silence, saturday

Saturday, June 7

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

                       

Opening Prayer:

Uncrowd my heart, O God,

until silence speaks

in your still small voice;

turn me from the hearing of words,

and the making of words,

and the confusion of much speaking,

to listening,

waiting,

stillness,

silence.

                        ~Thomas Merton

Scripture Reading for the Day: Isaiah 30:15-18

Reading for Reflection:

 

     For most of our lives it seems—and particularly our spiritual lives—we live with a constant sense of pressure to have to make things happen.   It is a way of thinking and believing that is very subtle, and even seems noble and right at first glance, but one that is incredibly deceptive.  For, at its heart, this mode of operation says: "Everything is up to me.”  Which is really nothing more than what Parker Palmer calls “functional atheism.”  Functional atheism is the belief that ultimate responsibility for everything rests with us.  This way of thinking carries with it an enormous amount of pressure, insecurity, and anxiety.

     Isaiah is trying to open our ears to a new voice, one that says, “I cannot make anything of true value happen; that is all up to God.  He is the One in charge of salvation and growth and transformation, not me.  He is the One that causes the heart to change; that causes the seed to grow.”  Therefore, a shift must take place deep within us; a shift from trusting in ourselves to trusting in our God.  A shift from the pressure of doing to the freedom of being. 

     That appears to be what is going on in Isaiah 30.  Israel is under attack, their world filled with fear and chaos.  But instead of turning to God—the One who knows them best and loves them most, the One who longs to save them—they panic, take matters into their own hands, and run off in another direction altogether; trying to insure and/or secure their own salvation.  In fact, they turn to Egypt and beg Pharaoh (of all people) to come to their rescue.  Because when their backs are against the wall their true beliefs come out.  Instead of turning to God they turn to their own schemes, plans, and devices. 

     So God intervenes.  He comes to them and reminds them of what life with him is really all about.  “Your salvation will be found in returning and rest.  Don't try to take matters into your own hands, don't carry out plans that are not mine (Isaiah 30:1).  Turn back to me: once, twice, and always again.  For when you turn (and return) to me you will find rest.  I am the Sovereign Lord, the only one that can truly save you, the only one worthy of your trust.  Come to me.  Find rest in me.  Trust quietly in me.  For I am in control.”

     So, indeed, a shift is required—in them and in us.  A shift from trying to make things happen, to turning (and returning) constantly to God and trusting Him to work and to act.  A shift that helps us to understand that the most significant elements of living life with God are not in doing this and doing that, but in returning and rest, quietness and trust.  Those are the materials we are to build our spiritual lives out of.  So, as the old saying goes, “Don't just do something, stand there.”

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself (insert Mission info here)

                                        

Closing Prayer:

 

Put out my eyes, and I can see you still,
Slam my ears to, and I can hear you yet;
And without any feet can go to you;
And tongueless, I can conjure you at will.
Break off my arms, I shall take hold of you
And grasp you with my heart as with a hand;
Arrest my heart, my brain will beat as true;
And if you set this brain of mine afire,
Then on my blood-stream I yet will carry you.
 

                                                    ~Rainer Maria Rilke