The Scripture Readings this week are:
- From the Jewish Scriptures: 1 Kings 19:1-15a
- Psalm 43 - paraphrased by Jim Taylor
- From the Gospel: Luke 8:26-39
We will sing mostly camp-type songs to guitar accompaniment (not necessarily in this order)
- Uyai Mose (from More Voices)
- Give Me Oil in My Lamp
- Joy is Like the Rain
- We Are One in the Spirit
- I've Got the Joy Joy Joy Joy
- This Little Light of Mine
The sermon title is The Stillness of God
Early Thoughts: This passage from 1 Kings is one of my favourites. The realization that God is present not in the grandeur of storm and wind but also in the stillness of deep silence hits home. It hits home because more and more we are living in a world that defies silence. There is always noise in the background of our lives.
At the same time as our lives get busier and noisier more and more people are naming a spiritual emptiness in their lives. This used to be filled by the church but churches seem to be missing the point. Have we too become too much a part of the noise and busy-ness?
How do we encourage people to seek out the stillness of God? It seems to me that part of the answer is to become comfortable with quiet. So this Sunday, as we sit in the Teaching Place out at French Lake we will take time to sit in silence and listen to the stillness around us.
We will also ponder the sound of silence as Simon and Garfunkel sang about. We will try to remember that prophets speak in the time when all other voices are speechless. We will be reminded that sometimes noise is just noise. And we will ask why we are son uncomfortable with silence.
Maybe that uncomfortableness is just because we are confronted with the overwhelming sense of The Other. and we aren't sure what to do with that.
--Gord
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