The Sound of Sheer Silence

The Sound of Sheer Silence
1 Kings 19: 1-15/ Galatians 3: 23-29/ Luke 8:26-29
4th Sunday of Pentecost/ Year C/ June 23, 2010
Simon and Garfunkel The Sound Of Silence Lyrics
P. Simon, 1964
Hello darkness, my old friend
I’ve come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence
In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
‘Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turn my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never shared
No one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
“Fools,” said I, “you do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you”
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said “The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sound of silence
________________________________________
I first heard this song when I was fifteen. The words and music are haunting and filled with truth that still speaks today nearly 45 yrs. Later.
There is not much truth being told in this world. There never was. We have settled for half truths, lies and fabrications as our reality. We are bombarded day in and day out with sound bites urging us to buy this product or that product, it will make us beautiful, happy, fulfill our fantasies, give us status. We hear statements lifted from their context and twisted by the media and others who would have us believe as they do or disguise the truth with innuendo, lies and disinformation. We have become so immersed in the trappings of our western culture, whether it be the flash and bang of Hollywood, the bluster of cable political commentary, or the hateful rhetoric of television and radio personalities who seek only to stir up anger and prejudice toward those who are working to correct the ills that affect our world, we can no longer hear the call of God to action. And so it is with our text from I Kings today. Elijah, the curmudgeonly prophet, has soundly defeated and destroyed the prophets of Baal. Jezebel, the queen of Israel, is so angry she has threatened Elijah with death. Believing her, he flees into the desert to escape her wrath. Tired, frightened and alone, he takes shelter under a tree. Three times an angel comes and wakens him, feeds him and urges him forward toward some dark horizon he cannot see. Elijah finally comes to Mt. Horeb, the mountain of God, and there in the darkness of a cave he is confronted with the typical sounds of God’s presence; earthquake, wind, and fire. Yet in each instance Elijah does not find the presence he seeks. God does not come to him in the expected ways, nor does God come in those moments that are created by us, those moments when we attempt to quiet our hearts and listen for God. Many times the barriers we build are the very things that keep us from hearing or seeing God’s presence even when it right in front of us.
What are those barriers? For Elijah and for many of us it may be a sense of inadequacy, the task seems too great for us to take on, we give up saying as Elijah did, “I am alone among all of Israel. I am the only one left who is faithful.” We feel separated from God, frustrated, and seemingly alone in our fight against the ways of the world. The presence of God is not always obvious. Our preconceptions of God’s truth and God’s ways of communicating with us get in our way, adding to the maze like madness of this world.
Where is God when we feel most needy? Elijah expected to find God in the earthquake, wind and fire. But God was not there. Instead God was in the sound of silence. As Simon and Garfunkle say in the song, we need to listen to those sounds of silence: the plight of the oppressed, the vacant faces of the homeless, the inarticulate cries of undernourished children, the deep cries of pain of those who are dying, the silent cries of those lost in the mazes of their own mind, the dark streets where lost souls, both children and adults seek connection in a world gone wrong. It is in these silent voices that God calls to us, calling us out of our self-centeredness and despair, to move forward with perseverance toward that vision of the world that God has set before us, as world where we live together as brother and sister, father and mother, family, all created in God’s image of divine self-giving love.
In the 2008 Will Smith movie, The Pursuit of Happyness, a child is trying to tell his distracted father an old story while his father is trying to figure out where the two of them are going to safely spend the night:
“A shipwrecked man prays to God to save him. A boat approaches, but the man tells it to go away because God will save him. The boat leaves. A second boat arrives, and the man sends it away, saying God will save me. He waits and finally dies from exposure. When he gets to heaven, he complains to God for not coming to save him when he prayed. God tells the man, “I sent two boats to save you, but you sent them away.” This story calls us to wake up, to open our eyes and our ears to the many vehicles God uses to communicate with us.
Yes, Elijah the cocksure prophet, who has just defeated and destroyed the prophets of priests of Baal, comes unhinged. In the face of Jezebel’s wrath he looses his nerve. He wants to opt out of the world altogether. He comes face to face with the cold hard facts of life; we find ourselves adrift in an indifferent, even hostile, universe, shouldered with the added burden of having to summon the strength to continue on life journey, in the face of imminent death. Elijah’s primary temptation is to think he has to go it alone, that it is all up to him.
When Elijah first responded to God’s calling he did not expect to have his life threatened or be protected by an angel. Few of us would expect that. We are a people who like to know what to expect. The problem is when we stop expecting God in the seemingly obvious places, God Exceeds our expectations and appears where we least expect to find God; in the darkness, in the narrow streets of cobblestone, the glare of the neon lights, in people taking with out speaking, People hearing without listening, People writing songs that voices never shared, No one dared Disturb the sound of silence. “The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls, And tenement halls, And whispered in the sound of silence.
Our illusions of the world, our reality do not often include the dynamic presence of God. We are encouraged by our world to put our trust in this political party or that political party, in this stock or that bond, in this weapon of military might or that weapon of military might, rather than the resources of divine grace which specializes in making the impossible possible. Our ears, minds, and hearts are dulled by the world and the things that it offers. The words and the presence of God are drowned out and we are filled with anxiety and fear, because we know deep inside that things are not right. “And the people bowed and prayed, To the neon god they made.”
As Elijah learns when God does finally speak, we are not alone. There are those whom God has called and continues to call to action and to service. In the midst of the sheer silence Elijah sees with new vision, is given renewed strength to continue the fight against the darkness that would drown the world. As the song says “Fools,” said I, “you do not know, Silence like a cancer grows, Hear my words that I might teach you Take my arms that I might reach you!” We all of us have a call, and that call is to discern what God is calling us to do. The sheer sound of silence is not another way of talking about seeking peace and getting centered in the midst of life’s pressures. It is to return to the world, “Elijah Why are you here? Return to Israel!” This passage assures us that we are not alone. That God is there in the midst of the pressures of life, giving us the strength and the courage to move beyond the now into the life giving future; moving us from the idols of this world that would enslave us, to the presence of the life giving God who created us for relationship.