1
Kings 19:1-15
June
16, 2013
When I was a child listening going to Sunday School I was really
interested in the stories where God talked to people. It seemed to me that God
talked to people all the time. God
talked to Adam and Eve, telling them which fruit to eat, and which tree was off
limits. God talked to Noah telling him
exactly how to build an ark. God talked
to Jonah, telling him to go to Nineveh.
God talked to Moses from a burning bush. People heard the voice of God at Jesus’ baptism “This is my son
the beloved.” I wanted God to talk to
me.
Have you ever wished God would talk to you? What do you think God’s voice will sound
like – deep and booming like thunder?
Accompanied by lightning other special effects? Perhaps through a
messenger – an angel with wings and a halo?
As a child I also noticed that the
people in my church, my parents, other adults, the Sunday School teachers, even
the preacher didn’t seem to hear God talking to them directly. Some people told me they felt God when they
were in nature. Lots of people looked
for the morals of the bible stories, a kind of indirect communication from God
about what to do and not to do. But in
my church I never heard anyone say, “I was praying the other day and God said
to me…..” Curious, why did God talk to
people in the Bible, but not in my church?
I am interested to know, how many of you believe you have ever
heard God speaking directly to you?
Maybe not in a voice – but somehow you felt clear that God was
communicating with you?
When I was five my grandparents
first took me to a camp for Christian families that meets on Lake Winnepesauki
– one of many Camps Farthest Out around the world. One thing I liked about that camp right away is that lots of
people were in regular two-way communication with God. Not only would the guest speakers tell of
their conversations with God, but the teachers of my class and many other
campers, young and old, reported what God was saying to them. This served to increase my desire to hear
God’s voice talking to me.
If we could only hear God speak it
would be so wonderful. To hear God call
us by name would be so amazing. If the
voice of God was as full of love for us as when our parents, or grandparents,
or best friend’s voice, how much it would lift us up. Wouldn’t it be great if God would help us make decisions about
what we should do? Should I sign up for soccer this season, or baseball, or Boy
Scouts, or band? How cool it would be
if when taking a test we heard God whispering the correct answers in our
ears! If God would only tell you the
right things to say to make your interview so impressive that you would be
chosen for that great job. If God would
only cue me in the middle of a fight I might be able to say the right thing for
it to end peaceably.
We have been reading stories about
Elijah this month – a prophet of God.
One of those people in the Bible who heard God speak a lot. Last week we
heard a story where God gave Elijah direct instructions – God said, “Go to
Zarephath and live there. When Elijah
met a poor widow he told her that God said her jar of flour and jug of oil
would never be empty if she would share her food with Elijah. On June second we had a more dramatic story
about God speaking – Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal – a false god to a
contest where the “god who answers by fire” is the winner. To make the contest more challenging Elijah
had his sacrificial bull, and all the wood and the altar doused three times
with water while the sacrifice to Baal was bone dry. But Baal proved unable to burn up his sacrifice while the fire of
the Lord fell on Elijah’s altar and burned up everything, the bull, the wood,
the stones the dust and even the water.
God spoke to the people that day by fire.
But today we have a story of Elijah
– the same Elijah – at a point in his life when he isn’t hearing God so
well. You see, after Elijah won the
contest with the prophets of Baal, winning back many Israelites to God’s side,
he also punished the prophets of Baal and this made queen Jezebel, who
worshipped Baal, very angry. She vowed
to have Elijah killed by the next day.
In no time at all Elijah fell from victory to victim.
Elijah was so scared for his life he
just ran away – he ran into the wilderness – but Jezebel was so powerful he
really didn’t think he could escape being killed by one of her soldiers. Elijah
showed many signs of depression. He
didn’t want to eat. He felt like he was no good. He slept a lot. He blamed
everyone else for his problems, feeling very sorry for himself. He wished he would die. All this time while
he was wandering through the wilderness God didn’t say anything to Elijah. God just quietly took care of Elijah, giving
him food and drink in the wilderness.
Elijah was in such a funk he didn’t even acknowledge the provision,
speaking not a single word of thanks.
Eventually Elijah came to a mountain, the same mountain where Moses
received the commandments from God. He
climbed the mountain and slept in a cave there.
In the morning God finally spoke,
“Elijah, what are you doing here?” Elijah’s answer was whiny, “I’ve been working my heart out for you.
The people of Israel have been unfaithful to you, destroyed the places of
worship, and murdered your prophets. I’m the only one left, and now they’re
trying to kill me.” God said, “Go out
and stand on the mountain for the Lord is about to pass by.” Elijah went out. First came the great wind,
like the wind of the Holy Spirit that came to Jesus’ disciples on Pentecost,
but the Lord was not in the wind. Then
there was an earthquake, but the Lord wasn’t in the earthquake. Then there was a fire, like the fire that
had burned up the soaking wet altar, like the pillar of fire that led the Israelites
through the wilderness to the Promised Land but this time the Lord wasn’t in
the fire either. Finally, Elijah heard a still small voice – a better
translation is the sound of sheer silence.
Sometimes we can know God is
speaking to us even when we do not hear a word with our ears. Like Elijah we can feel God telling us deep
inside. It is not easy to learn to
listen to the sheer silence of God. We
are such a noisy people
Tsitsi – one of 10 – always children
– Jovan – Cleo – now in Randolph – house alone – house makes sounds! She is enjoying the solitude.
In my family silent treatment was
used as a punishment – very scary to me when God is silent – few hard years in
my ministry I wasn’t hearing or feeling God. A lot like Elijah – feeling like a
failure – bad things were happening to me that seemed out of my control –
enemies attacking me – what am I doing here?
Not the silence of being shut up –
not children should be seen and not heard.
Silence of peace, solitude not
loneliness, deep rest. Prayer time – quietness – listening – openness.
Silence at Taize – whole week – how
to use the silence – still set designated prayer times each day even while
keeping the silence. Silence during
meal time- not isolation – more attentive.
Once a member of our group arrived after we had begun our meal – if we
had all been chatting with one another she might have been unnoticed and had
trouble finding a place to sit. But in our silence we all saw her come in and
several people jumped up to make a place, find a plate, glass and cutlery for
her and pass the food.
Silence to increase attentiveness –
pay attention to muscles in our bodies, notice tension that is related to
spiritual wounds, or our own sins – In silence I become much more aware of the
thoughts I automatically think that are not conducive to community and sharing
the love of Jesus – judgments
Silence of monasteries - eat in
silence – time before and after worship is silent – don’t speak unless
necessary – Great Silence from 8 pm to 8 am don’t speak unless it’s an
emergency. Society of Saint John the Evangelist describes their practice of silence this way
“Silence
takes root through our cultivation of solitary prayer in which we are free to
take delight in our aloneness with God undisturbed. The Spirit helps us
through our struggle with distraction to return to that inmost place of
mutual love where God is simply present to us and we to God. If we are
faithful here in our movement into silence, we will bring the same spirit into
our worship and cherish the silences observed before and during each time of
prayer. Without this constant opening of the heart in silence alone and
together we are unable to feel the touch or hear the word of God. Silence
is a constant source of restoration. Yet its healing power does not come
cheaply. It depends on our willingness to face all that is within us,
light and dark, and to heed all the inner voices that make themselves heard in
silence.”[1]
When
I was a student at Duke I had the opportunity to worship a few times with a
Quaker Meeting – children even as small
as Salem, Maya and Brandon able to sit in silence for 20 minutes – taught to
experience God.
What
to do in the silence
- Read the Bible, (not the begats or the wars) Psalms,
- Better use Guided Devotionals – Upper Room on line, any number of books. These help by pulling out scripture verses, interpreting and reflecting on how they connect to life – Joyce Rupp The Cup of Our Life – daily meditations all using morning coffee or tea cup to help us reflect on our life in God.
- Use music – classical – or chants – or praise songs – or African American spirituals.
- While moving – jogging, or walking – labyrinth behind Union.
- Twenty or thirty minutes. If that seems too much start with 5 or 10 – stretch.
The more you practice being in the
presence of God’s silence, the more you will hear God’s voice speaking to you,
guiding you, giving you life, love, joy and peace.
God
talks to us in many ways – once in a while God uses a loud booming voice, more
often God speaks by a verse of scripture, or the words of a devotional that
touch our hearts. Very often God remains as silent as a Rock – Elijah Rock –
Sturdy and trustworthy, always there, solid ground – shelter from burning sun
and storms. A rock we can trust, and when we experience the peace that comes
with prayer we will be more likely to obey.
No comments:
Post a Comment