The Sound of Sheer Silence

Transcripts are computer-generated and may not be 100% accurate.

Debbie: Hey, welcome everyone. I'm Debbie Manning, one of the pastors here on staff, and it's so good to be together on this nice, warm morning. I was chatting with a few people who walked outside and said stuff they had left overnight to dry was still soaking wet. The dew point is high, but it's nice and cozy in here, not too hot, so it's just good to be here together. would like to invite Marta Smith up.

One of the things that I love about this community is that we do life together. We do the hard, we celebrate the joys, and guess what? Today we get to celebrate. We are celebrating this holy marking moment in the life of this church, but also in Marta's life as well. And Marta, most of you know Marta. If you're newer to the community, let me tell you a little bit about her. She brings joy into every space that she enters, but Marta is someone who is authentic, faithful, loving, and she has been deeply involved in the life of this community. She's served on our board. She's taught our kids. She's been part of our worship. She preaches, and when she preaches, she preaches good.

So it's with that. A few months ago, we invited Marta to be part of our part-time staff, leading our kids, but as things have unfolded and we have been so appreciative of your gifts and talents, her seminary training, she has stepped into the call to be a pastor on our staff. So please. (Audience Applauding)

We are a community that believes the gospel is for everybody and that every person is created in the image of God and that our mission is space for all to belong and all to be loved. And so Marta, we welcome you not just into this role, but into the calling of helping us create this space. We all know that they're loved, that they belong. We invite you to lead from a place of humility, not perfection, a humility that comes from walking with Jesus. We ask you to continue to teach us and challenge us and stir it up a bit, because you do that really, really well, and to listen to us, be our shepherd, be our companion, as we journey together in faith and in hope and in love.

And for all of us here, let us be cheering Marta on, let us support her and pray for her as co-creators of this community, a community that hopes to bring the King of God here to earth. And so Marta, may the God who has called you in this moment to this ministry of love and service, may that God continue to bless you with the conviction and the grace to do these things for the sake of Jesus and for the sake of this community. May this be a new season for all of us that's marked by bold faith, deep compassion, and the unmistakable presence of God in our lives. And all God's people said, amen. (Audience Applauding) (Audience Cheering)

Her husband's in there if you don't know, but he's our, oh, he's right here, he's actually in service today! Because usually Bradley's over there, like making all our great coffee. But yeah, both Bradley and Marta have brought so much to the life of this community, and we are so grateful.

So, as you all know, I think we're about in the fourth week maybe of our series that we are calling, Experiencing God in the Wilderness, and each week we've been having someone come up and share a bit of their own story, their own season of wilderness, of heart, of difficulty, of uncertainty, whatever that looks like, and how they've experienced God in that. And today we have just the lovely, beautiful privilege of having Brad Herman come up. Brad, I'm gonna invite you up to share your story before Maggie speaks. And I just wanna say, Brad and Anne have been with us from the beginning, took a break as he led a recovery church. But I just wanna say up front, how grateful I've been for you, Brad, for your humility, your faithfulness. And when we walked through a difficult season with Matt, our old co-lead who was dealing with a lot of different issues, it was Brad that coached me and helped me in leading of that as well. So could you please welcome Brad Herman? (Audience Applauding)

Brad Herman: I consider myself the warmup band for our featured speaker Maggie Keller. I'm that guy, but it's great to be here and love this church. And it's a joy to share a bit of my story as a recovering alcoholic. I wanted to start by bringing us up to speed just quickly about where we've been. For those of you who are new to the table, by quoting some of the parts from the previous sermons about wilderness experience and our faith in God.

And the first one's from Cody, who's on vacation. But this is what he said: Wilderness experience is a landscape of precarity and possibility of risk and revelation. The wilderness, which is sometimes translated in your Bible as desert, is a place where a person might very well die of hunger or starvation or isolation. And the wilderness is also a place where a person may encounter God, and that's true.

Debbie said, "The wilderness reminds us "that God is present even in the most challenging "of circumstances, and the big both and is "that it's a place of both hardship and opportunity. "It's a place where often, "where often we are tested, we're transformed, "and ultimately brought into a closer relationship with God." Isn't that hopeful? And it's true. And I wanted to talk, there's, Anne and I, my wife have been studying with a rabbi, and we were in a Bible study with him, and he said, "Well, desert or wilderness means "speak or word. "It's where God speaks to people." And I thought, so it is, it could be a geographical place where it could be an experience.

Like when I was a boy, I had to turn off one light to get to my bedroom in the basement. And so there was that time where I turned off the light, and then it was find your way to the bedroom without running into a door or something, and probably could have gone into the bedroom and turned on the light first, but I do things the hard way. But anyways, you know that feeling where the lights go off and it's so dark, and your eyes haven't adjusted yet, and there's that, all these other senses come to life. You know, the air, the room, you're listening and all that. I think that's what wilderness experiences can be like. For those of you young people, you may be headed toward a wilderness experience and starting maybe at a new school, or maybe you've moved, or you're just in that place where all of a sudden you're aware you're alone, but in that loneliness, you hear the voice of God. Maybe it's in your heart or in your mind, or you remember something you've heard here at the table that reminds you that you're not alone, God is with you.

For me, the experience, probably I've had lots of those, but it's as a recovering alcoholic, that point where you go from active alcoholism to new sobriety. That's a wilderness experience. For me, I was 44 years old when I finally threw an unopened liter of vodka in the dumpster and walked away for good. And I had been a pastor, I was married, I had four kids, but my alcoholism, as that increased, my ability to be a husband and a father and a son and all that was diminished. And in early recovery, what happens is, person gets sober, but the consequences of drinking follow you into recovery. For me, it was jail time, fines, lawyer fees, I didn't have a license to drive, that was taken away from me, so rode the bike, the bus.

And I was the pastor who had been a part of creating programs to help people like I had become. And to be on that side of things, to be honest, I didn't like it very much. I like being on the I can give and help part to receive and to learn of the grace of God and to begin a relationship with God based on not anything I could bring to the table, but to learn again what it means to live by grace through faith, lest none of us boast or brag about our credentials or whatever it is.

And that journey for me often happened when I was, like I took the Greyhound bus up to see my four kids, and fortunately my daughter at the time had a license, so we agreed to meet at a restaurant, lighted, take the bus up, and then walk a couple miles to the restaurant to meet my kids. Now that, and I remember being on the bus, and I'm looking at the people on the bus, and I'm judging, and it's not in a good way. And all of a sudden, this is how God speaks to me, Brad, you're on the bus. (Audience Laughing) And it's so true, I'm on the bus.

And so for me, the goal in negotiating the wilderness is to let go of all that stuff that created me to that point and to begin to open myself up again to what the Spirit is telling me, what God is telling me in the wilderness, and being open to that message. I said when I was in seminary in a pastor, I did all my ministry as a right hander with my dominant hand. As a man in recovery, I now do spirituality with my non-dominant hand. It's awkward, I need to ask for help. It's not natural for me, but it's the best thing for me.

I wanna invite you just as a way to close, Joan Chittister wrote a beautiful book called Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope. And it's a beautifully written book about Jacob's experience on Mount Peniel wrestling with God or the angel. But what she does with that book is she talks about how everybody faces struggle, all of us do. And so it's not the struggle that's the problem, it's how we work through it. And she identified nine aspects of struggle that if we go through them in faith and well, there's nine gifts that accompany each of the struggles or one gift for each struggle. So with that, I just wanna end on that positive note of hope and thanks for letting me share a bit of my story. (Audience Applauding)

Maggie: Thank you, Brad. Thanks for your honesty, your vulnerability, and bringing us into that story with you. We appreciate, yeah, the opportunity to hear from you. Good morning, everyone. My name's Maggie Keller. I do all things communication and community life here at the table, and I'm just so glad to be together with all of you. We are, in this series, experiencing God in the wilderness. And wilderness is such a rich image. Last week, Debbie started her sermon by saying that wilderness can be literal and metaphorical. And I was sitting in the second row going, I have to change the start of my sermon next week, because I was gonna start the same way.

So we have talked about wilderness as the land in between. You've left what once was. You're heading to something new, but maybe you're not quite there yet. Maybe you were laid off at work, and you're looking for what's next. You're in the wilderness. The wilderness can also be the place that you run to when you're supposed to be somewhere else. And that's what we're gonna talk about today.

So today's passage is from the Old Testament. It's telling the story of the prophet Elijah. Am I, is there feedback? Okay, just keep going. Okay, I'm gonna keep going. Elijah is experiencing a mental health crisis. He is burned out at work, and he is expressing a desire to die. We are going to be in first kings today. First kings and second kings tell the story of-- Not queens. Not queens. My husband is heckling me today. It tells the story of the kings of the kingdom of Israel. And unfortunately, these kings were not very good. They were power hungry, they were corrupt, they were enslavers, and they worshiped idols.

And so who is going to hold these kings accountable? Well, that is the other purpose of the book of kings. It introduces us to the role of the prophet. And the prophet is not some like mystical fortune teller. No, they represented the voice of God, and they spoke truth to power. They called out the injustice and the corruption that they saw in the kings of Israel. They remind Israel of their call to be a light to the nations and to call God's people back to God's self. So one of the main prophets that God has called to this work is the prophet Elijah. And the place that God calls Elijah is the northern kingdom of Israel. The king and queen there are Ahab and Jezebel. Think we have a photo, we have a picture of Ahab and Jezebel. And you may have heard Jezebel in the past. Jezebel is like a woman who's not very good, okay? And Jezebel in this case instituted the worship of the false idol Baal.

And right before the story that we are going to read today, there is a showdown between the false God Baal and the God of Israel. So in the northern kingdom of Israel, Baal has 450 prophets. And for the God of Israel, just the one, just Elijah. Imagine being the only person saying, return to the God of Israel, stop worshiping false idols. [paper blows away] Don't worry about it, I don't need it, it's okay. Imagine how lonely it would feel to be the only one saying, come back, come back. I'm already tired. So Elijah calls for a showdown. He says to everyone, okay, enough of this nonsense. Only one of our gods is real. I'm going to prove it to you.

So they all go up to the top of Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal on one side and Elijah on the other, and they build altars. Anybody know what an altar is? Give it to me, kids. Yeah, you burn a sacrifice on it. Yeah, it's like a structure made out of stone and wood. So they each build their altars. And then before sacrificing the animal, usually using fire, Elijah says, wait, don't light it on fire. We're gonna pray to our gods to send down fire from heaven. And whoever's God shows up and sends fire, that's the real God. So the prophets of Baal are praying, praying, praying, hours and hours. And Elijah's standing over to the side, just kind of mocking them. He's like, you know, maybe Baal's asleep. You should yell louder and wake him up. So hours go by and they can't do it. The animal sacrifice remains on the altar untouched. And Elijah's turn is up and he prays. And God sends fire from heaven that consumes the animal, consumes the altar, and all of the water that Elijah had poured all over the altar. All of it is consumed. And Elijah says, told you so. And it's a grisly end for these 450 prophets of Baal.

But then something really unfortunate happens. King Ahab tells Queen Jezebel what just happened on Mount Carmel. And that's where we're gonna pick up our story today. Okay, so we're gonna read the passage now, but this is where I need to call on the leadership of our kids. Kids, are you ready? Are you up for the challenge? Okay, see, I need some help with some sound effects and I don't think the adults are gonna get really into it. So I need you to lead all of us. Can you do that? Yeah. All right. So towards the end of this passage I'm about to read, there are three natural phenomena. I need you to supply the sound effects of a great wind, an earthquake, and fire. So think about the sounds that those produce. If you're stuck on fire, think about a bonfire and the way that the logs kind of sizzle and pop, okay? When I get to that part of the story, I need you to do the sound effects too. Adults, you can join in, okay? All right, this is from 1 Kings chapter 19, verses 1 to 13.

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. And Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, so may the gods do to me and more also. If I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow. And then Elijah was afraid. He got up, he fled for his life and came to bear Sheba, which belongs to Judah, and he left his servant there. But he himself 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, oh Lord, take away my life for I am no better than my ancestors. And then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, get up and eat. And 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 and touched him and said, get up and eat or the journey will be too much for you. So he got up and he ate and he drank. The men he went in the strength of that food 40 days and 40 nights to Horeb, the Mount of God. At that place he came to a cave and he spent the night there. And then the word of the Lord came to him saying, what are you doing here, Elijah? And he answered, I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. The Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left. They are seeking my life to take it away. [All right, you ready with the sound effects? Okay. ] The word of the Lord 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 the mountains, breaking rocks and 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.

All right, thank you everyone. Great sound effects. That was lovely. Very helpful. Appreciate you.

Elijah is a prophet on the run. He has won a massive victory for the God of Israel over Baal. He's like a national champion. He's like the MVP, okay? This is a career high for him. But he's gotten a death threat from those who are in power. He's afraid. He's full of despair. He's got a target on his back and he's running. Elijah is weary in body and in spirit. And when he collapses under a broom tree, which looks like this, he says, "I cannot go on. Come and take me." In that literal wilderness, the angel of the Lord comes to him and it tends to his bodily needs. Eat and drink and rest, Elijah. When you are feeling like your back is against the wall, care looks like the provision of your daily needs. Food, water, a place to sleep and safety.

So Elijah does eat and sleep and the food does strengthen him and he journeys on this great distance further. The text says 40 days and 40 nights. He goes to Mount Horeb, which you might know Mount Horeb by its other name, Mount Sinai. And it's a distance of something like 100 miles. It's like Elijah ran from right here to like Albert Lea. It's far, yeah, Lil, it's far.

The place that I want to camp out today is the way that the divine appears to Elijah when he's on Mount Horeb. Remember, Elijah is there because his faith and his courage have made him an enemy of the state. It's not the place God called him to. It's the place he's run away to.

And what is fascinating to me is that Elijah already knows God in the fire. God appeared through fire on Mount Carmel. It just happened. But here on Mount Horeb, God does not appear in the fire or in any of the other natural phenomena. It is the sound of sheer silence that we are meant to understand that the divine's presence shows up. That is a Hebrew phrase called qol d’mamah daqqah. And it's been translated into English a bunch of different ways. You might know it as “the still small voice,” or “a gentle and quiet whisper,” or this one: “a sound, thin, quiet.” I find it deeply comforting, like on a soul level, that the divine is present in silence.

I used to believe that God spoke in a still, small voice. And I used to believe that it was up to me to strain my ear to hear it. I thought that if I couldn't hear anything from God that it was my fault. I actually just told this story a couple of weeks ago and knew it at the table, but I can remember being 21 years old and sitting in my childhood bedroom. And I was straining to hear the voice of God because I wanted confirmation that I was meant to take a job and move to Abuja, Nigeria, very far away. And it's funny because I'd received this job offer and I decided in like 30 seconds that I was gonna take it. I always wanted a big adventure. I wanted to move overseas. This is what I wanted. But I didn't want to go until I felt like God had confirmed it, that God really wanted me to do this. So I locked myself in my bedroom all day. I was fasting, I was praying, I was just sitting in silence and listening. I was reading the Bible. I was waiting for kaldimah madhika. I was waiting for that still, small voice, that quiet, gentle whisper. And it never came.

At the end of the day, I came out of my bedroom. I took the job. I moved to Nigeria. And I never really knew if God was actually calling me to do this. But when I read about Elijah's encounter with the divine on Mount Horeb, I wonder maybe God was there with me, all of those hours that I tried to listen and prayed. Maybe God was present in the sound of silence. And maybe that's a comfort to you today too. Maybe if you're straining to hear from God and all you're getting is silence, God can be present there too.

So however you translate this Hebrew phrase, the theologian Walter Brueggemann says that this phrase is kind of beyond us. And what's most important is that we keep it in its context because it is the prelude to a demanding confrontation. And that demanding confrontation is what happens right after the silence. Do you remember? Elijah wraps his face in the mantle and God says, "What are you doing here, Elijah?

"What are you doing here?" The here, Mount Horeb, Mount Sinai, that's a holy site because Mount Sinai is where Moses received the law. But womanist theologian Will Gafney says that there is nothing about Elijah's encounter with God that is dependent on an indigenous geographical feature of the landscape. This isn't a burning bush. God doesn't appear to Elijah through the mountain itself. And Gaffney wonders, “perhaps Elijah could have encountered this God in silence at any point along his hundred mile journey and maybe even without taking a single step.”

So maybe the implied ending of God's question to Elijah is what are you doing here, Elijah? I could have met you anywhere, Elijah. Why did you run away, Elijah? I am with you always. In our benediction, which you will hear at the close of today's service, and actually every service at the table, you'll hear the line, "No matter where you've gone "or where you've stayed." And I hear that line differently after hearing the story of Elijah. "No matter where you've run away to, "no matter the wrong places you haven't run away from, "the divine was present with you all along." As Cody reminded us just a couple of weeks ago, "God sees, God hears, and even if we can't hear anything, "even if all you hear is the sound of sheer silence, "God is with you in the wilderness."

I'd like to close with just one more story, and it's one that's not, doesn't have a clear beginning, middle, and. Okay, that's not fair, it has a middle. I'm in the middle right now. About seven years ago, I thought I had a really clear vision for my future career. I was transitioning out of nonprofit communications, transitioning into public speaking, and I lost both of my jobs within just a couple weeks of each other, and I was thrust into this wilderness, and I remember saying, "God, where are you? "What am I doing? "What is next?" So I spent a few years at home with my kids, who were still very little at the time. I did not know what I wanted to be when I grew up.

I would characterize those years as silent years. I was not hearing from God. I wasn't feeling a sense of being directed or led, but as is so true of so many of our stories, I can look back on those years, and I can see the spirit at work. Do you have this experience as well? With hindsight, you look back, and even though they were silent years, you see how the spirit was moving. I joined the table team to do communications. That job's grown, I've grown, and all along the way, I said yes to invitations, and I took the next right step. And all of those steps have led me to starting seminary, and I can admit to you right now, with my full chest, that I have never heard an audible voice of God calling me to ministry. The idea of confessing that to you used to bring me great shame. But it doesn't anymore, because I know that God can be present even in the sound of sheer silence. The spirit is still moving.

Will you pray with me? God in silence, you are always with us. Help us to sense the nearness of your spirit, even when we feel like all we can hear is silence. Help us recognize the ways that you are close to us and accompanying us on our wilderness journeys. We pray it all in your name, amen.