Welcome to this meditation on moving in and out of silence.
My name is Jess Bielman and I have struggled to regularly hold space for silence.
This meditation will utilize scriptures from the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament
as a focus leading us into some silence and back out into our day.
Thank you for giving this a try and I hope it resonates with you today.
To begin,
Let's take five big breaths.
It is scientifically proven that five big breaths change the way we engage moments and
situations is a good beginning for prayer and for meditation as it slows down our hearts
and our minds and any stressors that we bring to the moment.
We'll start with 45 seconds to just breathe five big breaths.
If your mind wanders,
That's okay.
Each pause as we enter this meditation will be about 15 seconds longer than the previous one.
So we'll start with 45 seconds to just take five big breaths.
Luke chapters 5 and 6 detail that Jesus would often go to lonely places to pray.
I want to ask you a couple of questions and give you a moment to think and pray on them in quiet.
What brings you to this today?
Why are you feeling an acute need for silence?
What lonely places do you need to cultivate?
Psalm 46 10 says,
Be still and know that I am God.
There is something to stillness that is an act of faith.
When our activity ceases,
We can be still because we have faith in a God that is active.
Other translations suggest cease striving and know that I'm God.
This denotes a more ongoing activity of giving over control.
Again I want to ask you some questions and give you a moment of quiet to think and pray on them.
What busyness or activity is keeping you from your lonely places?
What areas are challenging to cease striving and allow God to be in control?
First Kings 19 presents a story of Elijah encountering God.
He's in a rough space in his journey and he's told to go up to the mountain.
A great wind came and tore the mountain apart and shattered the rocks,
But God was not in the wind.
Then there came an earthquake and fire,
But God was not in either of those.
Finally,
After the fire died down,
There was a gentle whisper.
God was in the gentle whisper.
Take a moment with the gentle whisper of God.
I'll give you a minute and 30 seconds of silence,
But feel free to pause the track if needed.
I will even suspend the background music.
Just sit in silence.
If you need some guiding questions,
I have a couple for you.
What has the gentle whisper been saying to you lately?
Is there a situation or aspect of your life that you've wanted to hear God whisper into?
Matthew 11 says,
Come to me,
All you who are weary and burdened,
And I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
For I am gentle and humble in heart,
And you will
find rest for your souls.
My yoke is easy,
And my burden is light.
Jesus is available for us to pass along our cares to.
This won't automatically fix our problems.
God is not our divine magician waving a wand at our problems when we call,
But it orients
us properly towards our anxieties.
We do not face them alone.
Our invisible and often silent God is still present in all of these aspects of our life.
We will have one more 45 second space for reflection.
What cares might you share with Jesus?
What have you taken away from this time with the gentle whisperer?
Amen.
I'll leave the background music playing for a while.
You can finish up as you need.
Go in peace.
