Voices
from Silence
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A 'first Friday of the month' series, from October 2024.
Personal stories of engaging in silence by practitioners from the Global Majority Heritage (GMH) and Black and Indigenous Peoples of Colour (BIPOC) communities.* |
A quarter of the way into the first century of this millennium, the reality is that the lives and stories of many from this community are sidelined. Their voices are silenced.
Although people from GMH and BIPOC communities may have a spiritual practice of silence, authors from these communities tend to write more about experiences of silencing than their encounters with silence-based prayer.
Even Dr Barbara A. Holmes, the well-known author of Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practices of the Black Church couldn't suggest anyone from these communities who writes at length about silence.
This series is a way to bring some voices from the GMH and BIPOC communities into the conversations and resources that Seeds of Silence offers on its website.
The idea for Voices from Silence came from Rosie Benjamin, its first contributor.
Although people from GMH and BIPOC communities may have a spiritual practice of silence, authors from these communities tend to write more about experiences of silencing than their encounters with silence-based prayer.
Even Dr Barbara A. Holmes, the well-known author of Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practices of the Black Church couldn't suggest anyone from these communities who writes at length about silence.
This series is a way to bring some voices from the GMH and BIPOC communities into the conversations and resources that Seeds of Silence offers on its website.
The idea for Voices from Silence came from Rosie Benjamin, its first contributor.
December 2025: Angelene Chan
'The Silence that Speaks'
Image: ChatGPT
Angelene Chan,
Singapore |
Listen to Angelene reading her text, 'The Silence that Speaks'
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The Silence that Speaks
Silence has always carried mystery. Many see it as absence—of sound, of meaning, of connection. But the longer I’ve lived with silence, the more I’ve come to see it differently. Silence isn’t empty at all. It is alive. It is presence. It is fullness.
In silence, we often meet ourselves first—the restless mind, the endless noise we carry inside. It can feel unbearable at the start, like a mirror we’d rather not face. Yet if we stay, if we dare to linger, something begins to shift. The noise quiets. The heart listens. And silence, without a word, begins to speak.
I remember one morning at Bonnevaux (the World Community for Christian Meditation retreat centre in France), walking through the mist toward meditation. The air was still, the hills wrapped in silence. For a moment, it felt as though the world was holding its breath. And in that stillness, I sensed something deeper than quiet—a presence, waiting. Silence, I realized, is not a void but an invitation.
Scripture points us here as well. “Be still and know that I am God,” we read in Psalm 46:10. Stillness is the gateway. In the story of Elijah, God is not found in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire—but in “the sound of sheer silence.” Again and again, we are reminded: it is not always in the noise of life that we encounter the divine, but in the stillness.
Even in grief, silence speaks. Sitting beside my grandfather in his final days, words were gone. What remained was presence—love expressed without speech. That silence was painful, but it was also sacred.
Silence is not the same as quiet. Quiet can be avoidance; silence is engagement at the deepest level. It is listening with the whole heart. And when we make space for it—whether in meditation, in prayer, or in the unspoken company of a friend—silence becomes a bridge.
Silence, in the end, is not empty. It is full—of peace, of presence, of God.
In silence, we often meet ourselves first—the restless mind, the endless noise we carry inside. It can feel unbearable at the start, like a mirror we’d rather not face. Yet if we stay, if we dare to linger, something begins to shift. The noise quiets. The heart listens. And silence, without a word, begins to speak.
I remember one morning at Bonnevaux (the World Community for Christian Meditation retreat centre in France), walking through the mist toward meditation. The air was still, the hills wrapped in silence. For a moment, it felt as though the world was holding its breath. And in that stillness, I sensed something deeper than quiet—a presence, waiting. Silence, I realized, is not a void but an invitation.
Scripture points us here as well. “Be still and know that I am God,” we read in Psalm 46:10. Stillness is the gateway. In the story of Elijah, God is not found in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire—but in “the sound of sheer silence.” Again and again, we are reminded: it is not always in the noise of life that we encounter the divine, but in the stillness.
Even in grief, silence speaks. Sitting beside my grandfather in his final days, words were gone. What remained was presence—love expressed without speech. That silence was painful, but it was also sacred.
Silence is not the same as quiet. Quiet can be avoidance; silence is engagement at the deepest level. It is listening with the whole heart. And when we make space for it—whether in meditation, in prayer, or in the unspoken company of a friend—silence becomes a bridge.
Silence, in the end, is not empty. It is full—of peace, of presence, of God.
Angelene Chan, December, 2025.
Angelene Chan is a member of the Guiding Council of the World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM) and the Chairman of DP Architects in Singapore. Combining these roles, she was active in the redevelopment of Bonnevaux, WCCM's retreat centre in France: see here. Read more about Angelene on WCCM's website, here. Or watch a 20 minute conversation, 'Loving her work: Leadership, meditation and what lies ahead', between her and Lawrence Freeman, the Director of WCCM, here.
* The terms 'Global Majority Heritage' (GMH) and 'Black and Indigenous Peoples of Colour' (BIPOC) refers to people whose backgrounds are from non-Western, non-White ethnic and cultural groups, reflecting the fact that the majority of the world’s population comes from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. These terms acknowledge the rich heritage of ancient Indigenous communities and challenge the traditional framing of racial and ethnic minorities by emphasizing that these populations are, in fact, the global majority.
(If you receive the weekly 'Quoting Silence' email you will automatically receive the Voices from Silence email.)
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