Quoting Silence, June, 2026:
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A post throughout each week of the month, offering quotes and resources linked to one contemporary author who writes about silence and its role as a spiritual discipline. |
Different weeks of the month offer different resources, as below:
- first week: a short, image-backed quote with links to associated resources in the accompanying text
- middle weeks: a short, image-backed quote taken from a longer one by the author, found below the image
- last week: a short quote and questions to encourage reflection on all the month's quotations and images
David Runcorn, our author for June, is a well-known in the UK as a as a speaker and writer about spirituality, prayer, Christian faith and a variety of areas of theology.
You can find out more about his short book, Silence (Grove Books, 1986), from which this month's quotes are taken, by clicking here (but this is a newer edition, so may have been updated).
You can find out more about his short book, Silence (Grove Books, 1986), from which this month's quotes are taken, by clicking here (but this is a newer edition, so may have been updated).
Audio resources
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For a 5 minute audio guided meditation to use with each week's short quote, click play on the image. To pause and restart click the same place.
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An audio guided Lectio Divina for the longer quotes. Click play on the image above. Allow 10-15 minutes for this. For a text version, click the button.
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Monday 1st June, 2026
David Runcorn, Silence (Grove Books, 1986), 16.
Image: Casey Horner, Manteca, California, unsplash.com/@mischievous_penguins
David Runcorn is an ordained Anglican priest in the Church of England. Now retired and living in Stratford-upon-Avon, his career has traversed from parish ministry to theological education via spirituality and retreat centre work. His early years as a vicar were in London, after which David became Chaplain at the Lee Abbey Community in North Devon (see here). For some years he was a tutor and lecturer at Trinity College, Bristol, where he taught Pastoral Theology, Spirituality, Evangelism and church history. In senior diocesan roles has been a Director of Ministry Development, Director of Ordinands and a Warden of Readers. David also spent time as what, ever since he kept chickens, he's calls 'a free-range priest' - doing freelance work as a retreat guide, supporting vocations, offering spiritual accompaniment and teaching on prayer and leadership, as well as more broadly within theological education.
Writing about Christianity and its role in contemporary society, David describes himself as being 'long captivated and drawn by this profound, compelling and ancient faith that now urgently seeks new ways of being present to an exciting and restless culture, but one impulsively adrift from any spiritual roots and unable to recognize its perils.'
As an author, David has written many books that seek to speak into this need. In his latest book, Evangelical and Inclusive: A Future and a Hope (Canterbury Press, 2026) published only last month (April, 2026: see here), he has addressed being an inclusive evangelical - that is, working for the full inclusion of the LGBT+ community and their relationships in the life of the church. This book follows on from his work as the founding convenor of the Inclusive Evangelicals Network: see here.
David has written a wide variety of other books, which range from exploring the death of Jesus and what it has to say about the gift of life in Touch Wood: Meeting the Cross in the World Today (Darton, Longman and Todd, 1992) - see here, but no synopsis available - to the excitements and burdens of free will in Choice, Desire and the Will of God: What More Do You Want? (Hendrickson, 2002) - see here - via a range of books on spirituality. You might be interested in his Space for God: Silence and Solitude in the Christian Life (Darton, Londman and Todd, 1990) - see here - which is sadly out of print. For a full list of his books, see here.
Monday 8th June, 2026
David Runcorn, Silence (Grove Books, 1986), 8.
Image: Sasun Bughdaryan, unsplash.com/@sasun1990
The short, image-backed quote, above, is taken from this week's longer quote, below, on pages 8-9 of David Runcorn's book. To read more about his book, from which this month's quotes are taken, click here.
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Listen to this week's longer quote:
To listen to the longer quote, below, being read, click the play button on the small version of the image next to or below this text. To see the image full screen as you listen, click the expand screen icon in the corner. |
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'It is a fact that, for many, the experience of entering into silence is one of frightening alienation and inner turmoil. Far from the enticing vision of being ‘alone with the Alone’, it feels like a dubious invitation to be submerged in personal chaos and darkness. The important thing to note is that in such an event it is not a failure of the person or the silence.
Christian prayer is more often marked by struggle than peace. The presence of blissful feelings when I am silent does not mean that I am actually in God’s presence. But if we are to encourage each other in the desert of silence we need to be growing in the maturity of our love and care of one another in the dryness or the night of faith. Someone once said that ‘prayer and love are really learned in the hour when prayer becomes impossible.’ Struggle is the fruit of faithfulness in the desert – not the failure of it.
We might well find that once we consent to seeking silence, it has a way of turning the tables and searching us! It is the work of the Holy Spirit to search all things (1 Cor. 2:10).
There is a Chapel in a monastery to which I used to go for retreats where I knew that If I went to pray I would have to submit to the disturbing sensation of being spiritually ‘undressed’. That is the only way I can describe it. The Quakers speak of a ‘sifting silence’ and I imagine that is what they mean.'
Monday 15th June, 2026
David Runcorn, Silence (Grove Books, 1986), 12.
Image: Sina Sadeqi, Esfahan, Iran, unsplash.com/@adventurous_artist
The short, image-backed quote, above, is taken from this week's longer quote, below, on page 12 of David Runcorn's book. To read more about his book, from which this month's quotes are taken, click here.
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Listen to this week's longer quote:
To listen to the longer quote, below, being read, click the play button on the small version of the image next to or below this text. To see the image full screen as you listen, click the expand screen icon in the corner. |
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'A dietician once described fasting as "the punctuation marks in my relationship with food". That may be a helpful way of expressing the relationship of silence to lifestyle. There must be a punctuation in the script of our lives, giving it its flow, its pauses, its varieties of expression. It brings a subtlety and depth to it all. …
Life needs the discipline of regular punctuation – it’s moments to pause, to catch breath, to reflect or just to lie fallow for a time.
These will be the times we get back in touch with our deeper selves. Times we can, with a loving suspicion, renew the demands and priorities we have laid upon our lives. This is traditionally called a ‘rule of life’ and finding a personal rule of life has been a help to many who have felt the need for a more disciplined punctuation of their lifestyle.
It is the "full stops" that are the most difficult perhaps. The points at which we decide to halt completely – to sit still and be silent. It may be for an hour, a day, or a longer time away somewhere. But it is not surprising to find that one of our first reactions on entering silence is that we get angry. There may be no apparent reason for it. It is part of the struggle to "let go". We are stepping out of all that gives us a sense of worth and security. Silence is an unknown and unfamiliar territory. We are not in control any more. "The eternal silence of the infinite spaces terrifies me", said Blaise Pascal. Silence itself is an encounter with infinity. That is why we feel so powerless, so empty and unable to do anything. It is very threatening.
At such times we must stay in the struggle and allow the Holy Spirit, in the silence, to ease our grip on the controls and yield them afresh to God.'
Monday 22nd June, 2026
David Runcorn, Silence (Grove Books, 1986), 14.
Image: Yuriy Bogdanov, Portland, Oregon, unsplash.com/@profepix
The short, image-backed quote, above, is taken from this week's longer quote, below, on page 13-14 of David Runcorn's book. To read more about his book, from which this month's quotes are taken, click here.
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Listen to this week's longer quote:
To listen to the longer quote, below, being read, click the play button on the small version of the image next to or below this text. To see the image full screen as you listen, click the expand screen icon in the corner. |
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'Silence is not an abandoning of words. Silence expresses our reverence for words and reminds us to respect their truth and power. … St Ignatius talked that our silence can point people to God more than our words.
Silence deepens communication. I remember the comment of a person who came to a retreat at Lee Abbey and was dismayed to discover that half of each day would be spent in silence. But at the end of the week she said, "You know, I think I know all these people better now than if I had spent the week talking to them!" Once we have got over our awkwardness, silence seems to bring a new sensitivity to our relationships. In a quiet way a new society can emerge out of silence in which the eloquent are humbled and the tongue-tied exalted. Then we may find God speaking through people who have never had the courage to contribute before. We will learn to "honour those parts which appear weaker" (1 Cor. 12: 21-26).'
Monday 29th June, 2026
David Runcorn, Silence (Grove Books, 1986), 5.
Image: Johannes Plenio, Munich, Germany, unsplash.com/@jplenio
The last week of each month offers some questions to help you reflect further on its quotations and images, and how they resonate with your own spiritual journey and relationship with God.
You can engage with these using the written or audio versions of the questions, below.
You can engage with these using the written or audio versions of the questions, below.
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Listen to the reflection questions:
To listen to the reflection questions, below, being read, click the play button on the 'Reflect ...' image next to or below this text. To see the image full screen as you listen, click the expand screen icon in the corner. |
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Reflection questions:
Before reflecting on this month's quotes and images, take time to re-ground yourself in your body.
Perhaps take a few slow breaths, feel your feet on the floor and be aware of how your body feels in this moment.
1) Read back over or listen again to this month's quotes and spend time looking at their associated images. As you do so, note a phrase or image that draws your attention. If this is a phrase, you might like to write this out in a journal or on a piece of paper where you will see it regularly. Consider reading aloud several times what you have written to help the words sink more deeply into your heart. If an image resonates with you, let your gaze rest lightly on it for a couple of minutes, allowing it to speak to your heart. Consider using it as a screensaver for a while, or perhaps print it out and place it somewhere that you will see it often.
2) What emerges as you sit with the phrase or image that attracted your attention? Does a new insight or a question, emotion or sensation arise? Take some time to write down and ponder on whatever you notice.
3) Where can you see hope in the midst of what is emerging in you, for yourself, your neighbour, your community, or the planet? How might this impact your daily life and those with whom you share it?
4) In the days and weeks to come, how can you stay open to what you have discovered from your reflections?
Take some time to give thanks for the hope that you have found in this month's quotes and images.