Silence is thought by some to be golden. And in our busy, noisy, fast-paced lives most of us need some time to be alone, quiet and simply to rest. Even God rested on the seventh day and gave us the Sabbath-one day in seven to rest.

But there is a time when silence is not good. When the Pharisees in Luke 19:39 called on Jesus to still the crowd of disciples from praising God for Jesus, he replied, "If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

In other words, there is a silence that is golden, but also one that is guilty. It is not healthy to be silent about what Jesus is doing in our lives. And silence about Jesus among nonChristian friends is not healthy. In fact, it is sometimes sinful. Silence that prevents people from hearing good news is silence that as Simon Garfunkel wrote, "like a cancer grows." Let us prepare our hearts to hear about the Sin of Silence this weekend and how we can turn away from that silence to honor God with our voices.