Last week, I had the pleasure of going with a group of folks from Trinity Church to Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, NY, for two and a half days of prayer and renewal. On the second day, our Trinity group gathered for Bible study to discuss this passage:
1 Kings 19:4-16
[Elijah] went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.’ Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Get up and eat.’ He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, ‘Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.’ He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.
Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ He answered, ‘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.’
He said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.* When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ He answered, ‘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.’ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram.
*In other translations, this is “a still, small voice.”
I chose this text because of the important role that silence plays in the life of the community at Holy Cross. The monks (and their guests) observe the Great Silence each night from about 8 PM to 8 AM, when no talking is allowed at all. At noonday prayer, 10 minutes of silent prayer are included in the liturgy – something I struggled with mightily! The most striking experience for me, however, was singing the Psalms at each service.
As someone who prays the Daily Office every day, the Psalms are a significant part of my prayer life. If you look at the Prayer Book, or at the bulletin next Sunday, you’ll see an asterisk at the halfway point of each verse. In monastic communities, it’s a common practice to pause at the asterisk for around 3 to 5 seconds before continuing to the next part of the verse. Every time we paused at the asterisk, something anxious within me wanted to leap forward, to continue speaking, to fill the silence with words. But as we read in 1 Kings, God speaks to us in the silences, in the pauses, in the times in-between.
We live in a time of anxiety, when our culture surrounds us with noise 24/7. But beyond that, it’s hard to stay silent - to listen for the still, small voice - when stillness means being present to our own thoughts as well as to God. The temptation to flee towards distraction is always there. This summer, as we pause to remember, reflect, renew, and dream a future for Trinity Church, I pray that we will always be ready to hear God’s voice, speaking to us in the silences of our lives.
Yours faithfully in Christ,
The Rev. Canon Dr. Kara Slade
Associate Rector
PS We have another retreat scheduled for November 22-24 (the weekend before Thanksgiving). Mark your calendars and join us if you can!
