Sunday, March 13 - The Fifth Sunday in Lent

THE STILL SMALL VOICE

In today’s culture, the things that seem to be most popular in entertainment, advertising, and probably politics are the loudest most outrageous words and productions. This apparently is the most effective
way to get through the clutter that is modern life.

Lent is a time when we are called to observe these 40 days “by self-examination and repentance, by prayer, fasting, and self-denial: by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.” This prayer book exhortation is asking us to “go deeper” to listen to other voices in our search for God’s presence in our lives. But where is God found?

The prophet Elijah had a wilderness experience that perhaps can help us in our quest. Let me quote from the book of I Kings 19:11-13.

“The Lord said to Elijah, go out and stand before me on top of the mountain. Then the Lord passed by and sent a furious wind that split the hills and shattered the rocks – but the Lord was not in the wind. The wind stopped blowing and then there was an earthquake – but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was a fire, - but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the soft whisper of a voice. When, Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave and a voice said to him ’Elijah’.”

The Lord spoke to Elijah in a still small voice. Perhaps that is how in the midst of the clutter and bombast of our lives, God will speak to us. May we in our Lenten observance prepare ourselves to hear that still small voice.


The Rev. David A. Feyrer