Deafening Silence

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, these three, the ever-lasting Trinity. Before all began, in the years of our time, and reaching to infinity.  Amen.      ---James M. Fitzpartrick O.M.I.

21 secs of silence

In an article for the BBC, Tom Stafford wrote: A "deafening silence" is a striking absence of noise, so profound that it seems to have its own quality.  Objectively it is impossible for one silence to be any different from another. But the way we use the phrase hints at a psychological truth.  The secret to a deafening silence is the period of intense noise that comes immediately before it.  When this ends, the lack of sound appears quieter than silence. This sensation, as your mind tries to figure out what your ears are reposting, is what leads us to call a silence deafening.  What is happening here is a result of a process called adaptation. 

I am thinking about silence today for a number of reasons:

This is the last Sunday for a while that you will hear my words spoken for the sermon. For the next 12 weeks Synodical Bishops and Assistants will be providing the Word to be preached; across the country Lutherans will be united as one body as we hear a shared reflection of the Word. My voice –although preaching others’ words- will be silent. 

I am grateful for this gift, as an allowance for a few days off each week to account for vacation time, creative time, and for rejuvenation.  On the other hand, part of who I am is expressed through preaching, working out -aloud- theology and application of God’s word; this is my voice.  I find it difficult to trust that others will offer the words needed on any given Sunday for this context and community.  On Sundays, rather than attentively listening, I much prefer using my voice.

That is, until events of the world happen, as have happened over the past couple of weeks.

On racism, Black lives matter, protests, and government responses, I have lots to say and nothing to say. ... my sense is that the appropriate response -for the moment- is deafening silence.

For over 20 years, LARC, Lutheran Anglican Roman Catholic Interchurch Committee, -- a group of lay and clergy from churches in Southwestern ON—have met to organize events, retreats, and prepare shared resources with ecumenism as the focus; as scripture says: “that all may be one.” They share that one area of convergence is belief in the Trinity, with a common expression through the Creeds of the church across the centuries. The group acknowledges that “words are slippery things, changing meaning over time and space. The questions arise again in our time: What is this Trinity in which we believe? What difference does it make that God is Triune?

Part of celebrating Trinity Sunday is the continued wrestling with the who, where, what, why, and how of God; not that we will ever figure God out or be able to fully articulate our experience or experiences of God.  We catch only glimpses of the Trinity.  We work out our understanding of God based on the relationship between the ‘persons’ of the Trinity.

LARC writes: “We’re in much the same situation as Jesus was when he spoke about the Reign of God.  He told us it’s like a mustard seed; it’s like a pearl of great price; it’s like yeast in flour; it’s like a net catching fish.  Each of these word pictures or parables offers a glimpse.  But none explains or describes it fully.  As each of these word pictures, and others, proved inadequate, Jesus offered another.  And in the end, he showed us.  The Reign of God is experienced.”

Through the past few weeks, our responses, our feelings, our thoughts, our beliefs, our reflections, applications, interpretations, of “Black lives matter,” the right to protest, overt racism, systemic racism, are all rather complicated and confused. This is good! It means that we are wrestling with relationships. For those of us who are faithful Christians, wrestling with relationship also includes wrestling with our relationships in relation to God; and God with us. Where is God in this mess? What is God saying? What is God expecting of us? And are there – like on Pentecost in the giving of the Spirit- varying callings, based on context and relationship?

This week my Bible spoke volumes to me on silence  - the Trinity dancing in and around, through and between, amidst and beyond – human relationships and experiences. In silence, as I read blogs and posts from Lutheran clergy who do not identify as ‘white,’ hearing rather disturbing stories; there was a deafening silence. I was reminded – embarrassed in some ways- to acknowledge that I do not understand what racism feels like. I have no experiences that speak negatively to the colour of my skin. I can say I have felt left out, discriminated against for any number of reasons; but it is not the same.  I can only listen and say thank you for telling me your story. I read other blogs and posts this week that were embarrassing in a different way; people trying to articulate their thoughts to a point and in doing so just added fuel to a fire; breaking relationships, damaging others. And I had this prayer ---that all would just be silent.

This week my Bible spoke volumes – God’s relationship to deafening silence:

I was lead to ...

Hear the deafening silence as the Spirit hovered over the void, the waters, before the beginning.

Hear the deafening silence of the seventh day as God rested after a cacophony of creating.

Hear the deafening silence that followed an earthquake, a fire, wherein God whispers to a scared and hiding prophet Elijah.

Hear the deafening silence of the disciples after hearing God’s voice “This is my beloved Son, whom I have chosen.”

Hear the deafening silence that followed Jesus rebuking the wind; saying to the sea ‘Peace be still.’

Hear the deafening silence of the Saducees that followed Jesus arguing points of the Law and what resurrection is.

Hear the deafening silence that followed Pilate’s questions to Jesus to explain truth, to answer whether or not he is a King.

Hear the deafening silence that followed the mocking convict, “if you are the Son of God, save yourself and us.”

Hear the deafening silence that followed Jesus death.

Hear the deafening silence of a cold stone tomb.

Hear the deafening silence of 50 days, for God alone -waiting in silence; being still and knowing that God is God.

And then the Spirit came in the sound of wind and rush of flame. For the disciples, words from Ecclesiastes chapter 3 happen, A time to keep silent -turned to -adapts to- a time to speak.

In the end, all I have this morning is a pregnant pause. It is a deafening silence that pushes out the noise and rhetoric. The deafening silence holds my heart for a desire for right relationships; longs for racism to be a thing of the past. The deafening silence is seeing the Trinity dancing in Black lives matter, in protests, in the prayers made for world leaders (especially for those I don’t care for so much), in blogs as people tell their truth. This deafening silence is a figuring out what I have heard, and a waiting for my time to keep silent to adapt to a time to speak, to act ---#forthehealingofthewholeworld.  

 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, these three, the ever-lasting Trinity. Before all began, in the years of our time, and reaching to infinity. Amen.