The Bungee Cord    10-5-20

Hello,

 

Fall has arrived in Western Pennsylvania, and in my mind this is the most beautiful time of the year to live here.  The ridges are ablaze in color and the air is crisp.  But with the arrival of fall, something also leaves.  The songbirds.

 

In the summer the trees that surround our house host all sorts of birds making all sorts of songs.  In the morning they comprise a choir that brings a delightful start to the day.  As the day goes on they keep on tweeting (the original use of the word!), and when dusk arrives their songs bid the day farewell.

 

But they are gone, now. Quiet has settled in.  I miss their songs.

 

In these Covid days other quiet has also settled in.  The chatter of friends around a dinner table.  The shuffling of shoes in a busy store.  The cheers from stadiums.  Even songs filling the church.

 

When people come to our house, one of the things that they say is, “My, it is quiet out here.”  Out in the country, shielded from most road noise, distant from commerce and industry.  It is a good quiet, a peaceful quiet, a healing quiet.  A quiet for which I am thankful.

 

But the quiet that has settled in with the advent of fall and the dampering of Covid is, for me, an unwanted quiet.  It is a lonesome quiet.  A heavy quiet.

 

I long for noise, good noise.  The songbirds, friends and family, bouncing balls, and bellowed hymns.  I could try and make a bunch of noise to diminish the quiet, but no matter how much noise I make, the current quiet always seems louder.

 

So, in the wearisome quiet of these days, I hear a word from Scripture break into my mind, (Psalm 46:10) “¹⁰ ‘Be still, and know that I am God!
   I am exalted among the nations,
   I am exalted in the earth.’ 

 

This verse might be a soft whisper in my mind, but it is a whisper that comes from God Almighty.  In the quiet of these days, God greets us with powerful words of hope.  “Rest in this quiet.  You don’t have to overcome the quiet.  I am God, and the quiet has never been a challenge to me.  Out of the quietness of nothing, I spoke my word and brought forth creation  Out of the quiet of the Good Friday tomb, I spoke my Word (the living Word, Jesus) and brought forth life that has no end.  Out of the quiet of silent waters, I spoke my word and sealed you in my care. And when the day comes that the quiet of death embraces you , I will speak my word and embrace you as I welcome you into the place that I have prepared for you.  Be still and know that I am God.”

 

And so I pray God to give me the grace to do just that.  Be still and know that God is God.  And as I rest in that grace, I have confidence and hope that soon the birds will return with their songs, and the day will come when other good noise fills my ears.  

 

“Be still, and know that I am God.”

 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger