Mid-Week Lenten Sermon

“Choruses from the Rock”

II

Wednesday, March 20, 2019 – Psalm 46

(Third in a Series – see below)

II

The endless cycle of idea and action,
Endless invention, endless experiment,
Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness;
Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;
Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word.

T. S. Eliot

Reflections:

The ballet dancer dances.  When asked to describe her dance, she says: “If I could use words, I would not be dancing – watch the dance.”  The stillness between the steps makes the dance.

The flautist plays her notes. Does she know that it is the silence between the notes that creates her music?

The artist paints on his canvas.  Does he know that the space between his strokes is what creates the painting?

Our human predicament engages us in an endless striving for meaning:

Ideas to action – endless experiment – endless invention.  We understand motion but we do not understand stillness.  We word our lives away but seldom explore silence.  We have knowledge of words, but ignorance of the Word.

During Lent we are called to stillness.  Our lives may be  whirlwinds of activity.  Some folks where the badge of busyness with pride!  We often measure success by how active we are.  But what is the Divine Word for us tonight?

“Be still, and know that I am God.”

We have yet to learn that the Divine enters through silence.  Being still opens us up to God.  The monastic movement understands this with its round the clock prayer hours and discipline of silence.  There is intentional stillness in the community’s life of prayer.

Elijah, the origin of the prophetic tradition, goes to the mountain to stand before the Lord:   Elijah Meets God at Horeb:

11 He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  1 Kings 19:11-13 

A still small voice!

Sainted Episcopal Priest, Malcolm Boyd gives us an insightful prayer from his classic work:  Are You Running with Me, Jesus

Help us Dig in, Jesus, and be with you.

After all the cheap fiction and Biblical movies that have turned your life and death into almost bizarre superstition, Jesus, it is hard for us to see your cross for what it really was.

They’ve even turned Jerusalem into a tourist attraction that it’s not at all easy, even when walking the ground you walked, to visualize anything with honesty or accuracy.

I imagine it was sweaty and hot.  When you said from the cross, “I thirst,” I am sure you were very thirsty. It’s easy for us today to say you were really thirsting for people’s souls (and I’m sure you were), but isn’t that just a dodge that keeps us from accepting the fact of your humanity?  Why do we forget that you were human, hanging on the cross for hours, needing something to drink?

Can we somehow get through all the decoration that has been developed about the cross and just be quiet [and still] and be there with you?

[Running with Jesus - pg. 105]

Lent:  a time for stillness

         a time for silence

         a time to just

                be there

                with Christ.  Amen.

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