When I was a child I used to fear the silence. One of the tortures I endured was being thrown into a small closet with no light, and being left there for days at a time.

Where I live, December marks the beginning of winter. And in the Hudson Valley of New York, those winters are often cold, silent, and dark.

During my first year living in Seattle, I heard a news report of a woman being arrested for throwing a frozen chicken out her apartment in the middle of a crowd of runners in a 5K race.

As we head into the depths of winter I am always reminded of that in other parts of the world, people are experiencing the height of summer.

Let all mortal flesh keep silence…begins an ancient hymn that is still a popular Christmas carol.

Close to 20 years ago Rev. Jane Rzepka invited me to join the CLF team as the editor of Quest.

You can listen to audio recordings of Quest Monthly, read back issues or get electronic versions of the text to share with friends (and much more) at questformeaning.org

You, silence,

are the ground on which we build

the fragile sandcastles of our every spoken word.

Working at Greensboro Health Care Center, a nursing home, was a rewarding experience for me in many ways.

In Lewis Carrol’s Alice Through the Looking Glass, Alice is talking with the White Queen, who lives in a backwards world where effects happen before their cause.