Fury and silence
Fr. Tony’s Midweek Message
May 20, 2015
This coming Sunday is Pentecost, the commemoration of the
coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Church ten days after Jesus’ Ascension. The story we read from Acts 2 is all about
fury, sound, and power: the rushing of
great winds, a rain of tongues of fire, and the multitude speaking in other
people’s languages. At both 8 and 10, we
will be having a windchime procession and chorus to accompany the reading, as
well as ribbon flags (mainly red and yellow) to wave from the pews whenever the
spirit is mentioned. We invite everyone
to wear red to help celebrate this birthday of the Church.
The Pentecost epistle reading from Romans 8 tells a
different story, where the spirit is present in our hearts to silently help us
pray when we can’t find the right words or even thoughts: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our
weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit
intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”
While the flashy noise of rushing winds
and jabbering foreign languages, all dolled up in red, makes a pretty picture
of the power of God, I think that for most of us, the spirit is present in the
silence of expression that cannot find words.
The contrast is shown in the story of Elijah (1 Kings 18-19).
On Mount Carmel, Elijah challenged the
priests of Baal to the great “Who hears our Prayers?” contest: Their noisy, self-flagilating prayers led to
mere silence. “Is your God
sleeping?” taunts Elijah, “or perhaps in
the loo?” Then his prayers are answered by a flash of lightning and fire from
heaven that consumes his sacrifice.
Flash, fury, and noise is the sign of the true God in this contest, and
Elijah’s God wins. But then Elijah must
flee for his life, and he hides in a cave in Mt. Horeb. “A strong and heavy wind was rending the
mountains and crushing the rocks, before the Lord, but the Lord was no longer
in the whirlwind. Then an earthquake,
but the Lord was no longer in the earthquake.
And then a fire, but God was not in the fire. Finally, there was a still breeze, and the
sound of sheer silence. And when Elijah
heard this, he hid his face in his cloak” because he knew God was there.
Listening to silence, contemplating
quietness, waiting for subtlety—these are the hallmarks of a life devoted to
pursuit of the spirit. The flash, fury,
and noise might on occasion happen, but usually God speaks to us in the silence
of our stumbling hearts, seeking coherent expression and understanding.
Grace and Peace, Fr.
Tony+
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