If there is one thing that drives us almost insane,
If there is one thing that we cannot stand,
If there is one thing that makes us uncomfortable it’s...
(The sermon begins with the pastor standing in the pulpit, and simply standing for a full minute, doing nothing but waiting, seeming to be about to speak but then refraining, sipping on a glass of water, and looking at his watch. Until finally, he speaks...)
silence.
Silence.
We live in a culture that does not know what to do with being silent or still.
In the Old Testament book of Habakkuk (2:20), we are told, “The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him."
But silence drives us nuts.
In Psalm 37:7, we are told, “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him.”
But we can’t be still.
In Psalm 46:10, we are told, "Be still, and know that I am God."
In our culture we don’t like to be still.
We don’t like to be quiet.
We don’t like to be silent.
It drives us nuts!
Maybe it is the fault of our parents. It’s their fault. If your parents were like my parents, they were constantly telling you to “be quiet, be still and behave.”
And as adults, we have rebelled against our parents. We don’t like to be quiet. We don’t like to be still. So we live a life that is busy, and active and restless.
We have this feeling that if we are not doing something, saying something, planning something, then we are not being productive and if we are not being productive, then we are wasting our time.
Cindy Pfieffer, our church’s Office Manager, always tries to select a special image to go on the bulletin cover. This week she had difficulty finding something that would go with the theme of the sermon and the service, and finally picked out an image of an hour glass.
I told her this image would make some people uncomfortable, because some of us would start shaking our bulletins trying to make the sand move more quickly through that hourglass.
By the way, I do promise to finish the sermon before the sand runs out on this hourglass.
Most of us feel like we need to be active every minute of the day.
A generation or two ago, the life of the family was going to be revolutionized by the automatic washing machine. Up until then, cleaning the family’s laundry literally took an entire day. People referred to one day of their weekly routine as wash day.
Then technology came through with the washing machine, and you could throw the clothing into a machine, and then leave it and go do something else. What a time saver.
So what happened? Did we get more time to relax? To be still? To be quiet? No, we filled our time with other duties.
The computer was the same way. It enables us to do more our work in a lot less time. But do we get off work early? No. We simply do more work.
There is something within us that compels us to fill up every moment of our time.
Even if we are not talking about work, our families are stretched to the limit with activities as we go from ballet classes to soccer to outings at the lake to concerts to this and to that.
It is as if we are afraid of what might happen if we would just be still for a moment. If we would just be ---- quiet.
And if you think this is a modern problem, think again. Look at Martha and Mary. Jesus comes to their home. Mary is content to be still and silent, and to be with the Lord. Martha can’t do that. She has to be busy. In the words of the New Testament lesson, she becomes "distracted and upset at many things."
And so it is with us.
Jesus is in the midst of our life.
But we become distracted and upset at many things.
Our world is so busy, our lives are so full.
And we like it that way.
We like it because a busy life makes us feel important.
How many of you want to be important?
We all do.
We want to be important. We want to be valuable. We want to be worth something to others.
One of the things that attracts us to the Gospel is the Good News that God loves us. We are important to God. The God who made and maintains the entire universe believes we are important enough to pay attention to and to love and to care for. We are important enough to God that he sent his Son Jesus Christ to die for us and for our salvation.
But that is not enough. We need something else to validate our lives – we need a busy schedule. We fall into the trap of believing that if we are busy, then we are important.
We need to know that it is OK for us to let go of our busy-ness, and to be quiet, and still, and not be so busy.
I want to give you three good reasons why it is good for us to be still and to be quiet in our lives.
First, Being Still and Quiet Is Good for us.
Not long ago, a fellow minister shared with me a conversation he had with one of his parishioners. He said that one day an angry church member called him up on the telephone one morning, saying, "I phoned you Saturday, but I couldn’t get you." The preacher explained that it was his day off.
"What? A day off? The devil never takes a day off!" exclaimed the member with holier-than-thou indignation.
"That’s right, " said the minister, "and if I didn’t take any ’time out,’ I would be just like the Devil!"
We all need times in our week when we slow down and become still and quiet because it is vital for our soul. So important is this principle, that God made the command for a day of rest, a Sabbath, part of the Ten Commandments.
We have lost that sense of how important it is for us to observe a Sabbath – a regular time of rest. When I was growing up, stores were closed on Sundays. Now, the only business I know of that is closed on Sunday is Chick-Fil-A.
We are busy 24-7, but God’s will is for us to occasionally stop. Be still. And rest.
I have decided to take up a new hobby. My wife says I already have more hobbies than anyone she knows, but I feel drawn to add another one to the list.
Archery.
I don’t know why, but I feel drawn to take a bow and arrow and start shooting stuff.
Now, I don’t know much about archery. So I’ve started reading up about it.
The first thing I learned is that bows are much more expensive than I thought. I guess I was thinking $25 or $50. Well, apparently the going price is $300, $500, $800.
Well with that kind of money, I decided the second thing I should learn – before I go out and buy one of these bows – I needed to learn how to take care of it.
One thing I have learned is that on these simple, straight-limb bows, you don’t want to store the bow with the string attached. The reason is that over time it takes away the strength of the bow.
In order to keep the bow strong and to maintain the bow’s rebounding quality, you have to remove the string and relax the bow.
And that is the way it is with us. If we are always strung up, if we are always busy, if we are always at work – then we lose our strength, we lose our spirits, we lose ourselves.
God commanded us to take a regular Sabbath, a day or rest, a time of quiet and stillness. We need to obey him.
Secondly, being still and silent from time to time is good for our relationship with others.
Most of us feel like we have to be saying something all of the time. We have to be doing things, saying things when we are around others. Few of us would feel comfortable just being with someone, without feeling the pressure to open our mouths and speak.
This is especially true when we are in the presence of someone who needs comfort. All we really need to do is to be quiet and be present – but we feel obligated to speak, and what we say is often empty and meaningless – and worse, sometimes painful.
A woman at a graveside buries her child, and someone comes up with the painful cliche, "Don’t worry, you can have other children."
A wife receives the news of her husband’s death, and someone says the nonsense of "God needed him more than you."
A man is sick with cancer, and someone comes to him and tries to comfort with words -- "Have faith," they might say, but you feel empty inside. Or they may say, "Cheer up," when you feel more depressed by the minute.
Words like that don’t comfort. Most of those words are not even true. They often add to the pain.
In the Bible, Job knew what that was like. He was suffering the loss of his children who had died a sudden death, the loss of his property, and the loss of his own health.
And much to his delight, friends come to visit him.
And much to his dismay, these friends start talking and they won’t be quiet.
At one point, Job in frustration says (Job 13:5), "If only you would be silent! For you, that would be wisdom."
And later, he cries out to his friends, (Job 19:2), "How long will you torment me with words?"
Sometimes the best way we can comfort someone is to be still and quiet, and just be with our friends. No words, just a hand to hold, a shoulder to lean on.
The Apostle James says in his book, (James 1:19), "My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen and slow to speak."
Finally, Being Still and Quiet is Good for our relationship with God.
We will rarely find God in the hectic moments in our lives, but we will often find Him in the quiet moments.
Elijah, in the Bible, had an interesting experience in the Old Testament book of I Kings (19:11-12).
The Lord told this prophet, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by."
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, a "still, small voice." God.
Mother Teresa has observed, "God rarely is found in the midst of noise and restlessness; instead, He is the friend of silence."
How many of you were at the worship service on Wednesday night here at Good Shepherd?
It was loud and exciting and energetic.
God, however, is so big that he does not fit one and only one style of worship. And this week’s Wednesday evening service is going to be very different.
In fact, every Wednesday during this series of services each worship will be a completely different experience.
This week it will a Taize service. It was developed in the second half of the 20th Century in the community of Taize in France.
The style of Taizé worship is different from what many congregations usually experience. It is reflective and meditative in spirit. Music is its mainstay.
Such worship is intended to have a slow and leisurely pace. Lighting is subdued. The music of Taizé, which is now known and published throughout the world, tends to be quiet, repetitive, reflective, and accompanied with a variety of instruments. Times of silence are included in the worship for periods of reflection and meditation.
It can be difficult for worshipers from the western world to enter into this kind of worship. We are accustomed to noise, activity, talking, and a rather fast pace. To enter into this worship requires us to leave our hurry behind,
slow down,
calm our spirits,
be silent,
and enjoy a leisurely time with God.
It reflects the kind of attitude many of us need in our busy lives.
The Psalmist in the Bible tells us (Ps 37:7), "Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him."
And elsewhere, the Psalmist tells us, (Ps 46:10), "Be still, and know that I am God."
But we are too much like Martha.
For we live in a Martha World.
Like the woman of the New Testament Lesson, we are easily distracted and upset by all the demands of the busy world.
When what God would have us to do is to just be still, and be quiet in his presence.
Copyright 2006, The Rev. Dr. Maynard Pittendreigh
All rights reserved.
Sermons are available online and can be found by visiting www.Pittendreigh.com
