This Summer, our worship services have been focused on practices of faith. Each week, we have heard about a tangible activity we can do and potentially incorporation into our lives as a regular faith practice. Our faith is more than an intellectual activity – a “head” activity…..practiciing our faith also involves our hearts and our hands. So we are invited to change our hearts to be more loving towards God and other people and to take on actions with our hands and our feet to live out our faith.
Last week, we focused on our prayer life….sometimes, when we find it difficult to talk to God, it may be useful to pray our way through the book of Psalms in the Bible…our most ancient prayer book. This morning we are also going to focus on prayer, but from a different angle ... .today we are are going to consider incorporating SILENCE into our prayer life and working to listen to God.
Let us turn now to the prayer book of the Bible, the Books of the Psalms and read Psalm 46:
Scripture Psalm 46
God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.[c]
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
8 Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields[d] with fire.
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Let us pray….
Message Silence
A few years ago, when everything “paused” for Covid, it was eerily quiet outside. My family lived in the parsonage, so I was used to hearing traffic noise from Skippack Pike all day and night….but the traffic noise stopped. I was accustomed to hearing the kids playing basketball and the sound of bouncing balls all day long, but suddenly there were no dribbling sounds, no kids shouting, and the basketball court and playground were roped off with yellow hazard tape. I was used to people stopping in the church office and telling me about their news, hearing the school bus screech to a halt in front of my house, and contending with bands playing at the Cabana Bar, and Brothers Kershner, and the Stray Dog Tavern every Friday and Saturday night, and suddenly there was no music and no busses and no visitors. It was strangely quiet.
We are not used to “quiet”. We fill our lives with the noise of tvs and music and the radio. I listen to podcasts when I am doing housework. Every toy that the baby plays with seems to play annoyingly loud music. The teenager in our home listens to music on her headphones while dividing her attention between video games, watching tv, or playing tictok reels on her laptop. Even when I sit in my office working on tasks on my computer, the noise of the air conditioner fills my ears. Quiet and family life seems to be mutually exclusive.
Yet, our faith encourages us to make time for silence…to incorporate quiet time in our lives.
The sixth chapter of the book of Mark describes a very busy time in Jesus’ life. First he traveled to Nazareth and was expelled from his hometown, then he sent his Disciples out into the world to share the Good News with people who needed to hear about it, and then he learned that his beloved cousin John the Baptist had been killed. After he heard the sad news, Jesus’ disciples then came back to where Jesus was to report to him about their mission of preaching and teaching. After they shared, Jesus told them to take a break. He said: “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” Even in the 1st century, people’s lives were so busy that they needed to take breaks, go to a quiet place, and rest. And, when Jesus implored his friends to come away with him to a restful, quiet place, he was also going there himself. He needed to grieve his cousin’s death and to have a restful, restorative break himself.
Despite the activities we participate in and the business that fill our lives, we need God. We need to make sure we set aside time to rest, to reflect quietly, to listen to the Holy Spirit, and to experience the presence of the Lord. Our bodies need a break…our brains need a break….and our souls need a break. We may need to make an effort to schedule ourselves for a quiet time – perhaps wake up 10 minutes earlier so we can have a phone-free, music-free, conversation-free moment of silence – if we work away from home, perhaps we need to have a silent lunch break away from our desk and away from our office-mates – if we commute to work, perhaps we need to keep the radio and the audiobooks turned off for that commuting time – if our knees can stand it, perhaps we can set aside a block of time to walk around the block or walk on a trail in a park. We need breaks from technology and other people and the endless tasks on our lists.
In the Old Testament, we learn about the ancient prophets and their work preaching and calling people to change their hearts to focus on God. The prophets often called out powerful people and told them to change their ways – their speaking truth to power put the prophets at risk to be killed by the formidable people they called out. Their calling to be truth-tellers constantly put them at risk. Elijah was the prophet who challenged King Ahab and Queen Jezebel to change their ways – Jezebel was so wicked her name is still infamous. Once, when Elijah ran away from Ahab and Jezebel, he hid in the wilderness for 40 days and then climbed Mount Horeb. Elijah wanted to feel closer to God and supposed climbing high up a mountain would help him reach the heavens. Once he was on top of the mountain, Elijah waited for God. God’s messengers told him God would “pass by him” on the mountain.
As Elijah waited, the scripture says: “Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.”
God was in the gentle whisper. God talked to Elijah in a whisper. Sometimes, it needs to be very quiet so we can hear God. God doesn’t always appear in the midst of glory and splendor. Sometimes, God speaks to us in a quiet and calm whisper.
Why is it important to have set-aside quiet and silent times? Silence and solitude are essential for spiritual growth. We need to be able to block off the noises and distractions and take quiet time to draw closer to God, listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit guiding our lives, and prepare our heads, hearts, and hands for the work God calls us to do. Jesus found strength in quiet time and alone time. We can find renewal and purpose when we take a break from regular activities and busy-ness and focus on listening to God. When we create room for quiet-times, we create space for God to speak, heal and transform us.
When we make time for quiet – a time apart from the noise and busy-ness and tasks of our regular lives – we are more open to hear the voice of God guiding us and leading us.
Amen.
