Those who can sit in silence with their fellowman, not knowing what to say but knowing that they should be there, can bring new life in a dying heart. Those who are not afraid to hold a hand in gratitude, to shed tears in grief, and to let a sigh of distress arise straight from the heart can break through paralyzing boundaries and witness the birth of a new fellowship, the fellowship of the broken.
~Henri J. M. Nouwen
Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.
~ from Job 2
Oh beloved, it is true.
He meets us in the places we expect, but He often meets us in ways we don’t. This fool of a writer went to church this morning. Well, of course i did. But, what happened there was something i completely did not expect.
It all came together in such an unexpected way. We had started the morning late, and i had made us even later by a number of delays. Further, we had a little trouble getting a taxi, and communicating with a driver as to where we wanted to go. There are not too many churches in this city, at least that are visible to the passerby.
But, it was the grace of my gracious wife that got it started. In my apologies to her for making us late, her response was soft and soothing. She responded in a way that allowed me to relax in the front seat of the taxi. I looked at the little plastic, chairman Mao statue on the dashboard and smiled.
We arrived in the old cathedral a bit late and the liturgy had already started. And, in sitting where we did, we could not hear the new priest. So, we got up quietly and walked to the back of the church, and over to the main aisle. Making a left, we headed up the center of this century-old building… and it was there that His silent Voice ripped the lid off of time – for a moment.
But, let me back up for a moment. The last couple of years have been – easily – a couple of the most difficult of my life. In coming to another new country, my third in four years, the strains of culture stress and the difficulties of transition for others in my family had brought me to a place of seriously wondering what in the world i was doing in Asia. And, in the stresses of it all, i had been beginning to feel the old sense that fleeing would be a good idea. Any little stressor was igniting within me a fight or flight mechanism that was unbearable.
As we turned up the aisle, though, about halfway up towards the altar were the gifts to be presented. The wine and bread that would become His real Presence in the miracle of the eucharist. And what happened is difficult to describe to anyone who has never had a moment like this. But, in my hurrying to get to a place to sit in the cathedral, He showed me something that was so beautiful, that it nearly took my breath away.
The sun was shining quietly down on the gifts, and i saw that space with a clarity well beyond simply having my glasses on and the room being clear. For just a moment, my Friend was next to me, and He was ushering me into a moment of eternity. Oh, this cathedral would be but a little anteroom to His House, but in His House i was. Time fled. Light scattered off the gold of the chalice and bowl and lit my spirit.
Can we see it?
As i sat down in the pew, something became so clear to me. While He is always with us, it seems that His Presence is most truly experienced when we stop – even for a moment – and simply allow Him to show us His Very Self – and the eternal future we will inhabit with Him. And this sense of Who He Is, is actually amplified when we get silent in the midst of our hurry and pain.
Anyway, visions and moments are just those. They are really only for us. But, my hope is that you might see what i saw this morning. To say it more clearly: I walked into a place of worship, but saw in that moment a piece of eternity. It was so quiet and free and whole and good and true, and so full of Him.
So, are you hurting? Are you in a hurry to get through it? Maybe tonight is the night to get silent and let Him speak to you in His own silent way.
God is our true Friend, who always gives us the counsel and comfort we need. Our danger lies in resisting Him; so it is essential that we acquire the habit of hearkening to His voice, or keeping silence within, and listening so as to lose nothing of what He says to us. We know well enough how to keep outward silence, and to hush our spoken words, but we know little of interior silence. It consists in hushing our idle, restless, wandering imagination, in quieting the promptings of our worldly minds, and in suppressing the crowd of unprofitable thoughts which excite and disturb the soul.
~François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon (1651-1715)
