December 16, 2020

The Rev. George Yandell, Rector

Early this morning I woke to the soft sound of the rain starting to fall on our roof. It was like a caress from the heavens. As I grow older, the subtle things of life take on more meaning. In the Nicene Creed, when we recite, “We believe in one God…maker of all that is, seen and unseen,” I find myself more paying attention to the word “unseen”.

I Kings describes Elijah’s subtle encounter with God. Elijah is instructed by the word of the Lord to stand on the mountain to witness God passing by. First came hurricane-force winds, but God was not in the wind. Then came earthquake and fire, but God was not in either. After the fire came “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?’ (NRSV, I Kings 19: 11-13) And Elijah knew God’s presence through the sheer silence.

Thomas A. Kempis wrote his remarkable book, The Imitation of Christ, in 1410. It has be-come the second most frequently published book after the Bible. Thomas wrote, “Blessed are the ears which receive the echoes of the soft whisper of God, and turn not aside to the whisperings of this world.” I hear in both Elijah’s encounter and Kempis’ statement that humans need to hear discreetly in order to detect God’s presence. We have to listen for subtlety within the clamor of everything else if we are to detect God’s presence.

Countless tracts have been written about ways to encounter God. Maybe the trick is to stop reading, stop talking, stop listening to constant news feeds, stand and gaze at the soft and stark winter colors, and give thanks for living. Maybe when our external distractions and our internal whirlwinds subside, we’ll know God to be present. Present in majestic silence and marvelous subtlety. G. Yandell