fools, said i, you do not know

silence like a cancer grows


A sermon from Elijah's encounter with sheer silence, 1 Kings 19:1-18:

Have you ever been in some room all by yourself, only you couldn’t help but strain to hear something because it felt like, sounded like there was something in the silence all around you?
Or, have you ever been out in the quiet woods alone, only to feel like there was something in that hush of the woods? (Abby, at EWALU, going through the trails, when no one was talking, did it ever seem like there was a voice in the peacefulness of it all?) I bet you have…

And I’d be willing to wager we’ve all had an experience like that at one time, or another.
In fact, I’m convinced the reason some folks make a point to get to church before the organist or others start to arrive, is so they can sit in that kind of silence. The silence that isn’t empty, but full. But full.
It’s a universal experience; we’ve all tried to catch snatches of that sound you can only hear when the rest go silent. The “still, small voice.” The sound of sheer silence.

A few months after President Kennedy’s assassination, Paul Simon wrote “The Sound of Silence.” The song that broke his duo, Simon and Garfunkle, through to a larger audience. The song that got them signed with Columbia. 

*Apparently he wrote this song in the bathroom with the lights turned off and the faucet gentle running. 
He wrote: “And the vision that was placed in my brain sill remains / within the sound of silence.” - “When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light / that split the night / and touched the sound of silence.” - “People talking without speaking / People hearing without listening.” - “And the sign said, the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls / and tenement halls / and whispered in the sound of silence.”
…And he’s right too, you know.
Because while the sound of silence may somehow be full; it’s also a sound that’s hard to bear. 
Too much silence can drive us crazy. When we’re not expecting it, sudden silence can spook us. When Amanda’s gone for work, I’ll often eat dinner in front of the TV. Honestly, not so much for what’s on, but just to drown out the silence that fills the house…

We become so familiar to the constant bombardment of sight and sound, we’re not sure what to do, when suddenly one of them is stripped away,…

And Elijah knew what that was like, too.
In the story of faith; Elijah ranks near the top of the list of prophets. He was a great prophet. Battling the pagan pretenders. Boldly standing up for the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
As his career came to an end though, Elijah, like the rest of the prophets, watched as his spectacular career gave way to stunning lows

The wicked king and queen, Ahab and Jezebel, put a price on the prophet’s head. They toke an oath to have Elijah killed within twenty-four hours.

As the wanted posters went up, Elijah looked around. And everywhere he turned, someone was already looking at him out the corner of their eye. Everyone he went to was already whispering about him to someone else.
Elijah couldn’t get out from under the hit that was put out on him. 
Elijah couldn’t bring himself to trust anyone. He fled. So suspicious was Eijah, he even made his servants take leave from him so he could run another day’s distance to the wilderness.

Until finally, Elijah could be sure he’s was alone. 
And out there, by himself, in the desert, Elijah could no longer bear the sound of silence. He asked God that he might die. Let the sights and sounds go dark and silent once and forever. The old prophet had, had enough…

Elijah went to sleep hoping not to wake up. 
But then, tap, tap, tap. An angel shakes the despondent prophet awake. Twice does the angel have to jostle Elijah from his death-wish! Until finally the old prophet gives up and heeds the angel’s words. For forty days and forty nights, Elijah travels to the great mountain of God. To Horeb. 
And there, he finds a cave to hide in. There, he goes back to sleep. No doubt, still hoping not to wake up the next day…

*But not even is the cave enough to escape The Lord. 
The voice presses Elijah. Tells him to make ready; for the Lord is about to pass by.
And no sooner has the vox dei gone quite, than a mighty wind begins to blow. So strong is the wind, that the mountain itself starts coming apart. And before the wind can die down; the very earth begins to tremble. In a few moments more, a full-blown earthquake! The ground rumbles and shivers. As the dirt underneath his feet begins to settle, a fire sweeps in. Raging and roaring.
And then! NOTHING

…The sound of nothing. Sheer silence. 
In that nothing, that silence, Elijah hears something. Something he hasn’t hear before… 

And did YOU hear that?!?!
How, in the silence, Elijah hears something?
Only how can you hear silence???
For silence to be silence, there must be NOTHING to hear. 

And yet, in that sheer silence; Elijah hears something. Something more compelling than his death-wish. Something loud enough to make him leave that cave. The very sound of silence

Last Lent Martin Scorsese released a film based on the book, “Silence.”
It’s about a 17th century missionary from Portugal in Japan, during the time of the “hidden Christians.” The priest, Rodrigues, is on a mission to find his father-superior and clear his name. 
See, Rodrigues’ beloved mentor went on a mission in Japan. But once the persecution of Christians began, his mentor’s communications stopped. And then, a rumor started. Rodrigues’ mentor apostatized; renounced his faith in the face of persecution.

And, Rodrigues can’t bear that thought; he went to Japan in search of his mentor, to clear his name. 
Rodrigues makes it to Japan, but before long, he’s captured. 

There, as a prisoner, he sees the peasants persecuted for their faith. He watches as they’re martyred. 
And he can’t help but wonder why God remains silent. Why God won’t speak up, do something?
Despite his questions, though, Rodrigues refuses to lose his resolve. He will find his mentor and clear his name, even if he has to die for his cause…

The only trouble is, the rulers in Japan have realized that foreign missionaries coming and bravely dying for their faith, only creates more converts. So they won’t give the young priest the martyrdom he dreams of. 
Instead, they make him watch as other peasants are tortured in his place.
Rodrigues can only bear watching that, and the silence of God, for so long.

It all comes to a head when he’s asked to apostatized, too…

His captors put a fumi-e, a bust of Jesus’ face, on the ground. They tell Rodrigues all he has to do is put his foot on it and say, “I renounce.” They tell him they don’t even care if he really believes it. That all he has to do is say the words, and they will let the peasants go.
Only, Rodrigues can’t bear to do it. To step on his savior’s face…

Looking at the fumi-e there on the ground, suddenly God breaks the silence. 
In the silence Rodrigues hears Jesus: “Trample! Trample,” says the mask. “I more than anyone know of the pain in your foot. Trample. It was to be trampled on by men that I was born into this world. It was to share men’s pain that I carried my cross. Trample.”

That, that is the kind of silence Elijah heard. That kind of silence you’ve caught snatches of in empty rooms, in moments before prayer (and swirling among the trees in Strawberry Point).

Because there was another prophet who heard not just any silence, but the silence; the silence of God: Jesus, the Christ. 
Jesus, who on the night he was betrayed, went to another mountain, the Mount of Olives. And there, he prayed that God would take away his cup. And all Jesus heard in reply was the snoring of his only companions in this world. 

Jesus took upon himself the fate we all deserve, the divine mouth shut tight in your hour of need. Jesus listened to the full cacophony of true silence, and died by it’s deadly oblivion.

Jesus, the Christ who climbed another mountain, Golgotha. 
And there as he died abandoned by his only companions; he cried out, stranded, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Daring to ask the question we’ve all wondered, but never really known. 
Jesus took upon himself the fate we should have coming, the divine lips sealed when most you need most to hear something, anything. Jesus suffered real silence in its crushing void…

On that mountain, in that silence, Jesus transformed the nothingness of silence. He filled it with the creak of the floodgates of heaven being ripped open for you! Jesus took the silence of God and filled it with himself, his love, his mercy, his sacrifice. 
Jesus did this so that your silence would not be empty, but rather, filled. 

Filled with the sound of your savior. 
The sound of Jesus saying your name. Saying __________

When Jesus cried out, only to hear God’s silence, Jesus took silence itself upon himself. And into it, he breathed his last.
Jesus took the full weight of that silence, and bore it for you. Filled it for you.

…So you who have heard something in the sound silence. You who hear this Word and can’t help but trust it. You who have shot awake in the middle of the night. You who have laid your loved ones to rest. You who have felt the rest you will be laid into. (YOU who long to return to EWALU because of the whisper you’ve heard in silence); know this: 
What you heard in that silence was the sound of your savior’s last breath, filling silence itself with the sound of salvation. The Sound of Jesus filling the sound of silence with your name…


Do you hear it?

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