This past week was Day Camp at Shepherd of Life. We had 4 staff members from Lutherhill ministries with the help of 8 youth helpers that lead 19 kids in bible study, games, songs, arts and crafts and worship. As you can guess it was anything but quiet. Normally it’s just the classes here at Little Shepherd and they are a fairly quiet bunch. Instead, this week the church was full of lots of laughter, singing, music and the occasional screaming and yelling (it was all in excitement though it was still loud). It’s the best welcome gift that I could give to Kim, our new preschool director, as she started this week. Even though it was loud some great things happened. The main thing was that each kid was reminded that they are a child of God who is never alone, beloved by God, gifted, called into community and are called to give love to the world. Those reminders are worth every bit of the noise that happened last week.
This morning we encounter the prophet Elijah in a cave. He is running from Queen Jezebel because of what he did to the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. Elijah is running for his life. He’s been sustained by God but at this point he’s without direction. He doesn’t know what to do so he hides in a cave. It’s there that the word of the Lord comes to him and asks “What are you doing here Elijah?” I imagine Elijah almost yelling his answer at God. “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” Elijah is afraid and rightly so. His following of God’s call has brought him into conflict with the most powerful people in all of Israel at the time and they are hunting him. It’s into this that God is going to come and talk to Elijah directly.
After Elijah is instructed to go out and stand at the opening of the cave there is a lot of noise that happens. A great wind blows by that is so strong that it splits rocks into pieces. God isn’t in the wind. Following the wind a massive earthquake and God’s not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire but God’s not there either. Then…the sound of sheer silence. Other translations call it a still small voice, a whisper. That’s when Elijah goes out because the Lord has come. In silence. In a still small voice.
We want to find God in the big things. In the wind that breaks rocks, in the earthquake that shakes things up, in the fire. That’s where we look for God. It is worse when we are going through a time of fear, confusion or a time without direction. We want and pray for God to come and be involved in a big way. Shake things up God! Break down the things in the way to my goal! We can even be guilty of holding up our own goodness. God, you owe me one because I’ve been following your call and doing what you want.
Now it’s time for my old man moment. We live in and with a lot of noise. Everywhere you go there is noise. In retail stores, in restaurants, on the streets people walking with headphones, while we work, while we play, as we travel, everywhere! I’m guilty of it too! It’s easy to tell that we are a culture that doesn’t do well with silence. Some of the noise is beyond our control. There really isn’t anything that we can do about it. We also have a habit of adding to the noise when it really doesn’t need it. This week during meals and snacks, to help create a fun environment, the staff played music while we were in the fellowship hall. I had to tell them a couple different times to turn it down because loud music over kids loudly talking to each other…it was just too much. The music had the potential to discourage or drown out the talking that the kids might do with each other. We strive to drown out and avoid silence at all costs because we’re afraid of what it might bring.
What it might bring is space to allow those doubts to creep in. Maybe I’m not good enough. What if I’m not going the right direction? Maybe I’m not raising my kids right. What if I slip backwards into that addiction? Am I really lovable? That’s what we’re afraid of. In the silence what we fear the most can make itself known. To avoid that we take matters into our own hands and erect walls of sound and noise so that they can’t get a word in. All the while, praying for God to do something huge that we probably wouldn’t even catch because of all the noise.
I’ve gotten better with silence. I’ve let it work more of its way into my sermons. Lauren, my wife has worked with me a lot. I used to just talk and talk and talk without letting others get a word in. Okay, I sometimes still do. Here’s what I’ve learned: silence and space allows others to let their voices to be heard. What’s amazing about God coming in the still small voice or even in sheer silence is that when all of the noise is gone, all we are left with is silence. Underneath it all is silence. Which means underneath, throughout, and in it all God is present and God is speaking. As we listen and leave space for silence we begin to notice the voice of God. We begin hearing God. What is God saying?
I’m going to teach you something that we learned at Day Camp this week. The staff uses a call and response phrase that is different each year to get everyone’s attention at once. I thought this year’s was especially awesome. Whenever they needed to get the whole group’s attention they would shout “Child of God!” and everyone would reply with “That’s me!” Let’s try it. What is the voice of God saying underneath all the noise? What is God saying to us in the whisper or even in the silence? Child of God. Child of God. Child of God. It’s a promise and a reminder. A reminder that even in the silence, though we may hear other voices, God’s voice is the last voice that remains there calling us. Reminding us who has called and claimed us. Reminding us that God is bigger than those doubts that might creep in. Reminding us that our identity is set forever and cannot be taken away. Child of God! That’s you. That’s you. That’s you.
While that promise and that reminder are comforting it also brings some challenges with it. After Elijah explained again to God what he was doing at Horeb God gives him some new direction…and it isn’t easy. He’s to go and anoint a couple new kings and he is also told to find his successor Elisha. He’s to go back the way he came, back into the noise and fear to do what God has asked him. As a child of God we are called to listen and point out the places that God is speaking. We are called to help make room for the still small voice and the silence, to call attention to it. As a child of God we are called to go into the noise, confusion and fear to bring a reminder to everyone. To be a reminder of the voice of God speaking in the silence. What should we say? Let’s echo what we hear from the voice of God. Child of God. Amen.
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