and stop the music between tracks where there are readings, prayers or silence. If you do this with your family or a small group, you can have each one participate by reading/praying, lighting candles, running the music, etc. Don’t skip the silences, even if it seems difficult to be silent – you may want to make them even longer; these are times to listen to God. Holding your own service at home will give you a taste of drawing close to God.
Still in a larger context creates even more dynamics as you increase the number of folks participating and perhaps incorporate live music. You can use a combination of building acoustics and/or sound systems to produce the type of acoustic environment that reminds you of a cathedral – someplace mystical and spiritually set apart. Visually, you can use the larger space to create a deeper darkness, more focus points with clusters of candles, a sense of God speaking to us both individually and corporately, and a more powerful presence of the Holy Spirit. Write to us to find out more about setting up a Still service in your church or community.
Key characteristics of Still
- Hearts that seek God. Without this, there is really no point in going further.
- A darkened room. The darkness removes many distractions for our eyes, one of our key senses. It also creates a stark contrast for the light of the candles and gives us a physical manifestation of God’s truth illuminating our darkened minds. Darkness also mutes our sense of the world outside and heightens our hearing and that “sixth sense” that seems to connect us more directly to the spiritual realm.
- Candles. The light of Christ is powerfully portrayed through the symbol of candles against the darkness. Groups of variously shaped candles at different heights and positions create a sense of warmth, softness and safety that opens our spirits and directs our attention away from the darkness and towards the light.
- Silence. Silence entering, during and exiting the service extend the Still experience in time and in effect. Be sure to have a sign at the entrance to the location reminding people to enter in silence and turn cell phones off. During the service, the silences give space to hear the voice of God speak to our hearts, and for us to respond to His love and truth. Leaving in silence reduces the effect of separating our Still experience from “our real life” and gives opportunity for further fellowship with God, to savor His goodness or perhaps wrestle with Him.
- Scripture. Scripture is the key foundation for Still. It anchors our experience to the truth of God’s revelation. If we want to open ourselves to a mystical experience of God’s grace and mercy, we must know that we are standing on truth and that we are able to recognize His voice, which is always consistent with what He has already revealed in Scripture, Nature and in the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ.
- Prayer. The prayers of the Still service provide common words of response that we can offer corporately to God. Prayers from the Book of Common Prayer or other widely used Christian prayer books unite us with others locally, globally and historically.
- Music. Music is perhaps the most permeating aspect of Still as it provides a vehicle for multiple levels of participation, including proclaiming and meditating upon the truth, uniting our hearts and voices in response to God, and driving truth from our heads into our hearts.
Each of these elements contributes to our ability to seek and respond to God in a deeper way.