Minister's Moment

For Lent this year, the Monday Zoom Bible Study is using the book and video series “The Final Days” by Matt Rawle. The focus of the study is to compare the four gospel accounts of Jesus’ final days – his passion and resurrection – to see how they are similar and how they are different.

The session of the Gospel according to Mark took us in a direction I was not expecting. Rawle focused on the contrast between silence and shouting in Mark’s account. This led us into a conversation about silence and how we listen for the voice of God.

The world is a very loud place. There is shouting coming from every direction, moreso than there has been in years past. And the noise is coming from everywhere – our TVs, the internet, our phones, our friends … even our own thoughts. How do we hear the voice of God in the midst of all the shouting?

There is no simple answer to this question, because not everyone can listen for the voice of God in the same way. As always, our example is Jesus. Before his active ministry on Earth began, he retreated to the wilderness to fast and pray for 40 days, listening for the voice of God. Every now and again during his earthly ministry, Jesus would take time to step away from all he was doing to sit and talk and listen to God. Even at the last, Jesus went and prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus has modeled for us how to be still and silent and to listen for the voice of God around us.

In the Celtic tradition, there is the concept of “thin places.” These are locations or moments where the veil between the spiritual and physical realms feels particularly thin, allowing for a heightened sense of Divine presence or connection to the sacred. For many, thin places are found in nature – the quiet of a beach in the early morning, a hike through the hills, atop a mountain, staring at the clouds. Others find thin places in moments of solitude, “quiet times,” meditations, centering prayers. Yet others can find a thin place in something that seems loud to the outside observer, like mowing the lawn or painting. These are moments when we feel the presence of God because we have stepped away from the shouting and allowed ourselves to be still.

I want to encourage all of us to spend some time to see where we can see “thin places” in our lives. And if we don’t see them, do some work to figure out what sitting in the presence of God looks like for us. May God be with us all, and may God continue to speak to us and through us.

Peace and Love,

Ann