Sermon 8/9/2020 “Utter Silence”

Sermon 8/9/2020 “Utter Silence”

Preacher: Jo J. Belser
Location: Church of the Resurrection at VTS in Alexandria, VA
Text: 1 Kings 19:9-18
Day: 10Pentecost, Proper 14, Year A, during a pandemic

In our Hebrew scripture today, the great prophet Elijah had given up on life. He was in a cave on the same mountain where God had given the Ten Commandments to Moses some 400 or 500 years earlier. Elijah had run there—some 280 miles—in the proverbial 40 days, with a stop in the desert where he tried to curl up and die.

God had saved Elijah, though, had given him rest for his weariness and food for his hunger along the way. Elijah had been fleeing for his life, in great fear because King Ahab’s pagan wife Jezebel had told him she would kill him. Do you know how evil Jezebel was? This queen was so evil NO one names their daughter Jezebel, even today.

Why did Queen Jezebel want to kill God’s prophet? Elijah had challenged Jezebel’s 450 prophets of the pagan deity Baal to a grandiose show-down: Elijah had called Baal’s prophets to Mount Carmel and had challenged them to see whose deity would throw down fire from heaven to burn the sacrifices prepared for the god they worshiped.

Elijah had been so sure of HIS God’s power he had even poured water on the altar. Baal didn’t respond to the prayers of his prophets. However, the God of Israel sent a fire so hot it killed all 450 of Baal’s prophets and even melted the rocks of the altar. Whereupon an angry Jezebel had sent word to Elijah vowing to kill him.

What had Elijah done when he heard this news? Did he pray to God for protection and guidance? Apparently not. Did Elijah stand fast in faith despite Jezebel’s vow? Apparently not. Instead, Elijah ran for his life. Until he had gotten depressed in the wilderness and had tried to give up on life.

Our lesson today makes clear Elijah was feeling sorry for himself. He thought he was the only one left on Earth who worshiped the one true God. And what had been his reward for winning the prophetic cook-off? A death threat.

Metaphorically speaking, Elijah was reversing the trip of the great Exodus. He had left the Promised Land, afraid and spewing his complaint against God.

Make no mistake. Despite these events Elijah was a great prophet, one of the best, ever. But here we see he was human, which is to say not perfect. And, in his running from the danger posed by Queen Jezebel, God sustained Elijah with sleep, food, and instruction. And so here Elijah was, in the very place where God had shown his face to Moses.

You heard the lesson—God offered Elijah a rare thing: He would encounter God on that mountain, not in the spectacular events that were to occur there, but in utter silence.

I don’t know if you’ve ever heard utter silence. Neuroscience discovered in 2017—by accident and as a great surprise—that two hours of total silence rejuvenates our brains, specifically the hippocampus, the area associated with memory and deep attention.

For Hindus, silence is peace of mind, inner quietude. Other philosophies and philosophers have told us what they have learned about silence.

• “Silence is the mother of truth,” said Benjamin Disraeli.
• “Silence is the medication for sorrow,” says an Arab proverb.
• “Silence is the sum of all wisdom,” insists an unknown writer.

The last two sayings about silence I want to share also come from unknown sources:

• The first is, “When all noise is gone, there is only God.”
• And here’s my favorite, “Make time for silent moments, as God whispers and the world is loud.”

As we at Church of the Resurrection have discovered since we began worshiping outside last month, silence is hard to come by. Our ambient noise level includes a power plant, cicadas clicking, birds chirping, ambulances, planes, and even helicopters.

God was telling Elijah he couldn’t be found where Elijah had expected him to be, in the grandiose things like wind and earthquakes and fire. That’s not how God works. God works by the “still small voices,” by touching people’s hearts and touching people’s lives.

God asked Elijah twice what he was doing there on that mountain. Elijah answered the same peeved way both times, complaining to God. Elijah, it seemed, hadn’t learned much by his encounter with the God of silence. So, God gave Elijah instructions. He was to anoint two kings to replace the ones who were allowing Baal worship AND to anoint a replacement prophet for himself.

And—we mustn’t overlook THIS ugly tidbit. God, it seemed, had authorized a bloodbath against those who worshiped Baal. God told Elijah he wasn’t alone, that he wasn’t the only God-worshiper left, as he had feared because there were 7,000 people in the kingdom who hadn’t bowed to Baal. God said the two new kings to be anointed were each going to slaughter a lot of the other king’s people, all of whom worshiped Baal. In my opinion, God knowing something is going to happen is not the same as God commissioning that which was to happen. But God clearly allowed it to happen.

As for Elijah, God allowed him to “retire” from being a prophet. Scripture says he was “taken up” into the sky by a “chariot of fire,” whatever THAT means.

I take comfort from God’s faithfulness to his prophet Elijah. Elijah did what God had told him to do. And, like Abraham before him, God must have counted Elijah’s faithfulness as righteousness.

I am also reassured that neither Elijah’s fear and fleeing Queen Jezebel’s threat without consulting God, nor his despondency with life, anger at God, his weariness, and not even his resistance to giving up his quarrel with God kept God from rejecting Elijah. This means there’s hope for us, for me.

So, where do YOU go to find God? And how do you get silent enough to hear God? Our lesson today is, “Don’t look for God in dramatic weather or other disasters. Look for God in the utter silence.”