Seekers of Silence is an ecumenical and interfaith gathering of men and women who come together to listen:

• We listen to presenters speak on spirituality topics.
• We listen to God in silent prayer.
• We listen to each other in small group sharing.

Participants come from a variety of religious traditions. Members of several denominations as well as followers of other faiths come from all over East Tennessee to attend. All are welcome. Our meetings are on the first Saturday of each month (except July) at the Church of the Savior, 934 North Weisgarber Road, Knoxville, Tennessee. (Note: our March meeting will again be at the Buckingham Clubhouse 7303 Manderly Way, Knoxville, due to renovations at Church of the Savior).

We gather starting at 9 a.m. for coffee and conversation. The meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. with a welcome and 20 minutes of silent meditation. After the presentation, we end at noon after another 20-minute meditation. Participants are invited to remain afterward for a shared pot luck lunch.

The meetings are open to all and free of charge. Donations are gratefully accepted. SOS is funded entirely by the donations of the participants at our monthly presentations. 

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What does SOS mean to you? Some of our long-time participants tell what it means to them. Check it out in our Prayers-Thoughts-Comments section. If SOS has been important in your spiritual life, email your story to edgarmiller25@gmail.com.

Upcoming meetings:

September

Next Meeting: Saturday, September 7, 2024

Church of the Savior, 934 N. Weisgarber Road

Presenters:  Mary Jane Keim

Topic: A Modern Day Mystic: Howard Thurman and the Relevance of the Civil Rights Movement for the Present Time.

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NOTICE: We have returned for our regular meetings to the Church of the Savior, 934 N. Weisgarber Road. Thanks to all who joined us at our temporary quarters at the Buckingham Clubhouse in the Shannandale retirement complex. Thanks especially to George and Ruth Smith for arranging the Buckingham site and for hosting us.

We will gather as usual at 9 a.m. for coffee (or tea) and conversation. The discussion will begin a 9:30. We also will have our usual 20-minute periods of silence at the beginning and end of the meeting. All are welcome. Participants are invited to stay after the meeting ends at noon for a potluck lunch. Bring a dish to share.

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Programs 2024

July and August

No meetings were held or will be held.

June

Presenters:  John Berry (Audiologist) & Michael O’Connell (Psychologist)

John and Michael spoke about their spiritual journeys, with special attention to events and people that guided them on their path.

May

April

When God Speaks, Are We Listening? 

Leoma Gilley, author of several books including “Launching Into the Unknown: Discovering the beautiful and bewildering world of the Sudanese (The “Not How I Planned It” Memoirs Book 1),” will discuss Lectio Divina and lead the group in a Lectio exercise in the first part of the meeting and “share ways of hearing God, some of her stories, and group sharing” in the second half.

Leoma, originally from Chattanooga, lived in the Sudan for more than 20 years and traveled widely in Africa and Europe.

Her adventures, she says, also led to exploring her inner life as well as the external oneand that through deep reflections on the Scriptures she found a richer relationship with God and gained a better understanding of the value of prayer.

Other books include “The Still Small Voice of Love,” “Praying for Big Things,” “Prayers of Confessions for Lent,” and “Prayers of Faith and Hope.”

March

Our March meeting, led by Liesl Bold featured a discussion on contemplative living based on the Lenten prayers and readings of Thomas Merton and other spiritual masters.

SOS participant Liesl Bold has had years of experience with contemplative practices and suggested this month’s topic.

February

Biblical scholar Jacob Love, Ph.D., led our February discussion on “Notes from the Field of Battle on the Road to Peace,” a look at some of the complexities,  as he puts it, “that make it impossible to render simple judgments of the recent events in Israel and Gaza.”

  In the program at the Buckingham Clubhouse Jacob described the deep religious roots of the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians going back to biblical times. It was a well balanced and well informed presentation based on his years in Israel, including his time as a graduate student and his service in the Israeli Defense Force, and also his studies as a historian.

   During the presentation he offered a quotation that several attendees ask us to share. Here it is:

   The post from Jordan Friedman reads:

The vast, vast majority of Israeli and diaspora Jewry, in their grief, shock, trauma, sadness, and justified anger in the wake of the October 7 terrorist attacks and rising antisemitism worldwide, have committed the nearly-unforgivable sin of callousness toward innocent suffering and death in Gaza. Not only do they not vocally support policy alternatives (not just the trendy, unrealistic, pacifist total ceasefire) that would dramatically reduce civilian casualties and suffering, but they cannot bring themselves even to mention this suffering and death in prayers, religious and secular ceremonies and vigils, or even everyday life and discussion of the situation. They have committed the hideous, almost-unforgivable sin of viewing some kinds of lives as disposable and worth significantly less than others. Though it doesn’t lead to the same behaviors, this is not entirely unlike the disgustingly warped worldview of Hamas and other hate and terror groups.

If you are Jewish (or anything else), and you know you have been guilty of this sin, I propose a way to begin redeeming yourself. Make a donation to an organization like Gisha—an Israeli non-profit that tries to get humanitarian aid into Gaza responsibly, without letting it fall into the wrong hands:

https://gisha.org/en/

Jacob, who spoke to SOS In October 2017 on “The Language of Jesus” and again in October 2018 on “Paul Robeson’s Jewish Fellowship,” retired last year after having been responsible for University of Tennessee’s Hebrew program, teaching the Hebrew Bible in English, Introduction to Judaism, and Survey of Early Rabbinic Literature. He also has taught Early Jewish History for the History Department. He currently teaches a course in Talmud online. In addition to Hebrew, Jacob knows Aramaic and can read ancient Greek. And His wife, Theresa Lee, is former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and a professor of Psychology.

January

Mary Jane Keim and Michael O’Connell led our group discussion at our January meeting on the question: “Are you an everyday mystic?”

The discussion was designed to bring forward participants’ answers to the question. After Mary Jane gave a definition of “mystic,” each participant was asked to bow before commenting and to bow again to show the comment had ended.

The facilitators have practiced psychotherapy in Knoxville for more than 50 years and they have practiced meditation for the last 20 years as faithful members of Seekers of Silence.

 

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To learn about earlier programs, please click on “PROGRAMS” on the menu bar.

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IMPORTANT NOTICE: Since we returned to in-person meetings following the Covic-19 pandemic, attendance at our monthly meetings has dropped substantially. Therefore, after much prayer and discussion, the Coordinating Committee has authorized a new format for meetings starting with our September 2 program Instead of having outside speakers, an SOS participant will be the facilitator and lead a roundtable discussion on a topic selected at a previous meeting. We will continue to have our two 20-minute periods of silent prayer and our potluck lunches after the meeting. The previously adopted shorter meeting schedule will continue: doors will open at 9 a.m. for coffee and conversation and the program will begin at 9:30 a.m. and end at noon.

Youtube videos of Father Terry Ryan’s presentations are available on the website of the St. Bennedict’s Monastery Bookstore, https://snowmassbookstore.com/. Click on the YouTube Channel tab.