Sermon for Feb 26, 2012; Psalm 50

Rev. George Miller
Psalm 50:1-7, 23
“Chatter”
Feb 26, 2012

Silence
Was the sound
Before the world was created

No plants
No creatures
No land

Just silence

In nothingness
The breath of God moved
Across the waters of emptiness
Filled with unlimited possibilities

Silence, until a voice
The Voice
Finally broke through
And said
“Let there be light!”

And there was the light of sun and moon
And life in the shape of fish and people
And the sound of birds filling the sky
And it was good

Silence
Small and sheer
Almost impossible to hear

Greeted the prophet Elijah
In the mountaintop cave
He had run away too

Elijah expected to hear the sounds of God
In the fire
In the earthquake
In the cracking of trees

But instead
God appeared in the fullness
Of silence
Complete, quiet, strong

And God spoke

Silence enfolded the shepherds
Tending their flock
Nothing but mountains around

Until

In great victorious harmony
Angels filled the sky
Breaking the silence of the night
With songs praising God

A heavenly chorus singing
Joy to the World!


Silence
In the form of death
Began the Easter morn

Women filled with grief
Afraid and yet so very brave

Made their way to the tomb

Expecting no sounds
No songs
No trumpets

And came to discover
The stone had been rolled away

And an angel proclaimed
“He Lives! He Lives!
He Lives!”

Silence
The emptiest of empties
Holding so much fullness
So much life
So many possibilities

Silence is a blank canvas
Waiting
To be painted with
the Word of God.


Chatter-so much chatter!
So much we bombard our ears
Chatter, so much chatter
TV, radio, headphones, car stereos

Talking on the phone
Talking all the time
He said, she said
The president said
The comedian said
My stylist said

Chatter, so much chatter
Blocking out the birds
Blocking out the words of the prophets
Blocking out the songs of angels
Blocking out the Good News
God wants us to hear.

How can we say that God is
Still Speaking
If we are not quite long enough
To hear?


Today’s scripture assures us that
God is Still Speaking

Loudly

Through the earth
In the heavens
Demanding attention

But what God has to say
We may not want to hear

We have failed God
We are not following God’s desires
For us

We are not as grateful
As we should be

We have been hypocritical
Bull headed
Using our lips to chatter gossip
About family and friends

Praising God only because
We think God needs it to exist
Not because it is we who need God.

God’s harsh words
In today’s Psalm
Holds us accountable
And it can be so hard
for our ears to hear

So perhaps, perhaps
That is why it’s so difficult
For us to stay silent
To be still

And to know that God
Not we
Is God

The more we chatter
The more we tell God what
We need

The less we have to hear
What it is God wants
What God desires;
what God deserves

BUT-
Here is the Good News:

What God wants,
What God desires
Is simple
what God wants is true:

For us to give honest signs of gratitude
And for us to do what we know
We should do

To tell us this
God speaks through the birds
Whose songs remind us
That each morning is a gift
And that even after the worst of storms,
Life goes on

God spoke through the prophets, like Elijah
To remind us that
Each person’s life is a gift
And that even after the worst of storms,
Life goes one

God spoke through the Son
Born in a manger
Whose cries were first heard
By the shepherds

A Son who spoke words
By the sea, in the fields
Atop the mountains

Reminding us that the Kingdom of God
Is already here
for those who can see
and for those who can hear

His words
At the table
Ensured that we are fed

His words on the cross
Ensured that we are
Forgiven

His words on Easter morn
Ensured that life prevails
Even when faced with the
sting of death

Because of all these things
In Jesus we have someone
We can turn to
We can talk to
Someone we can listen to

To be reminded of how we are loved
To be reminded of how much we matter

But in order to hear
We have to be willing to
Let go of the chatter long enough

So we will know
That the Still Speaking Voice
Loves us more then we
Could ever love ourselves

And because we are loved
We can offer our truest thanks
And we can live with one another
The best that we are able

That because we are loved
We can let go of the chatter
And listen to the voice
Breaking the silence
That says:

I am God
So you don’t have to be.

Are we willing to
Find ways to be silent long enough

If so, let us say “Amen.”