Quietness and Peace (Mid-week Message)

 Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel Ceiling, "Isaiah"

Quietness and Peace

Fr. Tony’s Midweek Message

April 29, 2020

“O God of peace, you have taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and peace shall be our strength: By the might of your Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.” (BCP, p. 832)

This beautiful collect draws images from first Isaiah’s oracles about war and a siege of Jerusalem.  The strong ramparts and stone walls of the city, once thought to be the bulwark of safety, crack and shatter like cheap pottery, where in fact salvation lies in the stillness of walled-in isolation lived in trust of God: 

“Inasmuch as you have spurned this word

And placed your trust in oppression and

perversion and leaned on it,

Therefore this crime shall become for you

Like a breach spreading down a high wall,

where all of a sudden the breaking point comes. 

And its breaking like the breaking of a potter’s jar,

relentlessly shattered,

And no shard will be found in its fragments

to carry fire from a hearth or scoop water from a puddle. 

For thus says the Master, the LORD, Israel’s Holy One:

In quiet and stillness you shall be rescued,

In calm and trust shall your valor be,

But you did not want it.” 
(Isaiah 30:13-15; Robert Alter translation)

For Isaiah, the isolation and hardships of living in a besieged city under rationing were occasions to learn trust in Yahweh and distance ourselves  from things that keep us from trusting God just as those observing the Mosaic Law distanced themselves from sources of ritual impurity such as menstruating women: 

“And the Master shall give you

         bread of straits and water of oppression. 

But your Teacher shall no longer be concealed,

         and your eyes shall see your Teacher,

and your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying:

         This is the way, go upon it,

                  Whether you turn to the right of the left.

You shall defile the overlay of your silver idols

         And the plating of your molten images of gold.

You shall scatter them [i.e., put them at a distance] like a woman in her uncleanness.” (Isaiah 30:20-22, Robert Alter translation). 

Current physical distancing rules and the isolation of quarantine due to Covid-19 are beginning to wear on most of us.  We know that we need to reconstitute our common life, including our economy and livelihoods, but cannot yet because our public health officials and medical scientists say that we are not ready to do so without causing a sudden rebound in the contagion.   Those of us most at risk from the virus—the elderly and those with underlying health problems—will probably have to maintain isolation and distancing even after restrictions begin to be eased.   This is beginning to feel like a long siege, and we are noticing the hardships more and more, especially those of us who do not enjoy privilege or financial stability.   So the principles in Isaiah’s oracles are important for us here and now. 

We should not think that safety and security are sure bets even with the best of our efforts:    just as those ramparts and walls could snap and shatter like pottery, we might get sick or transmit the illness to others despite our most scrupulous observance of the health and hygiene guidelines.    But that does not mean we should abandon our efforts prematurely and thus cause our walls to shatter. 

We should be willing to sacrifice our idols—even money, gold, and economic power—in order to safely get through the siege. 

We should realize that in this plague, just as in a siege, true confidence and steady bravery come from the rest and peace in our hearts and minds that come from trusting God. 

Such trust must find expression in our actions:  like distancing ourselves from thoughts and behaviors that put us at odds with God; or, quite literally, continuing to distance ourselves from others who might be sources or objects of contagion.

The collect concludes with a line that we would do well to remember in all times of trial and stress, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:11).  May we in this time of troubled isolation find the thin place where God’s presence is most evident, and, contemplating this, find peace and the bravery necessary to carry on. 

Grace and Peace.

Fr. Tony+